How We Invest
Life is full of ups and downs, investing doesn’t have to be.
We believe the best way to manage wealth is by applying the same investment approach widely used by larger institutional investors such as pension funds and university endowments. Why reinvent the wheel if the largest and most sophisticated investors in the world have figured out how to maximize returns while minimizing risk?
Our institutional investment strategy provides investors with broad portfolio diversification by investing in both private and publicly traded assets.
Private Assets
For decades, institutional investors have allocated significant capital to private assets including private debt, private equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure, and other ‘non-correlated’ strategies. By diversifying their portfolios into these areas, institutional investors have been able to reduce the volatility that comes with investing exclusively in public stock and bond markets.
For example, at the end of 2021 fiscal year, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) managed $500 billion on behalf of Canadians; approximately 50% of CPP’s portfolio was invested in alternative private assets with the balance allocated to publicly traded stocks and bonds.
Traditionally, institutional-quality private asset strategies have been difficult for smaller investors to access:
- They typically require minimum investment amounts of at least $2 million to $5 million
- Are relatively illiquid
- Often require that investors maintain significant personal cash reserves to meet contractual requirements of investing over multi-year periods
- Require a high degree of investment and tax expertise to evaluate, often at significant expense
- Are not usually eligible to be held in registered accounts like RRSPs
Bridgeport works in partnership with top tier asset managers, managing a wide range of private asset funds, all of which provide investors access to a diversified, global portfolio of institutional-quality private assets. Our private asset funds remove the hurdles that had previously prevented smaller investors from obtaining the benefits of true portfolio diversification.
Publicly Traded Assets
Bridgeport employs an intensive research-based approach to investing in publicly traded stocks and bonds. We focus on acquiring a deep understanding of the individual companies in which we seek to invest. Our portfolios hold a focused number of stocks and bonds, ensuring only our best ideas are included, while still providing ample diversification.
Bridgeport’s investment selection for stocks and bonds is based on investing in businesses with favourable economic characteristics at attractive prices. We avoid businesses which operate in industries with challenging dynamics and poor prospects.