Carterbar.com

Financial adviser Carterbar has announced a development which dramatically reduces the cost of making investments for its clients, thereby increasing the return on their money.

Carterbar, which is based in Billingham, on Teesside, announced last year that it had agreed on a series of discretionary management services operated by Parmenion, the platform for discretionary management.

Now, it has announced an expansion to the service in what is known as a ‘passive’ investment strategy, which dramatically reduces the costs of running a typical investment portfolio.

Arthur Dornan, Managing Director of Carterbar, said: “We see this as an important step forward in our relationship with Parmenion. There have been a number of new companies providing this type of fund, which has dramatically reduced charges.

“This is an increasingly competitive market and, over time, we envisage the costs of this service becoming even lower, for both new and existing customers.”

“This is important because a lot of people will be looking at their building society interest statements and seeing that their money earned them as little as 0.1 per cent last year. Our approach means higher payments are possible.”

One of the Carterbar/Parmenion clients illustrates the point. Parmenion’s 10 risk-graded portfolios returned an average of 25% in the year to February 2010 yet, at the moment , there are few instant access accounts paying more than 2% interest. The lowest risk fund grew by 5.73% and the highest by 42.42%.

Parmenion Managing Partner Richard Mein said: “It’s great to be working with forward-thinking IFA Carterbar. This latest development really does give them the flexibility to mix and match their offering, giving total flexibility for the different needs of their clients, and driving down costs at the same time.”

Carterbar's services include advice on mortgages, life assurance, income protection, pensions and investments. The firm was established in 1996.