magazine archive
magazine archive
Funds
Active funds break records in 2025, both good and bad
Thursday 31 Jul 2025It has been a pretty good year so far for active fund managers in 2025, according to AJ Bell’s latest Manager versus Machine report, which analyses more than 1,000 funds across seven key equity sectors. The report shows that 42% of active managers have outperformed a passive alternative so far in...
When should you give an underperforming fund manager the boot?
Thursday 17 Jul 2025In his latest semi-annual letter to shareholders, Terry Smith has laid out another spell of underperformance for the Fundsmith Equity (B41YBW7) fund. The fund fell behind the MSCI World Index by a modest amount, just 2% in the first six months of this year. However, this comes on the back of four...
How Nutshell Growth is carving its own high-quality equities path
Thursday 19 Jun 2025To ordinary investors, it might seem like almost every investment fund under the sun is focused on high-quality companies and stocks. A long track record of superior returns, check. Deep moats and competitive advantages, check. A sustainable and long-run growth path ahead, check. High returns on...
How one fund manager looks to find the next generation of US market stars
Thursday 13 Mar 2025US-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and passive strategies have grown in popularity over the past decade, but this trend has created concentration risk since so many investors are now crowded in US stocks and the mega-cap tech names in particular. For investors seeking differentiated exposure...
How to invest in smaller global companies through funds or trusts
Thursday 13 Feb 2025In the fourth and final part of our series on small caps we look at smaller company funds with global horizons. These can be a good way of investing in small caps in markets where buying individual stocks might be a challenge, either because you are restricted from investing or because it is...
How to invest in smaller UK companies through funds or trusts
Thursday 06 Feb 2025The UK market has a long tradition of collective investing in smaller companies, which means there is a wide range of funds and trusts available to investors looking for broad exposure rather than to pick individual stocks themselves. There are two dozen trusts listed on the Association of...
Why are so many active fund managers underperforming?
Thursday 16 Jan 2025Every six months at AJ Bell, we publish a report on the proportion of active managers beating the typical passive fund in seven key equity sectors. It’s called Manager versus Machine, and ever since we launched the report in 2021, it has made challenging reading for active managers. In the latest...
How to increase your income as you approach retirement
Thursday 23 May 2024Switching an investment portfolio from accumulation to income funds is something investors might consider as they approach retirement. In this article we explain the difference between the two and the costs and tax liabilities (if any) of switching between the two as investors think about ‘drawing...
How Fundsmith stacks up versus Nutshell and Blue Whale rivals
Thursday 18 Apr 2024If you had £10,000 to invest in a single fund, which would you choose – one of the most popular with retail investors for more than a decade, or a relative new kid on the block with a similar asset allocation approach? In a manner of speaking, it is what billionaire City grandee Michael Spencer...
Why this could be a great time to invest in US small caps
Thursday 11 Apr 2024US-listed large-caps shone last year with shares in mega-caps, and the ‘Magnificent Seven’ in particular, surging higher. However, this outperformance only widened the valuation gap between US large and small-caps and left shares in the latter cohort languishing at the low end of historical...