A look at investments

Make sure that any investment opportunity could not be misused in your favour

08:44 28 July 2013

If you are concerned about a perceived conflict of interest in an investment, here are a few suggestions to keep everything properly on track: 

 

• Avoid putting all your investments in one company, and if you own the company make sure you have many other investments so no one will be able to say that portfolio rests upon the success or failure of your company. Decisions could be seen as self-serving, rather than in the best interest of customers or clients. 

 

• Put another layer of security between you and your investments. Have a portfolio manager take care of the day-to-day business of your investments. Having another person to guide any changes you want to make can help reduce speculation from other people. 

 

• Try to set and maintain a timeframe for reviewing your investment so that if your ethics are brought into question you can point to a history of changes. If you review your portfolio and make changes every six months, it will work in your favour to show that you made decisions based upon a pre-set schedule. 

 

• Only make changes to your investments after information has been made available to the general public if there is speculation about an up-and-coming company or investment opportunity. It might make your chances of getting a deal a little more difficult, but you’ll avoid speculation about insider knowledge and unethical investing practices. 

 

• As a general rule you should avoid investments that could call your ethics into question, so research the investment opportunity thoroughly. Be sure that you don’t invest in anything that might be misused in your position.