The breakfast club.

Anyone who has stayed in a hotel might be familiar with the typical buffet breakfast, where guests select their food from a counter and eat with heads down in relative privacy, surrounded by fellow travellers.

Charity investing can be like a hotel breakfast. Firstly, there is the guest who appears half awake, lacking in spatial awareness, randomly filling their plate in the knowledge that breakfast is included in the room cost and not knowing when the next meal will come. Difficulty in making an appropriate food choice and lack of engagement with fellow travellers results in a befuddled experience, jealously looking at the seasoned traveller who darts in and out with food precision. These might be the charity trustees making investment selections and using them to fuel their charity.

The hotel staff, almost always harried, are on hand to serve, guide and replenish the food. These are the investment managers and the hotels are their firms.

Hotels provide food, like mangers supply investments. The difference comes with the quality and efficiency of the service. The greater the attention the more you tend to pay, providing ease and comfort. At the other end is the cheap passive fund. This is the AirBnB or budget hotel where there are few or no staff and everything is self selected. 

For those with a lower budget or choose to pay less, overcoming the stress requires some knowledge and experience. When travelling we tend to spend time doing on-line research with the likes of TripAdvisor, hotel reviews or asking peers for recommendations. So why not with charity investments? Best results come from spending time fact finding and from discussion from experienced investors. This leads to skill, confidence and suitable investments. As with travel and investment, independent advisors are on hand to those who want it but when you stand back from the counter or market and think, common sense prevails, leading to a rewarding experience.

At Yoke we do not share the views that charity investors are ill advised by the investment management community and they have to seek independent advice. As seasoned travellers, we often we give charities signposts or introductions to make their investment choices their own, leading to more rewarding solutions and to remove stress so they can make the better decisions. In short, they will feel replete and ready for the day ahead.