magazine archive
magazine archive
Funds
This fund has a refreshing attitude to making money
Thursday 06 Apr 2017Many fund managers believe their job is to beat a benchmark. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will make money for shareholders. Think about a benchmark like the FTSE 250 index. If it falls 5% and a fund manager’s product only falls 2%, the latter would argue they have outperformed and therefore...
AJ Bell’s new funds offer ‘instant diversification’
Thursday 30 Mar 2017The general public are hungry for help when it comes to investing. Many people want to put money aside for later in life but don’t want, or cannot afford, to pay for financial advice. They just need someone to put them on the right path for their investment journey by providing exposure to a...
Funds versus investment trusts
Thursday 23 Mar 2017It may seem strange but there are a number of open-ended funds that have very similar investment trusts, run by the same manager and which follow an almost identical mandate. A research report published in late 2016 by Canaccord Genuity identified 51 of these product pairings. The list includes...
Funds in turnaround mode
Thursday 16 Mar 2017In an ideal world a fund would provide investors with a long-term exposure to the markets where the manager is able to consistently add value through a clear and transparent strategy. Unfortunately, things don’t always go according to plan. It’s possible that a fund could suffer a prolonged period...
Can ethical investment deliver adequate returns?
Thursday 09 Mar 2017The election of president Trump may have been a setback for environmentalists and those keen on good corporate governance, but these sorts of social issues are not going to go away and for a company to succeed it has to be able to navigate them. Those that fail to do so can suffer enormous harm,...
Searching out secure income via funds
Thursday 02 Mar 2017Of all the long-term consequences of the financial crisis of 2008, one of the most serious is the partial withdrawal of the banks from some of their traditional lending activities. Tougher capital adequacy requirements have made it more expensive for them to provide loans, which has left key areas...
Strong cash flow is the secret to a great company
Thursday 23 Feb 2017Uncertainty hangs over the future of post-Brexit Europe, where key elections offer potential for further shocks in 2017. Nevertheless, the continent is home to some world class companies generating growth and strong cash flows in the face of current political and economic turbulence. One fund that...
What to buy when the market gets grizzly
Thursday 16 Feb 2017Global stock markets finished 2016 in a buoyant mood with the FTSE and the Dow starting the new year at or close to all-time highs. In bull markets it is easy to ignore the potential pitfalls of investing, but the list of macro events that could bring it all crashing down seems to be longer than...
The true cost of investing in funds
Thursday 09 Feb 2017The simple act of buying an investment fund may be relatively straightforward, but working out how much it costs can be fiendishly complicated. The cost may be different depending on where you buy it, when you buy it and whether someone advised you to buy it. Initially, there is the price an...
Are special situation funds unique?
Thursday 02 Feb 2017Special situation investment strategies are either considered to be the ultimate in active fund management or vanity projects for show-off stock pickers. They were all the rage about a decade ago after an 18 year run of super performance by Fidelity Special Situations Fund (GB00B88V3X40) , then...