Michael Karagianis (JANA) and Toby Potter (IMAP) look at the winner in the Boutique Licensee category of the 2025 IMAP Managed Account Awards — Strategic Wealth — and discuss the importance of integrating investment management and advice in the managed accounts process.
Strategic Wealth first dipped its toe in managed accounts about six years, when it turned to JANA as the asset consultant responsible for building its portfolios. Since then, JANA has remained central to Strategic’s managed accounts journey, which is something Michael Karagianis — Head of JANA Wealth — is particularly proud of.
This year, Strategic Wealth’s work with managed accounts as part of its client value proposition has been recognised by its industry peers, taking out the prestigious Boutique Licensee category at the 2025 IMAP Managed Account Awards.
It’s an achievement not lost on Michael, who credits both Adrian Vidotto — Director and Partner of Strategic Wealth — and Peter Wilson (retired CEO and Founder of Strategic Wealth) for having a clear investment philosophy, which was pivotal in the design of Strategic’s portfolios.
By Jayson Forrest
An interesting aspect that distinguishes Strategic’s managed accounts is their private equity sleeve. Interestingly, JANA doesn’t run too many managed account programs (and certainly none in the SMA space) that have private equity as a building block of the managed account itself
Looking back six years ago, Michael says the mid-size practice had a strong desire to specifically tailor a managed accounts program for its client base.
Today, the average client size comprises of about $2-$3 million, ranging from pre-retirement through to fully retired.
“At Strategic Wealth, there is a lot of focus on planning and delivering returns to clients in retirement, while also protecting from downside risk.
So, the portfolios they wanted were designed very closely with those principals in mind and across a whole range of investment scenarios,” says Michael.
Naturally, the portfolios have evolved over time. However, there were certain learnings we made early on, like the difficulty in trying to rebalance portfolios when you’ve got an illiquid component in the portfolio, which is like chasing your tail — it’s quite problematic. It was a valuable lesson for how to manage less liquid components within a managed account
Taking the MDA path
According to Michael, the decision by Strategic Wealth to opt for an MDA structure, rather than an SMA, was based on the belief that MDAs offered a greater level of flexibility in relation to product use and the potential to incorporate illiquid strategies with other more liquid strategies, as well as the ability to tailor portfolios for clients where necessary.
In the six years Strategic Wealth has been running its managed accounts offering, Michael believes the business has achieved the type of flexibility it was looking for with its portfolios.
“An interesting aspect that distinguishes Strategic’s managed accounts is their private equity sleeve. Interestingly, JANA doesn’t run too many managed account programs (and certainly none in the SMA space) that have private equity as a building block of the managed account itself,” says Michael.
Additionally, Strategic Wealth also offers a direct equity (Australian equity) sleeve, with separate managers appointed to oversee that function of the portfolio.
“Naturally, the portfolios have evolved over time. However, there were certain learnings we made early on, like the difficulty in trying to rebalance portfolios when you’ve got an illiquid component in the portfolio, which is like chasing your tail — it’s quite problematic. It was a valuable lesson for how to manage less liquid components within a managed account,” says Michael.
“So, we don’t try to do that. Instead, we try and ‘ring fence’ the less liquid parts of the portfolio, and allow them to rise and fall, and rebalance around them. That was something that took us a couple of years to understand in terms of how the portfolios needed to be managed.”
We try and ‘ring fence’ the less liquid parts of the portfolio, and allow them to rise and fall, and rebalance around them. That was something that took us a couple of years to understand in terms of how the portfolios needed to be managed
Advice process
With asset allocation accounting for over 90 per cent of the return investors may achieve from a well-managed, diversified investment portfolio, Strategic follows a highly structured process to determine the right asset allocation that matches clients’ needs, objectives and risk tolerance.
Strategic Wealth emphasises the importance of getting to know its clients. It does so by engaging in meaningful and honest conversations, so its advice team can get to know clients, their needs and objectives, and how Strategic can work together with them to make their financial aspirations a reality. Importantly, this includes looking at client behaviours to develop a sustainable investment portfolio.
Strategic Wealth believes successful investing is a medium to long-term process that requires a long-term approach. This means all aspects of a client’s portfolio are regularly reviewed, to ensure all necessary changes are made to stay on track. It believes by adopting a highly disciplined approach to the ongoing management of a client’s investment portfolio will reap the rewards they are seeking.
“Strategic’s portfolios are very much an expression of the business’s philosophy and their client base, and how they want their portfolios designed and managed,” says Michael.
“JANA has supported Strategic Wealth along their journey with managed accounts. And while there are some things we could have done a little differently over this time, on the whole, I believe the portfolios have done very well and delivered to their specifications. Importantly, Strategic’s clients seem very happy with these portfolios and the returns generated.”
About the Judging Panel
In congratulating Strategic Wealth in taking out the Boutique Licensee category, Toby Potter — Chair of IMAP — says managed accounts have become one of the fastest growing parts of the advice profession.
The managed account structure provides advisers and licensees with a superior way of delivering better client outcomes that more closely align with client goals.
“We are seeing continued evolution of the technology and portfolio management capability in managed accounts,” he says. “We had more entrants this year in these awards, and a wider variety of portfolios. We are demanding ever higher standards of ourselves as a profession and this is reflected in the standard of portfolio management from the asset consultants, investment teams and the advisers who connect these capabilities to each client’s own circumstances.”
Toby adds the IMAP Managed Account Awards are only possible due to the commitment of the judges who dedicated considerable time and their professional expertise in assessing the many entries in this year’s awards.
This year’s judges’ panel comprised of:
- Deanne Baker — Deputy Chief Investment Strategist at Evidentia;
- Brad Matthews — Founding Director at Brad Matthews Investment Strategies;
- Dominic McCormick — Industry Consultant;
- Nigel Douglas — Principal of Douglas Funds Consulting;
- Rob da Silva — Head of Research at Foresight Analytics;
- Chetan Trehan — Sector Head Real Assets, Alternatives and Multi-Asset Funds at SQM Research; and
- Toby Potter — Chair of IMAP and Executive Director of Philo Capital Advisers.