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Brian Tora is one of the City's most respected financial commentators and until recently held the post of Investment Communications Director at Gerrard Investment Management Limited. He joins Moneyextra to write a regular monthly column on investment issues.

When I was first asked to add my musings on investment matters to those of your other esteemed contributors, my first thoughts were what areas should I cover and how do I differentiate myself from the rest of the crowd? The Editor provided the answer to the first question. There are to be no boundaries. If it is an investible asset class, then it is fair game.

As to the second, the ball was firmly thrown back into my court. Just how long have you been in the investment business, he asked? I was almost embarrassed to respond that I was in my 44th year of service in this great industry of ours. So youve seen it all then, was his retort. And I suppose in a way I have. Certainly, Ive seen enough to recognize that no-one has all the answers and that the investment world is as dynamic a place in which to work as any you might find.

Take the issue of broad asset classes as an example. When I started out in the early 1960s, the choice available to an investment manager putting together a portfolio for a private investor was simple in the extreme. Cash, bonds and equities were all that were to hand - and before you say that surely the same applies today, let me explain just how narrow that choice really was.

Back in 1963 the Exchange Control Act which had been brought in shortly after the Second World War made investing overseas too costly for the bulk of domestic investors. Although the shareholder base of the UK had yet to be broadened by the privatizations and demutualisations of the 1980s and 1990s, nearly 60% of shares were owned by a relatively small number of individual investors.

Index tracking, derivatives and structured products all lay in the future. Regulation was light and the professional, highly competitive world of the City that was to be ushered in by "Big Bang" was a generation away. While there are those who hark back to clubby, comfortable world of the old City as the heyday of the investment community, the fact remains that you cannot hold back progress. Nor should you try.

Consider the situation facing the 21st Century investor. Cash can be multi-currency. Bond and equity markets are truly global. Distinctions exist between large capitalization companies and smaller cap stocks; between developed, emerging and so-called "frontier" markets; between sovereign and corporate debt, with investment and junk grades adding their own twist to investor perception and likely performance.

06 November 2006 © Moneyextra.com

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