The Cash Problem That Didn’t Go Away, And The Solution That’s Still Working

For professional advisers only.

Every adviser has had the conversation. A client decides their cash should be working harder, and the only obvious answer is to move it off platform – out of sight, out of the financial plan, and into a bank account.

The trouble is what that answer costs. Once money leaves the platform, the plan loses its coherence and the adviser loses visibility. It could mean transfer delays and anti-money laundering paperwork. If it is a notice account, the money is locked up for 30 or 60 days. And a harder conversation is waiting further down the line: when, exactly, should the money come back? Nobody wants to be making a market-timing call on a client’s re-entry point with unexpected delays.

In 2023, that conversation stopped being occasional and became constant. Interest rates rose sharply, and for the first time in more than 15 years high street banks were offering returns that looked genuinely attractive. Clients who had sat through years of near-zero rates began asking an uncomfortable question: why is my cash earning almost nothing here when a bank will pay me 4%?

It was a reasonable question, and with adviser demand growing, in October 2023 Tatton built a solution to address it: The Tatton Money Market portfolio.

Answering the client’s question without breaking the plan

The Tatton Money Market risk profile is built primarily for capital preservation. It holds four money market funds, selected and managed under Tatton’s standard investment process, each of which aims to maintain a constant net asset value (NAV) of £1 per share under normal market conditions.

The funds within the portfolio invest in a broad range of high credit quality fixed income securities (such as bonds) and money market instruments (such as debt securities with short term maturities). This means that the portfolio is influenced by the Bank of England base rate. There are, of course, differences between high street savings accounts and investing in a money market MPS: It is not a deposit, the rate is not fixed, capital is not guaranteed and FSCS deposit protection does not apply.

And because Tatton operates across 19 platforms, which pay very different rates on the cash held within them (some pass through close to the base rate, others retain a meaningful margin) the Tatton Money Market risk profile gives every client a consistent outcome wherever they sit. For advisers running clients across several platforms, that quietly removes an invisible source of inconsistency in client outcomes, and a potentially difficult conversation with it. Platform fees may differ.

There is also very little friction. Moving from another Tatton model into the Money Market portfolio is a switch between models on the client’s existing platform, so the money never leaves the platform. Money market funds typically settle in two working days from instruction to completion. There is no notice period or lock-up, no bank transfer to arrange and no new account to open, so the switch does not trigger further AML checks for the client. A client who wants to reduce market exposure can usually do so within a few working days.

And this works in reverse too. Because the cash never leaves the platform it stays more visible, easily reportable and inside the financial plan, ready to reinvest when the time is right within a matter of days.

When the trigger faded, the demand remained

If the profile had only ever been a defence against 4% bank rates, its story would be ending now. The base rate sits at 3.75% as at August 2026, and the high street offers that prompted the 2023 exodus are fading with it.

But usage has not faded, because the profile also helps solve other use cases within a client’s financial plan. One that we’ve seen greater adoption is within decumulation.

As clients move into a decumulation phase, the profile works well as the short-term bucket in a drawdown strategy: holding a retiring client’s near-term income needs, typically the next 1-3 year’s worth, while the remainder stays invested for growth. The client gets a stable, accessible reserve away from equity market volatility, which is exactly what an adviser needs to point to in the conversations that happen during turbulence. The full plan stays visible on a single platform. And the structure gives suitability reviews a clear, documentable framework with a rationale you can present once and do not have to re-explain at every annual review.

Three years of evidence

The numbers suggest advisers have reached the same conclusion on the Tatton Money Market risk profile use. Three years in, the profile holds £164 million in assets under management, ranking 28th out of 121 Tatton models (as at 30 June 2026). For a profile that sits alongside most advisers’ investment propositions rather than at their centre, that is telling: advisers have tried it with real clients and kept using it.

And with a cost of 25 basis points (10bps for the underlying funds, 15bps for Tatton’s standard management fee) it can prove a very cost-effective way of preserving capital, with the addition of platform and adviser fees.

The rest of the market has noticed too. Tatton was one of the first MPS providers to offer a money market risk profile, but many DFM peers have since launched similar products. In practice, the choice between them usually comes down to fit. For advisers who already use Tatton across their client bank, the Money Market profile sits within the same portal, the same reporting and the same compliance framework, with the same Business Development Director and Investment Specialists behind it. Nothing new to learn, no additional infrastructure to manage. For time-pressed firms, that simplicity is often reason enough.

Who the Money Market risk profile is designed for

Available on all platforms Tatton works with, and usable alongside any Tatton portfolio style or as a standalone recommendation, the profile typically suits clients:

•  In or approaching drawdown who need a short-term income reserve within the financial plan
•  Nervous about market conditions or tempted to move cash to a bank, who want to reduce exposure without leaving the platform
•  Navigating personal vulnerability or parking capital ahead of a known event where preservation and access matter more than returns e.g. a property purchase, inheritance or business sale

It suits advisers who want a consistent, fair-value cash solution across multiple platforms, free from platform cash rate variability and who need a clear, documentable structure for suitability conversations, particularly under Consumer Duty.

Find out more at tattoninvestments.com/our-products/money-market, call 020 7362 6827, or speak to your usual Business Development Director.

Please note: Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. You may get back less than you invest.

By Olivia Geldenhuys, Head of Investment Specialists, and Sam Leary, Senior Investment Specialist, Tatton Investment Management