Investments - Help and advice with changing funds sought please

StevieJ

thrupence wrote: »

The First State Greater China Growth is a very good fund with a top notch manager. First State are very good for Asia generally, so you might want to look at their Asia Pacific Leaders fund too.

I have a couple of First State funds, I am very impressed:D I chose them because I thought they are Australian so effectively natives to the area :cool: I may be wrong though. That S&G Japan fund has been pretty good.

thrupence

StevieJ wrote: »

I have a couple of First State funds, I am very impressed:D I chose them because I thought they are Australian so effectively natives to the area :cool: I may be wrong though. That S&G Japan fund has been pretty good.

:beer:

They are Australian, and are focussed on Aussie commodities and the Asia/Pacific region, so they've been well placed to exploit those dynamics as they unfold.

http://www.colonialfirststate.com.au/

First State is their international trading name. I like their 1.55% TER resources fund too, and will be buyng in there on the next dip.

And yes, I've got the SG Core Alpha Japan fund too. It's been a solid and consistent top performer.

Even though I don't invest through Bestinvest, I like the way they assess each manager's performance in terms of luck in sector or added value. It's a very useful tool. All the above do very well on it. There's an explanation on the website as to how they work this out.

Interestingly, the Gartmore China Opps fund manager does not do so well on the luck versus added value score, so maybe H-L aren't that wrong in their recent reassessment?

Woggy67

Hi All,

Firstly many thanks to those of you who have kindly posted replies.

Whilst I have done well to get to this point and actually have some investments, now that I have started to look into them and consider changes etc. I realise just how little I know and there is definitely some 'fear that I may not know enough to be making properly informed decisions. I certainly was not aware of 'shorting' before today.

I will try and cover some of the points raised in your replies below:

1) Thank you to those who pointed out in their replies the need to check performance over time, say 5 years rather than the previous year or last few months. I will try and ensure I take this into account when looking at funds in the future. Because this is so important this links to why I was asking about whether there was a really easy place to get this information i.e. like a 'comparing funds for dummies' website, for the likes of me who have only limited knowledge.

2) Thank you thrupence for the list of websites to screen funds. Initial impressions are that they are still a little above me, but I have gained some insight from the Bestinvest site which had a list of ‘Recommended UTs/OEICs’. I have used this to double check my list of funds and their replacements and with this in mind now have a revised list based on information gained from the HL and Bestinvest lists of recommended funds.

This will be my starting point, but hopefully with time and a little more understanding I plan to revisit the websites and see what else I can gleen.

3) Thank you turbobob for your advice on weightings and percentages. I won't try and work it out now, but suffice to say that these funds sit within a portfolio which has a bit in most sectors and is generally well balanced, although as correctly pointed out has funds more towards the risky/adventurous end of the scale.

As such I was looking at replacing a poor performing fund with a better fund in the same sector, in the hope of seeing some gains when things pick-up. However, if the advice is perhaps to consider more cautious funds for now, and wait for the market then I would be happy to receive any comments/suggestions.

4) Thanks to all who have offered suggestions in terms of particular funds. I will certainly be looking at these funds and giving them some consideration.

5) Finally as I have used my ISA allowance for this year (08/09) but still hold some cash with HL I was wondering about where this should be invested? I continue to hear a lot about it being the right time to invest in Corporate Bonds, hence I wondered whether these would be a useful addition to what I already hold. If so what do people think of the following which seem to have gained some press lately:

• Jupiter Corporate Bond
• Royal LondonSterling Extra Yield Bond
• Invesco Perpetual Corporate Bond
• M&G Strategic Corporate Bond
• SWIP Global Bond Plus

Thanks again to anyone who takes time to offer their thoughts or advice.

Myrmidon_J

Woggy67 wrote:

I continue to hear a lot about it being the right time to invest in Corporate Bonds, hence I wondered whether these would be a useful addition to what I already hold.

Corporate Bond funds are very complex instruments and should never be considered as 'safe' as cash. There are many factors that can influence performance in the short- and long-term; the same factors will have decided the top-performing funds now appearing in 'recommended' lists.

For example, the extent to which currency exposure has been hedged (or not) has dramatically affected performance, as Sterling has tanked against most major currencies in the last year.

Or consider credit risk: traditionally 'high yield' funds (investing in lower-rated corporate bonds) have suffered severe capital loss as the markets price in the risk of significant default rates. Funds investing in AAA-rated securities, by contrast, have performed rather well.

As always, diversification is key. Of the funds that you have selected, I rate the M&G Strategic Corporate Bond fund most highly (taking the above into account). However, please do not take this as "advice" - it is only a personal opinon!

chris1

dunstonh wrote: »

HLs wealth 150 is a marketing tool.

Woggy67 wrote: »

I have gained some insight from the Bestinvest site which had a list of ‘Recommended UTs/OEICs’.

Is this a 'marketing tool' in the same way as HL's 'Wealth 150'?

thrupence

On Bestinvest's recommendations

chris1 wrote: »

Is this a 'marketing tool' in the same way as HL's 'Wealth 150'?

They may well be.

However, Bestinvest have a separate tool which tells you how each manager has out or underperformed their sector index, and even more usefully give an indication of whether the manager was just lucky or skilful in their choices.

Did the manager add value or not.

How they work this out is explained on the site.

Hatone

I'd stay away from Japanese funds that are geared for growth or relying on Japanese equities.

Out of all the available Japanese funds available, I ended up going for Neptune Japan. My reason was because, as trupence pointed out, the manager has shorted the Topix stock index and will continue to hold that position until the condition of the economy improves. The manager has positioned the fund well, investing in chemical and technology companies with strong balance sheets, as well as putting a large proportion into cash to conserve investors' capital.

The future of Japan is looking grim, exports are diving, the government is in turmoil, economy has shrunk 6%, unemployment levels at an all new high and many small businesses are going under.

Needless to say, investing in Japan now should be considered as 'extremely high risk'.

TH1878

dunstonh wrote: »

I would disagree with their removal of Gartmore China Opps based on a very short period of not as strong performance despite a strong record and being an early in the region compared to others

I agree - I was doing some Risk Metrics on Analytics yesterday for our Q209 fund portfolios and FS Greater China Growth and Gartmore China Opps had almost identical results (except that the Gartmore fund had a more aggressive Beta and higher volatility).

In an upward market, you could argue that would be the more favourable depending on the attitude to risk.