H.J.Scott & Co – Plan | Save | Grow | Spend | Gift

03/10/202503/10/2025

September 2025 Performance review

We first began moving clients from Nucleus to Transact late 2021. This quarterly review shows our performance versus our industry peer group across our portfolios for a little over a 3 year period. 13 quarters so far.

In all of the charts below, each of our managed portfolios are shown by the bold green line. Our peers performance is shown in blue and purple lines.

Our Cautious Portfolio

Our Cautious Managed Portfolio unfortunately is not a fair comparison versus its peer group as care home fees of several thousand pounds are withdrawn each month for the client in question. This reducing balance has blunted the true performance somewhat.

Our Moderate Portfolio

Our Aggressive Portfolio

Our Very Aggressive Portfolio

Each of the charts above are actual client portfolios.

Our Very Aggressive Portfolio lost a little ground versus our Aggressive Portfolio whilst we exited some speculative positions before we could buy some precious metals and miners.

Commentary

We continue to out-perform our peer groups in all portfolios.

26/09/202526/09/2025

Congratulations Melissa!

Next year on March 6th Melissa will have been a member of our team for 20 years. Astonishing isn’t it. Back in 2006 when she joined as an administrative assistant on £16,000 a year, the business and indeed the profession looked very different. Insurance companies and fund management companies ruled the roost. Her full time job was obtaining information on behalf of clients from companies, who were steadily slashing resources and cutting service standards.

Today that industry stranglehold has gone, platforms deliver accurate data over the internet in seconds, that used to take 5 – 10 working days to secure. Often the information was incorrect and required a follow-up question and answers cycle. If your position today is simply getting information over the phone or via the post your job has now disappeared.

Melissa saw that evolution was necessary and set out to up-skill for a very different future. She started her studies and steadily accumulated enough examination passes to equal those of the average financial adviser in the UK. A level 4 qualification, equivalent to passing the first year of a university degree. This level of qualification is enough for most in the profession, but not for Melissa. She continued her studies.

04/09/202526/09/2025

Autumnal Equinox

“Do you remember, the 21st night of September”

For fans of Earth, Wind and Fire, or for anyone who just enjoys a boogie, the words are well known. If you haven’t heard of them before; where have you been?

Well this year it will be a night to remember for the team at H.J.Scott & Co. because we are “doing a flit”. After 25 years of working from our current office, we are moving on to a brand new office. Here’s the less than memorable address.

Suite C, Futura Business Park, Aspinall Way, Middlebrook, Horwich, Bolton. BL6 6PG

From Monday 22nd we hope to be holding all office based client appointments from our new address. We will be gradually moving furniture across during the week and hoping our telephone will seamlessly move with us. Telephones can be a problem but email will continue to find us anywhere of course.

A Significant Change

It is entirely coincidental that our major change occurs bang on the Autumnal Equinox on the 22nd September, but the equinox does hold some significance.

“The Autumnal Equinox is the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving southward (in the Northern Hemisphere).

It happens once a year, around 22–23 September.

At that instant, day and night are nearly equal in length across the globe (hence the term equinox, from Latin aequus = equal, nox = night).”