Which Funds?

Round_The_Bend

ricky.patel89 wrote: »

Could you give me a 5 funds which can form the core of my portfolio please?

Aberdeen Emerging Markets
Ecclesiastical Amity International (Global)
First State Asia Pacific Leaders or Fidelity South East Asia
Smith & Williamson Global Gold & Resources and/or First State Global Resources
First State Indian Subcontinent (personal view that India has the greatest potential for strong returns over the longer term)

The above are just ideas but I think are worthwhile in the longer term, so long as there are no changes to the fund manager.

I would suggest drip feeding your current sum every two or three months to ride out any short-term fluctuations and then begin drip feeding whatever you can afford on a monthly basis.

If you want a less volatile ride, then some of the CF Ruffer funds are worth looking at (e.g. Total Return and European).

ricky.patel89

Aberdeen Emerging Markets Accumulation

Invesco Perpetual High Income Accumulation

JPMorgan Natural Resources Accumulation

Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Retail Accumulation

AXA Framlington Global Technology Fund Accumulation

I'm looking at these 5 funds now, any opinions?

ricky.patel89

What would you say the risk associated with these was, high? After doing some research this morning, they seem to be the best suited to me.

jimjames

ricky.patel89 wrote: »

What would you say the risk associated with these was, high? After doing some research this morning, they seem to be the best suited to me.

I own 2 of those 5 funds. The risk is higher than a UK fund if only for the currency risk before thinking about market or other risks.

Having said that I wouldn't have invested in them if I didn't think it was worthwhile. Emerging markets have had an excellent run recently so who knows what future performance may be.

jamesd

ricky.patel89, I hold four out of those five funds, in non-equal proportions. The lowest risk one is Invesco Perpetual Income, at a above medium risk. The others are high and speculative risk. Overall risk level of an evenly weighted portfolio would be in the high to speculative range with a potential price drop in the 50-70% range.

cashbackproblems

Im also looking to invest for 3-5 years and maybe 3/4 funds (1k each), definately First State India is top of my list among other emerging market ones mentioned above

jem16

cashbackproblems wrote: »

Im also looking to invest for 3-5 years

3-5 years is really too short a timeframe to invest for.

pqrdef

ricky.patel89 wrote: »

Would you guys agree with Sunil's idea that I should go aggressive in the early years adding the riskier funds now then further down the line add the more conservative funds?

With any single-sector fund, it's all in the timing. The only way to actually make any money is to buy cheap and sell dear. Your gains are purely hypothetical if you sit on the shares while they fall again.

People tend not to worry about timing when starting, but if you buy overpriced assets, your gains are immediately that much reduced (or putting it another way, you've lost money), and there's nothing you can ever do about it. Ask yourself, will this be cheaper later, and if the answer's yes, persuade yourself that there's nothing to be gained from rushing in.

And "long term" basically means you need a window of ten years or so within which you can and will actively choose a good time to sell. If you let the time of selling be dictated by extraneous circumstances, you've no idea whether the market will be up or down at that time.

A risky investment won't automatically produce bigger gains. On the face of it, the longer you take a risk, the more likely it is that the thing you're afraid of will happen.

A more volatile investment (not the same thing) will show bigger or faster swings and so offer the opportunities for better profits if you get the timing right.

The point of the advice is that if your end horizon is looming in the distance, you think about locking in your profits and then hanging on to them.


If you don't want to manage your investments, logic suggests that you give the fund manager the scope to do that, by buying multi-asset funds, aka portfolios or funds of funds. Then the fund manager decides when a market and sector offers value and when it's time to get out. With any single-sector fund, the one thing the fund manager can't do for you is the most important thing - get out before a fall.

sabretoothtigger

jem16 wrote: »

3-5 years is really too short a timeframe to invest for.

depends how firm the deadline is. If it has to be sold dead on 5 years I agree, if it can be left a while if something like 2008 happens it seems enough time to me

Rollinghome

jem16 wrote: »

3-5 years is really too short a timeframe to invest for.

Very simplistic cliche. It depends very much on what the investment is and how it's done. On that basis no one would ever expect to hold a share for less than 3 years. On occasions I've stagged shares for only a few days and had good profits as a result. I would consider myself a very conservative investor.