Gearing still viable

Despitethe poor performance and volatility of the markets,Cameron Walsheadviser Wayne Lear says gearing is still a viable proposition.

“I encourage clients to be pro-active with their portfolios. However, we make a client aware of all their choices and with margin lending, we tell them they can lose all their money.”

Lear says 80 per cent of his practice’s revenues come from direct share portfolios, with most usingBTmargin lending facilities.

“We give fee for service advice to people who want advice. It is about having the client as a client and not the money as the client.”

Lear says a lot of his work is building clients’ money skills in dealing with areas such as margin lending.

“I rarely use managed funds and only then for international exposure. As a result, our clients’ portfolios have been getting an average return of 12 per cent for the past 10 years.”

Lear says it is important the client has a good superannuation plan in place before embarking on a direct share portfolio using margin lending.

“If they lose all their money, they will still have something to retire on,” he says.

Lear says he starts margin lending with a 50/50 split using small sums, so the client becomes used to the concept and gains confidence with the idea.

“It is critical the advisers use a good portfolio construction platform that can offer taxation and technical advice.”