ARIA
Capital Management

An independent review by our team of experts

ARIA Capital Management is a trading name of Absolute Return Investment Advisers (ARIA) Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The firm has offices in Guildford in the UK, as well as international offices in Dubai, Malta and Cayman Islands.

ARIA Capital Management offer their professional investment management services to individuals (in contrast to many competitors who will only use financial advisers as sales intermediaries).

Although the personal service is offered, ARIA still recommends working in conjunction with advisers.

ARIA Capital Management's financial services can be broadly summarised below:

Service	Description
Private clients	This includes: Financial planning Retirement planning IHT planning Wealth preservation
Risk profiling and investment strategy	This includes: Absolute return strategies Multi-asset Investing Individual equity portfolios Passive ETF approaches
Discretionary Portfolio Management	This is discussed in detail below

ARIA Capital Management mainly tries to sell their DPM (Discretionary Portfolio Management) services to international professionals using two key points:

Time (saves you time)
Risk (manages your investments as per your risk appetite)

ARIA Capital Management claims to make it easier to manage your ever-changing financial affairs, especially as investment products are unlikely to remain the same throughout our lifetime.

They say they can help you design a custom investment portfolio to suit your individual situation, that takes into account your financial goals, as well as your need, willingness and the ability to tolerate risk.

Points to note about ARIA Capital Management's DPM services:

ARIA Capital Management use building block funds rather than buying specific equities, which they claim reduces costs for all portfolio sizes (brokerage fees). However, costs of underlying funds may still be significant compared to alternatives.
ARIA Capital Management’s claims, as part of its core philosophy in absolute return investing, to utilise alternative investments such as hedge funds and structured products in portfolios.
They have their own funds which is used as part of the ‘building blocks’ strategy of which some are alternative products including commodities or structured products and some are more traditional.

Regarding ARIA’s belief in alternative investments it is stated, “We seek to find investments which are not solely reliant on stock markets going up in order to generate positive returns”.

This translates as follows; ARIA believe that they can analyse and understand which geographies and asset classes are undervalued and that they can make alternative investments e.g. not linked to the standard S&P 500 or FTSE 100.

A wealth of evidence over the years suggests that outperforming the combined wisdom of even the secondary markets in less commonly traded assets is highly unlikely.

Other risks in alternative investments are also left unaddressed in the company’s literature. However, the ‘safer’ investment portfolios do include ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) which can be low cost and generate the best returns in the long run if managed correctly.

NOTE:

We would highly recommend reading the 'expert verdict' section of this review to learn why our team of experts gave ARIA Capital Management only 1 out of 5 stars in this independent review, along with advice for next steps.

Additionally, here's a free guide that can help you achieve better results. In this guide, you'll learn:

Academic evidence only shared with a select few firms across the world
A real-life example of why you should never try to outguess the market
Why a fund's past performance is not enough to predict future returns
Why you need to focus on what you can control and why this leads to a better investment experience
Why you should accept the markets for what they are
What can impact behaviour and make people seek instant gratification

The Pros

> UK-based

The Cons

> Small business

> Chequered history

> Active methodology is questionable

What are the fees and charges?

Annual Management charges for ARIA’s DFM service are 1% per annum, but ARIA state that this depends on “service line chosen”, so it could be higher.

Additional charges may apply where they are requested to pay your financial adviser for their work in reviewing the portfolio’s performance and providing an independent review of “how we are doing” for example.

The underlying funds within the portfolio will also levy fees, a portion of which will be paid to ARIA. These fees will be around 1.5%.

Dealing charges arise each time an investment is bought or sold. In minimising these, ARIA cap them at 1% or £50, whichever is lower.

All in, you can expect to be paying between 2.5% and 3.5% per annum, and possibly more.

ARIA Capital Management - Brochure

ARIA Capital Management - Portfolio Strategy

ARIA Capital Management - Onshore Brochure

ARIA Capital Management - Terms and Conditions

ARIA Capital Management - Tailored Investment Portfolio

ARIA Capital Management - Risk Appetite

The information in this material is intended for the recipient’s background information and use only. It is provided in good faith and without any warranty or, representation as to accuracy or completeness. Information and opinions presented in this material have been obtained or derived from sources believed by AES to be reliable and AES has reasonable grounds to believe that all factual information herein is true as at the date of issue. It does not constitute investment advice, recommendation, or an offer of any services or products for sale and is not intended to provide a sufficient basis on which to make an investment decision. It is the responsibility of any persons wishing to make a purchase to inform themselves of and observe all applicable laws and regulations. Unauthorised reproduction or transmitting of this material is strictly prohibited. AES accepts no responsibility for loss arising from the use of the information contained herein.

‘AES’ refers to the AES Group’s separate but affiliated entities generally, rather than to one particular entity. These entities are AES Middle East Insurance Broker LLC registered with the UAE Ministry of Economy, United Arab Emirates, Licence no. 571368, and Commercial Registration no. 75162 and regulated by the UAE Central Bank license no. 189; AES Financial Services Limited, incorporated and registered in England and Wales with company number 06063185, authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority FRN: 464494; AES Financial Services (DIFC) Ltd, registered in the Dubai Financial Centre (DIFC) as a foreign company, license no.2128, and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) Reference No F003476; AES International Limited, a private company incorporated and registered in the British Virgin Islands with company number 1839872; AES International Global Limited, a private company incorporated and registered in the British Virgin Islands with company number 1887885. Please visit our authorisations page for further information on regulation, redress and accessibility.

If you are outside the UK and we advise you or carry out other business, nearly all the rules, regulations and arrangements made under the UK regulatory regime (including the rules made by the FCA and the dispute resolution process provided by the UK Financial Ombudsman Service) will not apply to most aspects of the service you receive, such advice or business being provided from outside the UK. You should therefore clearly understand such rights and protection as are afforded in the jurisdiction where you receive advice. Local law, regulation and redress processes will apply in almost all cases, and will be different from that of the UK.

RISKS

Investments involve risks. The investment return and principal value of an investment may fluctuate so that an investment, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the capital invested. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. There is no guarantee strategies will be successful. For further information, please click here.

ARIA
Capital Management

An independent review by our team of experts

REVIEW SUMMARY