Financial services is full of strange words and the consumer can be forgiven for believing that much of the jargon is designed to confuse rather than clarify.
A case in point are the popularly used words “wrap” and “platform”; the former sounding like some form of lunchtime snack and the latter something you might find at the local railway station!
Both are simply a piece of computer software growing in popularity to help consumers build and manage their investments.
Rather than going to a number of different providers to purchase financial products the more popular route for many intermediaries is to buy products and investment funds via one portal, the wrap or platform.
Key advantages to this approach are generally cost reductions (through buying in bulk) with often very low or even no initial costs, heavily discounted annual management charges and a very wide range of investment fund choice.
Consumer access 24/7 via their computer screen so that they can view and analyse their investment portfolio is another key benefit of the wrap approach to investments.
In addition there is clarity of charging.
What you pay for the use of the wrap, your adviser fees and the charges you pay to the investment fund manager are explicitly described.
Wrap may well be appropriate to you and you should discuss this with your financial planner.
