Company overview
Woodland Asset Management is the asset management business within the Woodland group of companies. Woodland Wealth (Pty) Ltd, one of the companies in the group, provide their clients with planning and advice for Investment & Retirement and require the services of a Cat II asset manager, in order to effectively manage client portfolios of over R4 billion.
Woodland Asset Management will align their approach to investment portfolios with that of Woodland Wealth (Pty) Ltd. This approach entails an evidence-based process. Over time, evidence suggests that asset allocation is the main contributor to performance of investment portfolios, while one of the biggest detractors is fees. By carefully blending low-cost index tracking strategies with selective active management Woodland Asset Management hopes to run highly efficient and successful portfolios on behalf of their clients. This approach, coupled with a firm grip on the behavioural pitfalls of investing has yielded exemplary results for Woodland Wealth’s clients and Woodland Asset Management is looking to further enhance this process.
Key staff
Andró Griessel, CFP®
(B.Comm: MIFM)
Andro is the founder and managing director of Woodland Wealth.
He is a firm believer in the value of independent, well thought out and knowledge-based advice and made it his mission to establish an advice-based, instead of a sales-based business. The people close to him will describe him as slightly against the grain and a non-conformist. It is this attitude of questioning the norm that leads to the best planning solutions for clients, he says. He is obsessed with the concept of “the client’s best interest” and it forms the blueprint from where the business is managed. After matriculating from Paarl Boys High in 1990, he acquired a BComm Degree at Stellenbosch University. He also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning at the University of the Free State, is a CFP® charter holder, and is a member of the Institute of Financial Markets.
Before he established the company in 2003, he worked amongst others, at Shoprite Holdings Head Office, Nedgroup Asset Management and Investec Asset Management.
Samuel Rossouw, CFP®
(BCommHons: Adv PGDFP)
True to company culture, Samuel strives to build solid long-term relationships with clients and has a meticulous way of identifying needs, defining goals and compiling an executable plan to reach one’s goals. He firmly believes that one has to be a specialist in one’s field to be able to add value, and continuous training & education is therefore paramount. To be objective and to have an independent approach to a client’s planning is critical to make a difference.
Born and raised on a farm in the Montague region, Samuel graduated from Montague High School in 2001. He completed his BComm Honours degree in Business Management and his Postgraduate and Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning. Samuel is a CFP® charter holder. Apart from a short stint at an agricultural company, Samuel has spent his whole working career with ProVérte. Samuel is a shareholder and a valuable member of the board of directors of Woodland Wealth.
Cassie Carstens, CFP®
(B.Comm: Adv PGDFP)
Cassie lives by the mantra “Trust is Earned.” Starting his career in financial planning in 2009, he has obtained valuable experience, and the ever-changing markets have taught him that there is no place for egos. Supporting clients throughout their different life phases gives him tremendous satisfaction and serves as a constant reminder of the impact that his advice can have on individuals and their families.
He hails from Paarl where he matriculated from Paarl Gymnasium in 2003. He continued his studies at Stellenbosch University where he obtained a BComm degree in 2007 and thereafter completed an Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning at the University of the Free State in 2011. He is also a CFP® charter holder. He joined Woodland in October 2017.
Elmie de Jager, CFP®
(BEd, PGDFP)
Elmie is energetic, hard-working, and analytical, and unlike her male colleagues in the wealth management division, not shy of people. Before joining Woodland, Elmie was a consultant with a large financial services company and an educator in higher-grade Mathematics and Accounting. Her personal attributes and knack for numbers make her a big asset to the company.
After matriculating from Aliwal North High School, she made her way to Stellenbosch University to complete her BEd degree. She completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning in 2014 and in 2020 completed the Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning. She joined the Woodland team towards the latter part of 2015.
Deidré Valentine, CFP®
(BCommHons, PGDFP)
Deidre has a knack for analytical work and is spontaneous with a warm and friendly personality – a rare combination of qualities that is very useful in our industry. She was born and raised in Heidelberg, where she matriculated in 2011. She proceeded to study BComm Mathematical Science at the University of Stellenbosch, and also completed an honours in Financial Risk Management in 2016. She braved the CFA level 1 examination and passed in 2017. She continued the journey of equipping herself by receiving her Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning in Sept 2020 and became a CFP® charter holder in 2021.
She is not only clever but a keen sportswoman. She spends much of her free time on the netball field as a nationally graded umpire. This suits her “work hard, play hard” motto well.
She started her career as a research and investment analyst, giving her an excellent investment background, but then decided to work on a more personal level with clients where she can see the impact of robust financial planning. She joined Woodland in February 2020.
Contact details
Tel no.: +27 21 850 0471
- Email: info@woodlandwealth.co.za
Website: www.woodlandwealth.co.za
Fund details
The Woodland Ci Balanced Fund is a multi-asset high equity portfolio. The investment objective of the portfolio is to deliver long term capital growth.
The portfolio maintains a moderate risk profile and the portfolio’s equity exposure will be limited to a maximum of 75% of the portfolio’s net asset value. The portfolio will comply with prudential investment guidelines to the extent allowed by the Act.
Investments to be included in the portfolio may, apart from assets in liquid form, consist of equity securities, non-equity securities, convertible equities, money market instruments, preference shares and property securities.
The portfolio may also include participatory interests in portfolios of collective investment schemes or other similar collective investment schemes registered in the Republic of South Africa or of participatory interests in collective investment schemes or other similar schemes operated in territories with a regulatory environment which is to the satisfaction of the Manager and the Trustee of a sufficient standard to provide investor protection which is at least equivalent to that in South Africa.
The portfolio may from time to time invest in listed and unlisted financial instruments, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and the Regulations thereto, as amended from time to time, in order to achieve the portfolio’s investment objective.
The Woodland Ci Unconstrained Balanced Fund is a worldwide multi asset flexible portfolio. The
investment objective of the portfolio is to provide investors with long term capital growth.
The portfolio maintains a moderate to high risk profile and the portfolio’s equity exposure will be limited to a maximum of 80% of the portfolio’s net asset value, and a maximum of 60% of the portfolio’s net asset value may be invested outside of South Africa. Investments to be included in the portfolio may, apart from assets in liquid form, consist of equity securities, non-equity securities, convertible equities, money market instruments, preference shares and property securities.
The portfolio may also include participatory interests in portfolios of collective investment schemes or other similar collective investment schemes registered in the Republic of South Africa or of participatory interests in collective investment schemes or other similar schemes operated in territories with a regulatory environment which is to the satisfaction of the Manager and the Trustee of a sufficient standard to provide investor protection which is at least equivalent to that in South Africa. The portfolio may from time to time invest in listed and unlisted financial instruments, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and the Regulations thereto, as amended from time to time, in order to achieve the portfolio’s investment objective.
The Woodland Ci Global Opportunities Feeder Fund is a Feeder Fund. The investment objective of the portfolio is to provide long term capital growth by providing investors with exposure to an international collective investment scheme portfolio comprising a diversified mix of global exposure to various asset classes.
The Global Opportunities Fund, the target portfolio, will invest directly or indirectly in a combination of lower risk assets such as cash, cash equivalents and global bonds and higher risk asset classes such as global equities, commodities and global property. Depending on the economic cycle, the Fund may increase the exposure to higher risk assets up to 100% in anticipation of and during periods of expansion and similarly reduce the exposure to higher risk assets to as low as 30% in anticipation of and during periods of contraction. Overall, this blend of asset classes is expected to be high in terms of the risk/return scale. In addition, the Fund is not focused on any specific geographical area, industry or sector. The target portfolio intends to invest in transferable securities in the form of global equities (such as shares and common stock) and global equity related securities (securities with equity characteristics or conferring the right to acquire equity securities, such as depositary receipts and preference shares), real estate investment trusts (“REITS”) and global bonds (which may be government and/or corporate, fixed and/or floating, rated and/or unrated) which are listed on Recognised Markets. Investment in REITS will not exceed 25% of the Net Asset Value of the Fund. The target portfolio may also invest up to 100% of its Net Asset Value in cash and/or cash equivalents (including US Treasury Bills, cash deposits, corporate commercial paper and certificates of deposit) and/or short-term money market instruments (including US Treasury Bills, corporate commercial paper, and certificates of deposit) for cash flow purposes or as part of a temporary defensive strategy or where the Investment Manager believes that economic, financial and political conditions make it advisable to do so. The target portfolio may obtain indirect exposure of up to 10% in commodities, including gold, through RIAIF-eligible exchange traded commodities or exchange traded funds, provided that the maximum exposure to any one ETC shall not exceed 5% of the Fund’s Net Asset Value
