Confident predictions

When an advisor is truly independent

Having seen interviews about your business activity on your website (www.rfp.fr), could you explain to what extent your approach to the financial markets is different from banks and other IFAs?

When somebody comes to RFP, they will meet an independent financial advisor, who really is independent. It means that nobody, no parent company is telling us what to think or what we should be selling our clients. It also means that we personally monitor the financial markets and form our own opinions about their past and future evolutions. We do not simply repeat what we have heard and read from the so-called specialists. Thirdly, it also means that unlike most advisors we produce easy to understand opinions on the markets, and write clear recommendations for the coming months. We even dare to leave these recommendations on  our website for six months so that everybody can check our past forecasts. I wonder if there are any other advisors or financial institutions who do that!

What types of investment do you like and dislike?

We like “plain vanilla” investments. So we usually exclude complicated structured products that nobody really understands (think of CDOs and CDSs!); mutual funds invested in bonds that do not offer any real security; or funds which are so diversified that they also include the low performing markets. We also dislike securities from countries where there is a low level of financial transparency. On the other hand, we like specialised equity funds (per geographic areas or economic sectors), we like selected corporate bonds that offer full security on maturity.

So which sectors would you consider at the moment?

Currently we are very cautious for various reasons (look at our past analyses on our website), but we have selected the doors through which we will enter the market in the future. These include: short to medium term corporate bonds from Europe; securities from economic sectors (water, agriculture, energy, telecommunication, medical); and geographical sectors (India and Brazil are currently our favourite areas). Note that we can only advise customers who invest through insurance policies. Please do not hesitate to contact us for a meeting.


Riviera Financial Planning
Independent Financial Advisor
and Mortgage Broker
Tel: +33 (0)4 93 00 11 26