It's no secret that finance is Jersey’s biggest and most successful industry. As a leading financial services centre, Jersey is in no short supply of firms offering a range of financial services, and one of those is TMGA Wealth Management – a local independent wealth management business established in 2020.
“The TMGA investment team had worked together for many years in large organisations,” said Tim. “We've always wanted to work for ourselves, so we got together and set about doing it.” The four founders – Tim, fellow senior investment directors Greg Powell and Mike Caetano and chairman Anthony O'Keeffe – were keen to establish an “investment boutique, providing investment solutions in a thoughtful and transparent way.”
“Of course, we were only able to do this by bringing the right people together”, says Tim. “We carefully selected the team at TMGA, making sure that we had the right skills, knowledge and experience to achieve our vision.
TMGA’s brand promise is “We’re invested in you.” This involves “really listening” to the needs, requirements and objectives of their clients.
TMGA’s brand promise is “We’re invested in you”. Tim says the team keeps this promise by putting their clients “first and centre” and at the “focus of everything” they do, providing a high-touch, personalised service. This involves “really listening” to the needs, requirements and objectives of their clients. “We invest time in understanding their dependencies and what they’re really looking for from the portfolio, before we even consider the construct of it,” he explained.
This approach, Tim notes, is complemented by the firm’s commitment to transparency when it comes to fees. “We wanted to be a disruptor and go to market without charging other ancillary investment costs when we're transacting,” he said. “When we establish a relationship with a client, they know from the outset that the all-encompassing fee truly is an all-encompassing fee.”
“A strong governance structure is also a must,” explained Tim. “Clients should look at the strength of governance of any wealth manager that they are engaging with, so that they can understand how their investment portfolio will be constructed and monitored.”
“Clients typically follow an investment strategy, based on their circumstances, objectives and attitude to risk”, says Tim. “When constructing investment strategies at TMGA, there are three distinct committees involved.
“The asset allocation committee is responsible for considering the macroeconomic outlook to identify emerging trends, new business cycles and global themes,” Tim explained, “and the investment research committee oversees research conducted on the investments in the strategies.” To ensure an unbiased and independent approach to research, the investment team uses Morningstar to support the research function.
Once those two committees have met, the team decides “how the cake is going to be cut”, depending on risk profiles, then, Tim says it’s over to the investment strategy committee to “decide on the composition of the portfolio in terms of asset allocation and diversification.” And this process, he emphasises, is underpinned by TMGA’s culture of challenge and oversight.
“The investment monitoring committee is there to make sure that we are complying with the asset allocation, portfolio construct and to monitor performance,” he said. “We really enjoy that process.”
Tim, Greg and the wider TMGA team have certainly been kept busy in recent years, with lots of world events shaking up the markets – from the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, Trump’s second term, to the war in Ukraine. But in Greg’s experience, there will always be big market events. He knows this first-hand having worked through the Dot-com crisis, the Gulf War, the 2008 financial crisis and Brexit, to name a few.
But what does this mean for investors today? “The first instinct of an investor may be to panic,” said Greg. “With 24-hour news, everything is instant, accentuated and seems a lot worse, so markets probably do lurch down more than they previously did.”
It’s about keeping a cool head. Markets invariably bounce back — investing is always about the long term.
His advice is to stay calm and measured, because markets “invariably bounce back” – Trump’s tariffs being a recent example. “It's about keeping a cool head during those times,” Greg said. “The worst thing to do is to react too quickly during such times.” This is because investors should “always be thinking about the long term.” “It's investing for the long term, not panicking and even looking for opportunities during those periods in areas of the market you may be underweight in when you do get this wholesale lurch down in the market,” highlighted Greg.
The TMGA brand promise ‘We’re invested in you’ clearly implies a high-touch client service. So, what else do Greg and Tim consider to be key factors clients should consider when selecting a wealth manager? The cost of investing and cost transparency, Greg highlights, is an important factor.
“Over the long term, costs are an important consideration – it’s why TMGA offer an all-in-one investment management fee, so the client knows exactly where they stand,” he said.
Tim emphasised the importance of strong and effective investment governance, as well as the financial strength of the wealth manager’s custodian. “We chose to work with Pershing as custodian who is part of Bank of New York Mellon,” he shared. “This gives our clients peace of mind that their assets are held securely with one of the largest custodians in the world.”
