opinions on funds

westy69

Hi folks i'm desperately trying to get some opinions on these 2 funds, i dont want advice on what to do just opinions on the funds, i'm looking at moving 50% out of 2 distribution funds into these as a "safer haven"

they are

http://webfund6.financialexpress.net/clients/standardlife/fundFactsheet.aspx?type=retail&code=OW26

http://services.norwich-union.co.uk/consumer/Life/ABIUKLIFE_GBR_76000012_EN.pdf

any opinions would be greatly appreciated, unfortunately i am limited to what i can do with the money as they are within bonds already and there are only so many options available to me

TH1878

westy69 wrote: »

Hi folks i'm desperately trying to get some opinions on these 2 funds, i dont want advice on what to do just opinions on the funds, i'm looking at moving 50% out of 2 distribution funds into these as a "safer haven"

they are

http://webfund6.financialexpress.net/clients/standardlife/fundFactsheet.aspx?type=retail&code=OW26

http://services.norwich-union.co.uk/consumer/Life/ABIUKLIFE_GBR_76000012_EN.pdf

any opinions would be greatly appreciated, unfortunately i am limited to what i can do with the money as they are within bonds already and there are only so many options available to me

The M&G Corporate Bond fund is a high quality fund - I prefer the Strategic Corporate Bond fund myself (has more investment flexibility) but it's not too far behind.

What bond funds are available under the NU contract?

westy69

thank you

http://www.fundworksinvestments.com/nu/tools/DailyFundPrices.aspx?site=Life&filter=NUL4

DiggerUK

@Westy69, I would not recommend anybody to invest in anything associated with stocks and equities.
60% down on 5 years ago, 25/30% down on 2 years ago, and 20% down on a year ago. Even the politicians are saying this is the worst recession since the 1930's. Do you really believe their claims of "signs of recovery from late 2009 and 2010 ?

As to the two funds you post about, read the first screen on both pages.
They make juicy promises about how much they want to return to you, but only guarantee that you could loose your shirt.

Lokolo

DiggerUK wrote: »

@Westy69, I would not recommend anybody to invest in anything associated with stocks and equities.
60% down on 5 years ago, 25/30% down on 2 years ago, and 20% down on a year ago. Even the politicians are saying this is the worst recession since the 1930's. Do you really believe their claims of "signs of recovery from late 2009 and 2010 ?

As to the two funds you post about, read the first screen on both pages.
They make juicy promises about how much they want to return to you, but only guarantee that you could loose your shirt.

Hes not asking for you opinion on whether he sould invest or not. He is asking for opinion on the 2 funds.

Aegis

DiggerUK wrote: »

@Westy69, I would not recommend anybody to invest in anything associated with stocks and equities.
60% down on 5 years ago, 25/30% down on 2 years ago, and 20% down on a year ago. Even the politicians are saying this is the worst recession since the 1930's. Do you really believe their claims of "signs of recovery from late 2009 and 2010 ?

As to the two funds you post about, read the first screen on both pages.
They make juicy promises about how much they want to return to you, but only guarantee that you could loose your shirt.

Could you please clarify the terms on which you're giving this financial advice? What facts are you basing your recommendation on? Have you assessed this person's needs in a manner that allows you to determine if investing is right for them or not?

As the OP has mentioned, the money is tied up in what sounds like an investment bond already, meaning the choice of what to switch into could be very limited. Offering your opinion that equities are no good (based on the fact that we've just had a huge crash, making it potentially the best time to buy in a very long time) is fairly pointless if the OP has no choice in the matter.

Not to mention the fact that these funds are corporate bond funds rather than anything equity-based...

nrsql

DiggerUK wrote: »

@Westy69, I would not recommend anybody to invest in anything associated with stocks and equities.
60% down on 5 years ago, 25/30% down on 2 years ago, and 20% down on a year ago. Even the politicians are saying this is the worst recession since the 1930's. Do you really believe their claims of "signs of recovery from late 2009 and 2010 ?

Lol.
What would you have recommended 2 years ago?
Do you think it's a better or worse time to invest than 2 years ago.
Where else would be better to place the money?

purch

I would not recommend anybody to invest in anything associated with stocks and equities.

What about Gilts ??

P.S. That's a trick question.

Rollinghome

Aegis wrote: »

Offering your opinion that equities are no good (based on the fact that we've just had a huge crash, making it potentially the best time to buy in a very long time)...

For balance we should point out that many people were saying exactly the same one year ago. They said we had reached the bottom so it was now a great time to invest. The markets then lost another third. Do a search of these forums. Can you recall what you were saying then?

It is a good time in the sense that any sensible investor should have now learned just how risky the markets, both equities and bonds, really are and can make judgements based on that. Others will have learned nothing.

Aegis

Rollinghome wrote: »

For balance we should point out that many people were saying exactly the same one year ago. They said we had reached the bottom so it was now a great time to invest. The markets then lost another third. Do a search of these forums. Can you recall what you were saying then?

It is a good time in the sense that any sensible investor should have now learned just how risky the markets, both equities and bonds, really are and can make judgements based on that. Others will have learned nothing.

I honestly have no solid idea what I was saying a year ago. The fall from 6500 to about 5800 wasn't exactly a crash and probably didn't have me all that worried, which probably means I was suggesting drip feeding, which is much the same as I'm both saying and doing now. I stand by that and believe that it will more than pay off when the markets start to rise again.

As long as you're in no hurry to get your money out, the drip feeding option will serve most people very well as time goes on, smoothing out the volatility of buying units and offering the potential for good long-term growth.

The general consensus on this forum is that there is no single best time to buy, but there are better times when compared with previous market states. As an example, now is comparatively the best buying option in many years because of how much cheaper shares can be bought for. This isn't a guarantee that they will perform well in the short term, but it's a factual statement that it is cheaper to buy them now than it was 1, 2, 3 years ago, etc. If equities in general were a good buy at those times, then arguably they are a better buy now as long as you take a long term view and allow for a lot of short-term volatility.

As long as someone sufficiently diversifies their equity holdings, this could be a very good opportunity for people to start getting into investments.

I agree entirely with your second paragraph. This drop is a great example of why investing should be a long term strategy and should not be used for short-term gains except by people who know exactly what they are doing and have the sense to set stop-losses or hedge their position. This is an indication of what can go wrong when things really tank, and that's something people should know about before investing.

However, that doesn't mean that equities are no good, which is essentially what I was getting at.

Rollinghome

Aegis wrote: »

I honestly have no solid idea what I was saying a year ago.

Well what you were telling someone was that they were too late, the market had already bottomed and was on the way up. But don't worry about it, you weren't alone so it's unfair to mention it.

The market had then lost 19% since the autumn by 21 March before bouncing much of the way back by 19 May, which was shortly before you commented - before going 40% down.

Which proves yet again that it is only retrospectively that we know where the bottom is or when it's when "a good time to buy".

As FTSE is now 40% lower than it was 10 years ago, we should perhaps rethink what we mean by long term too - certainly a lot longer than the "5 years" advisers were trotting out until recently.

If nothing else we should at least understand how little we know.