M&G Fund

[billy78]

Hi all,
My father has passed his M&G fund account on to me. I don't know much about it, but he's been paying in small sums of money on a monthly basis for the past 10-15 years. Its worth around £3000 now. The fund is M&G Global Basics A Acc. Not sure what the abbreviations after the name indicate (maybe someone can help??).
Basically, is it worth me continuing to add money in on a monthly basis? Is this fund any good.?
I did have a look on a couple of websites and it would seem that they rate it reasonably highly.

Thanks, Billy.

[purch]

The A stands for the type of Unit in the Fund, M&G generally have different classes of unit for different investor classes.

The Acc stands for Accumulation, which means that any dividends earned are accumulated into your Units, rather than paid out to you as Income.

[billy78]

Thanks Purch.

Seems useful then as a long term investment??
Any thoughts on whether its worth keeping? I'm not in desperate need of the money (Yet!) and it seems a reasonable starting point to drip feed long term??

Thanks

[Reaper]

We can't really advise on investments but if it were me I wouldn't sell up just after a crash. As for whether to put more money in - well if you are then drip feeding into a global fund seems a good, well diversified strategy if you have money to spare (and that you can afford to lose if it all goes horribly wrong!)

I should add I haven't looked at the fund details.

[billy78]

Thanks Reaper.
I probably will keep it and drip into it then.
As you said, not wise to to sell at current climate anyway.
Thanks, Bill.

[Ian W]

I'm sorry - Purch is a very knowledgeable posters who in most instances I would defer to re investments - but in this instance his explanation isn't correct.
There's an explanation from M&G HERE (http://www.mandg.co.uk/Consumer/FundInformation/Discounts/index.jsp) about A and X class shares but basically A class have an upfront fee and can come in Acc or Income varieties, whereas X class shares have no upfront fee but a diminishing exit fee if you withdraw from them in the 1st 5yrs. Only M&G AFAIK use this system so it is easy to assume that A = Accumulator.

As to the Fund itself, there is a TRUSTNET (http://www.trustnet.com/ut/funds/?fund=440) factsheet and also one from M&G (http://www.mandg.co.uk/Consumer/Images/Global%20Basics_CON_tcm1481-26648.pdf). Personally I hold the fund which has produced good returns over several years but has recently suffered worse than many in the stock market declines due to the areas it invests in. I still hold it and have no plans to sell but you must make your own mind up but it's a small part of my investments rather than the main or only one.

With £3K I might look to diversify some of it to other funds invested in different areas either with M&G or a Fund Supermarket. Avoid "eggs in one basket" as it were!

HTH.

EDIT to add:
I'm sorry - still defer to purch on all things investments!!
It's me that has mis-read his explanation, consider this to explain his comments further!! :o

[Lokolo]

I'm sorry - Purch is a very knowledgeable posters who in most instances I would defer to re investments - but in this instance his explanation isn't correct.
There's an explanation from M&G HERE (http://www.mandg.co.uk/Consumer/FundInformation/Discounts/index.jsp) about A and X class shares but basically A class have an upfront fee and can come in Acc or Income varieties, whereas X class shares have no upfront fee but a diminishing exit fee if you withdraw from them in the 1st 5yrs. Only M&G AFAIK use this system so it is easy to assume that A = Accumulator.

As to the Fund itself, there is a TRUSTNET (http://www.trustnet.com/ut/funds/?fund=440) factsheet and also one from M&G (http://www.mandg.co.uk/Consumer/Images/Global%20Basics_CON_tcm1481-26648.pdf). Personally I hold the fund which has produced good returns over several years but has recently suffered worse than many in the stock market declines due to the areas it invests in. I still hold it and have no plans to sell but you must make your own mind up but it's a small part of my investments rather than the main or only one.

With £3K I might look to diversify some of it to other funds invested in different areas either with M&G or a Fund Supermarket. Avoid "eggs in one basket" as it were!

HTH.

^^ just for the OPs sake so if he looks at other funds.

Some fund companies have same sector funds, so example High Income. They will have a number of these, so infact you will get

X High Income A Acc
X High Income A Inc
X High Income B Acc
X High Income B Inc
X High Income C Acc
X High Income C Inc

Its just a way of knowing which one you are in, it usually only happens in very large fund companies.

Obviously in the M&G this isn't the case, but in most it is how purch has explained.

[purch]

Is this fund any good.?


That is always a tough question to answer, as one persons opinion can differ so much on what is considered good.

Within it's Investment Area I would say that it a good performer.

IanW has pointed you in the direction of the Factsheets that show where and how the Fund is invested. The best thing that you could do is read up on the Fund and decide if it's objectives and overall view fit in with your aims and views. Not all Funds automatically will, just because they invest in Equity's doesn't mean they are all the same.

P.S. Thanks to IanW for pointing in the direction of the explanation of the differences. I knew they were different, not but the actual difference.....Thanks

[turbobob]

Theres a bit of comment on this fund here which is worth reading - http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/funds/article.aspx?lang=en-GB&articleID=57203&categoryID=14

Now that is not the same as saying its not any good. Just that you should be aware that it is a more specialised fund than most in the global equity sector, and therefore riskier.

[billy78]

Hi all,
Thanks for the very informative replies. Its much appreciated.
Bill