Peter from Bromley has been investing in the stock market since the 1980s when he bought shares in British Gas. Now aged 71, the former solicitor is retired and living off a pension and various other investment accounts.

With his children grown up and living elsewhere, Peter and his wife downsized some years ago and used some of the proceeds from selling a bigger house to top up their retirement savings. The children also received some of the money.

Peter runs his own money through a SIPP (self-invested personal pension), an ISA and a dealing account and has his investments spread across a range of funds, investment trusts and shares.

‘I went into drawdown before I retired and initially took out more than I needed to on the principal that on death it would have gone anyway. Later when the rules about having to take an annuity were relaxed I rapidly took more care of it and withdrew less. I instead took other savings such as my ISA to bump up my  withdrawals on the basis it is more tax efficient,’ he says.

HOW PETER SAVED

Before he retired Peter was self-employed and had to make his own pension arrangements. ‘I saved as and when I had spare cash. As with most people during the early years it was not a priority and only later did I increase contributions.’

He has accumulated numerous company shares over the years. The best performing ones have been sold and Peter is now left with the laggards. He’s also made some mistakes over the years such as investing in companies that have subsequently gone bust including construction services group Carillion.

‘The lesson I think is to be wary of equities and stick to funds and investment trusts,’ he remarks.

Judging by his comment, it is perhaps not a surprise to discover that Peter has shifted his portfolio towards collective products run by a fund manager.

And on the rare occasion that he puts money into the markets today Peter says he is only likely to put his faith in investment trusts.

WHAT’S IN HIS PORTFOLIO?

‘I have always preferred investment trusts to funds and took up some from the JPMorgan range way back to the time of PEPs because they had a far more extensive range of investment trusts than anyone else,’ reveals Peter.

‘I hold a number of products from this asset manager in my ISA and SIPP comprising JPMorgan Claverhouse (JCH), JPMorgan European (JETI), JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust (JESC), JPMorgan Emerging Markets (JMG), JPMorgan Japanese (JFJ), Japanese Smaller Companies (JMI) and Mercantile Investment Trust (MRC).’

Peter says his largest fund holding is Artemis Income (B2PLJJ3) which aims to provide investors with a steady and growing income as well as long-term capital growth. This product provides exposure mainly to companies listed in the UK but also the odd overseas-listed ones as well.

It has been run by Adrian Frost since 2002 and has delivered 11.36% annualised returns over the past 10 years, according to Morningstar.

Artemis Income’s portfolio includes stakes in oil producers BP (BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB), media group RELX (REL), life insurer Aviva (AV.), supermarket Tesco (TSCO) and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Peter says he is attracted to these types of funds in the hope of achieving a good return.

Now enjoying his golden years, the Kent resident says he has found investing ‘immensely enjoyable’ and wishes he had more spare cash to expand this interest.

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