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Investors Trust Access Portfolio Review

Investors Trust stands as the worldwide emblem representing the ITA Group of firms.

Originating in 2002 as an international insurance conglomerate, Investors Trust has broadened its scope to encompass clientele across over 100 markets globally, operating through numerous office hubs to cater to its diverse international audience.

Distinguished for its focus on medium to long-term unit-linked investment offerings, Investors Trust delivers an extensive array of solutions tailored explicitly for international investors.

With operational presence in the Cayman Islands, Malaysia, and Puerto Rico, Investors Trust maintains service points in strategic locations including Dubai, Hong Kong, Uruguay, and a central corporate support office in the United States.

Investors Trust Access Portfolio is a range of investment solutions offered by Investors Trust Assurance SPC, a leading international insurance company. The Access Portfolio aims to provide investors with flexible and diversified investment options to help them achieve their financial goals

This article will review the product and explain why some investors will get good returns compared to others, making the advisor you pick essential to your investing success.

It will also list some of the funds, stocks and ETFs available, alongside answering some FAQs.

The article will also briefly review the fixed income and platinum portfolios as well – two other lump sum options available on Investors Trust.

If you want to invest as an expat or high-net-worth individual, you can email me (advice@adamfayed.com) or use these contact options.

Advisors and introducers who want to distribute Investors Trust globally can also reach out to me.

Table of Contents

Where is Investors Trust Access Portfolio sold?

Worldwide, but often in expat-focused areas such as Dubai, Shanghai, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brussels, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Qatar and various other locations.

For locals, Latin America, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea are probably the biggest markets.

What are the costs of Investors Trust Access Portfolio?

It depends which option is chosen. The Access Portfolio Plus only costs 1% per year for admin charges, whereas the Access 500 Series is charged at 1.8% per year and policy fee of 180 USD per quarter.

What are the biggest misconceptions about Investors Trust?

The three biggest ones are that they are only in the Cayman Islands, are a relatively small company and don’t have great investor protections.

To the contrary they are an A-rated institution which is now in Puerto Rico and Malaysia.

They also don’t use offshore banks, and instead only use A-rated onshore banks like HSBC (US) and Standard Chartered (UK) to hold the funds, even though they are domiciled offshore as an organisation.

Together with the segregated account system, these protections are top notch. For that reason, it is perhaps unsurprising that they have been one of the fastest growing companies in their niche in recent years, and are thus no longer a small company.

Many older views fail to take account of this.

Investors Trust Access Portfolio Investments

minimum account for Investors Trust Access Portfolio

For the Access Portfolio, $75,000USD, 75,000 Euros and 50,000GBP are the minimum account sizes.

The minimum additional investments are 5,000GBP, 7,500USD and 7,500 Euros respectively, for top ups.

What about if you don’t have $75,000 or currency equivalent?

Investors Trust do have a smaller lump sum product called the Platinum.

It starts from $10,000/10,000GBP/10,000 Euros. This product has less investment choices than the access portfolio, but does have some of the better fund options, such as the S&P500 index fund.

In general, the fees associated with the Platinum can be higher than the Access portfolio, but that depends on which option you select, as there are three options associated with the Platinum portfolios.

What is the duration of Investors Trust Access Portfolio investment?

Different periods can be chosen. 5 years, 8 years and open-ended charging structures can be picked on day one.

There are no early surrender charges if the open charging structure is put in place. In comparison, early surrender charges exist if you wish to leave the investment early on the 5 year and 8 year options.

The three different products are called the Access 5000 series, the Access Portfolio 8000 Series and the Access Portfolio Plus.

Full list of Investors Trust Access Portfolio investment managers available

On the Access Portfolio, there are too many options to list here, but the most popular ones include:

Ishares
Blackrock
Morgan Stanley
Pimco
Janus Henderson
Franklin Templeton
MFS
Investec
Fidelity
AllianceBernstein
Vanguard

Vanguard isn’t available on the Platinum portfolio but it is available on the Access Portfolio.

Which Vanguard funds and ETFs are available on this option?

Countless are available on the Access Portfolio, but none are available on the Platinum.

If we focus on the USD ones to begin with, the following Vanguard funds are currently available:

Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF
Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF
Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF
Vanguard Energy ETF
Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF
Vanguard ESG US Stock ETF
Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF
Vanguard Extended Market ETF
Vanguard FTSE All World ex-US Small-Cap ETF
Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF USD
Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield UCITS ETF
Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF
Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF USD
Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF
Vanguard FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF
Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF
Vanguard FTSE Pacific ETF
Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF USD
Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate ETF
Vanguard Global Momentum Factor UCITS ETF
Vanguard Health Care ETF
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
Vanguard Information Technology ETF
Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF
Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF
Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF
Vanguard Large-Cap ETF
Vanguard Long-Term Bond ETF
Vanguard Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF
Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF
Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF
Vanguard REIT ETF
Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth ETF
Vanguard Russell 3000
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD
Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 ETF
Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF
Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF
Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF
Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF
Vanguard Small-Cap ETF
Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF
Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund
Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF
Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF
Vanguard Total Corporate Bond Fund ETF
Vanguard Total International Bond ETF
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF
Vanguard Total World Stock ETF
Vanguard USD Corporate 1-3 Year Bond UCITS ETF
Vanguard USD Corporate Bond ETF
Vanguard USD Treasury Bond UCITS ETF USD
Vanguard Utilities ETF
Vanguard Value ETF

There are also Vanguard ETFs offered in Euros, Pounds and some other currencies. That includes the GBP and Euro versions of the S&P500 index.

Vanguard ETFs available in Euros

Vanguard EUR Eurozone Government Bond UCITS ETF
Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe ex UK UCITS ETF EUR
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets UCITS ETF EUR
Vanguard Global Bond Class Acc
Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF EUR

Vanguard ETFs available in Pounds

Vanguard EUR Corporate Bond UCITS ETF
Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF GBP
Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP
Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe ex UK UCITS ETF
Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe UCITS ETF GBP
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets UCITS ETF
Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF
Vanguard Global Corporate Bond Index Class Hedged Acc GBP
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility UCITS ETF
Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP
Vanguard UK Government Bond UCITS ETF
Vanguard USD Corporate Bond UCITS ETF GBP
Vanguard USD Treasury Bond UCITS ETF GBP

Vanguard ETFs available in AUD

Vanguard Australian Corporate Fixed Interest Index ETF
Vanguard Australian Fixed Interest Index ETF
Vanguard Australian Property Securities Index ETF
Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF
Vanguard FTSE Asia ex-Japan Shares Index ETF

There is a range of Vanguard equivalents as well, such as iShares, BlackRock and so on.

This allows clients to get access to Nasdaq ETFs and a range of other options which aren’t usually available in the expat market.

US-domiciled ETFs can’t be onboarded, but this is a positive thing due to the tax implications of doing so.

Can new shares like AirBnb be added?

Yes. Pre-IPOs can’t be added, but once they have listed, they are available.

Stocks like Apple, Amazon and other big names are already onboarded.

Most individual shares on public markets can be added if requested.

Assets such as Bitcoin, alongside high risk and illiquid assets, usually can’t be onboarded.

Funds available in other currencies

This isn’t a complete list of the funds available on Access Portfolio, but it includes some options available.

Some of the funds, shares and ETFs available on Access Portfolio in Canadian Dollars

Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences ETF
IAMGOLD Corp CAD
Leviatthan Gold LTD – 4 MONTH
Leviatthan Gold LTD – 12 MONTH
Leviatthan Gold LTD – 16 MONTH
Leviatthan Gold LTD – 8 MONTH
Maple Leaf Green World Inc
Pan Orient Energy Corp
Score Media and Gaming Inc
Very Good Food Co Inc/The
Weedmd Inc
AcuityAds Holdings Inc CAD
Canada Cobalt Works Inc
Charlottes Web Holdings Inc
Equinox Gold Corp
First Quantum Minerals Ltd CAD
Fortune Minerals Ltd
Fosterville South Exploration Ltd CAD
Goldgroup Mining Inc
HEXO Corp
Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd

Funds, shares and ETFs on Access Portfolio in Mexican Peso

Concentradora Hipotecaria SAPI de CV
Macquarie Mexico Real Estate Management SA de CV
Vista Oil & Gas SAB de CV

Funds, shares and ETFs on Access Portfolio in Singaporean Dollars

DBS Group Holdings Ltd
DBS Group Holdings Ltd

Funds, shares and ETFs on Access Portfolio in Hong Kong dollars

Tencent Holdings Ltd
Xiaomi Corp
Xtrackers CSI300 Swap UCITS ETF
Agricultural Bank of China Ltd
Bank of China Ltd
BYD Co Ltd
China Construction Bank Corp
China Life Insurance Co Ltd
China Merchants Bank Co Ltd
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd
Lotus Horizon Holdings Ltd
MGM China Holdings Ltd
Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd

Funds, shares and ETF on Access Portfolio in South African Rand

Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd

Funds, shares and ETF on Access Portfolio in Turkish Lira

Kent Gida Maddeleri Sanayii ve Ticaret AS
QNB Finansbank AS
Turkiye Is Bankasi AS Equity
Turkiye Is Bankasi AS Equity II

Funds, shares and ETF on Access Portfolio in Japanese Yen

Funds, shares and ETF on Access Portfolio in Swiss Franc

iShares Core DAX UCITS ETF DE CHF
iShares Core Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF CHF
iShares SMI ETF CH
iShares Swiss Dividend ETF CH
Lonza Group AG
Nestle SA – Reg
Pictet CH Precious Metals Physical Gold Class P CHF
Roche Holding AG
SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF CHF
UBS ETF CH-SMIM
UBS MSCI EMU Socially Responsible UCITS ETF
UBS MSCI United Kingdom IMI Socially Responsible UCITS ETF
UBS MSCI USA Socially Responsible UCITS ETF
ZKB Gold ETF CHF
ZKB Silver ETF CHF

Funds, shares and ETF on Access Portfolio in Australian Dollars

This list excludes the Vanguard ETFs mentioned earlier:

Altium Ltd
Appen Ltd
Australian Foundation Investment Co Ltd
Banner Income Fund Class R AUD
iShares Government Inflation ETF
Hansen Technologies Ltd
Dominos Pizza Enterprises Ltd
CSL Ltd
Momentum Australian Dollar Growth Class D AUD
Momentum Australian Dollar Growth Fund Class A AUD
VanEck Vectors Aus Equal Weight ETF

As you can see, the investments in these other currencies are primarily in individual shares.

Swiss Francs is one of the exceptions to that rule, alongside the Australian Dollar.

Are there any other lump sum options?

For people looking for pure income, Investors Trust have a fixed income portfolio.

This portfolio gives you the option to invest for 3, 5 and 15 years. The 3 and 5 year rates are fixed, with a minimum contribution of $10,000.

The rates on offer are very low though – 1.75% for 3 years and rising to up to 3.6% for 10 year plans, so this should only be considered as a slightly better option than keeping your money in the bank.

The positive about this plan is that the investments are backed up by Investors Trust’s assets and only cost $7 a month.

That means Investors Trust invests the money (it is the only product they offer where they invest the money rather than the advisor) and hope to make more money than they are giving the client in return.

If they don’t achieve that, they need to repay the client from their own assets.

What have been some of the best performing funds on this Investors Trust Access Portfolio?

That depends on which timeframes you look at. In recent years, US markets have done best, with emerging and energy-linked ETFs, facing downward pressure, with a lower oil price.

Sometimes today’s winners are tomorrow’s losers, and vice versa, though.

A great example of this is if you compare US and international stocks.

Historically, each has a period of over performance, according to work from Fidelity:

So, it always pays to have a well-diversified portfolio.

What are the pros and cons of the Investors Trust Access Portfolio?

The main pros

Investors Trust offers an excellent online system, with ease of topping up, withdrawal and other admin done efficiently. The costs are also reasonable, depending on the charging structure chosen.
Passive investments like ETF index trackers can also be picked, thereby reducing cost.
In general, they have excellent and varied fund choices. Perhaps less than 1-2 other platforms, but more than some other options in the market
There is a borrowing facility although this is expensive.
Regardless of the option you pick, it is quite flexible, in terms of withdrawals. Within 5 years, it is usually 100% flexible.
Multi jurisdictions is a key advantage of the Investors Trust system. You have the option between Malaysia, Puerto Rico or Cayman.
Even though you need to pay in USD, Pounds or Euros, countless currency options are available on Access Portfolio once the money is on there. This includes the Turkish Lira, South African Rand, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar, Singaporean Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar and Mexican Peso.
There are plans to expand the range of investment funds available on access.
Importantly, each of the three locations offers checks and balances. So your assets are always separate to the company’s assets. This is very different to investing with a bank, where the institution uses your money to lend to depositors. This lowers risk a lot.
Good banking system with HSBC used for the USD bank accounts.
You can pay online, even for lump sums, or via bank transfer. Of course, with bigger lump sums, it isn’t very practical to invest $200,000 by card, unless you pay $10,000 per time. For smaller amounts, this feature is excellent, as it lowers the cost in most cases.
It is possible to do your own trades as well as have an advisor help you. Even though this isn’t a do it yourself (DIY) platform, and therefore need to be introduced by an advisor, you do get a client login once your account has been approved. This means that you can make your own trades. Some clients, as an example, want to make some of their own trades and have an advisor manage half of the portfolio. It is much easier to do this on this investment solution compared to most others.
It is usually a tax efficient option. Investors Trust don’t give out tax advice, and indeed tax rules can always change quickly. What is true though is that they are based in tax efficient locations. Therefore, especially for expats that are living in low or 0% capital gains environments, this is a good option. In comparison, if you use a platform located in a high-tax country which decides to apply capital gains even to non-residents, you could get hit by taxes.
Compared to some of the typical investments in the expat market like those discussed below, this is a very good option.

The main cons

The fact numerous fund options can be chosen is great, but that does mean that some clients are in expensive funds, whereas cheaper options exist on the same platform. Two investors who have different funds will get very different results, even on the same platform.
The minimums are higher than some other options
American expats can’t be accepted for this platform and there are additional restrictions, such as Hong Kong residents, and those in places under US sanctions, such as Iran. However, this is still much more flexible than some providers, that have a huge list of countries they can’t accept for.
Only USD, Euros and Pounds are available. This is a small issue though, in this day and age, with countless ultra cheap options available for Australian, Japanese and other investors.
Over time, there is more restrictions on investment funds compared to the past. Whilst this can be a good thing (to limit the investors risk), in certain cases, it can affect the investor. In general, however, a good advisor has more than enough investment choices for any investor.

Are the majority of clients happy?

I have met countless happy clients who are in this lump sum option.

I have also met numerous people that have lost contact with their advisor, or been put into unsuitable investment options within the platform.

What can you do if you have an Investors Trust access portfolio plan which isn’t performing well?

If you have an Investors Trust Access Portfolio and you aren’t satisfied with the returns, there could be two reasons for this.

Either markets aren’t performing well, which can’t be helped in the short-term. In comparison, the second reason is that bad funds have been picked.

In which case, it should be much easier to make the account work more efficiently.

Investors Trust Access Portfolio Review: Final Thoughts

In general, Investors Trust are an excellent option in the expat market, but only if it is used in the right way.

Investor A, with advisory firm A, can do much better than investor B, with advisory company B, on the same platform.

So in many ways the advisor you pick is more important than the platform itself.

Overall, the Access Portfolio is a superior product to the fixed income and platinum options, but those options have their place, especially for cautious investors.

If you have an Investors Trust Access Portfolio, or have been proposed one and want a second opinion, you can email me on advice@adamfayed.com, or contact me on the WhatsApp function below.

I can also offer discounts on the stated online price, and probably discounts on what your broker is offering you.

Pained by financial indecision? Want to invest with Adam?

Financial Planner - Adam Fayed

Adam is an internationally recognised author on financial matters, with over 256.2 million answers views on Quora.com and a widely sold book on Amazon.

Further Reading

In the article below I discuss the following topics

Most people, at least in developed countries, assume that getting rich is more difficult than before. But is that really true? I speak about how our perspective influences our approach to this question.
What do people understand in their 30s that they don’t in their 20s?
What should people know about investing in stocks? What are the opportunities, risks and what is the bottom line?

Here is a preview of the article

The biggest things we shouldn’t forget are:

Stocks as an asset class do go up long-term. The Dow was at 66 in 1900, 2,000 about 30–32 years ago and 31,000 today.
Yet individual stocks don’t always go up. Individual industries don’t always go up either. The banks have never recovered from 2008 even though the general market has.
Despite the fact that the market goes up long-term, there can be long periods of stagnation. 2000–2011 and 1965–1982 saw many markets stay still. The long-term investor shouldn’t be afraid of such periods. It allows you to buy lower for longer! When markets come up, you will make more money than if they had been rising however.
Dividends are key. Over 35% of many stock market returns have been from reinvesting dividends. What’s more, reinvesting dividends protects you in stagnant or falling markets as well. The UK FTSE100 hasn’t done as well as the FTSE250 or S&P500 in recent decades. Yet look at the graph if you had reinvested the dividends:

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As you can see, it all compounds. Over a 30 year period, the person who reinvested the dividends has about 5x more.

Likewise, many people know the Japanese Nikkei market is the only major market which is down on its height.

It is now 28,850. It’s height was briefly 38,916. Even if we ignore the fact that it is highly unlikely that you would have invested 100% at the very peak, you could still be up slightly in 2020 if you bought only once at the peak and reinvested dividends.

5. It doesn’t make sense to be 100% in stocks forever. At a young age that can work and if you are willing to see big volatility. Having a bond market index works long-term, because bonds tend to rise during periods when stocks fall. At least that is the case with short-term Treasuries.

6. US Stocks have beaten most International ones long-term, including emerging markets. Yet every dog has its day. There have been numerous periods where international has beaten US Stocks. It makes sense to own at least 2–3 indexes for this reason.

7. Nobody can consistently time markets. The only safe way to invest is long-term. Time is one of the only free lunches in investing because it lowers your risk and compounds your gains.

8. You should never speculate or panic.

9. Don’t blindly follow trends which are pushed by the media and others.

10. You need to invest a lot of money to get wealthy investing if you start late. If you start early, you don’t need to invest much.

To read more click here.

https://adamfayed.com/what-should-we-not-forget-about-stock-investments

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