Anyone invested in Fidelity.co.uk China Special Situations Fund?

mr_fishbulb

le_loup wrote: »

Not just the media. It was on the lists of a lot of advisers as well!

Who probably received a lot of PR guff from Fidelity to push this fund as well as the media guys

I did look into it at the time, partly because of AB's record, partly because Hargreaves Landsdown were pimping it, and partly because my girlfriend at the time worked for Fidelity and even she was talking about it. I was put off because I don't understand ITs as much as UTs/OEICs, I already had a fair chunk invested in China, and AB had only looked at the UK before (it's like saying David Beckham's going to be a good rugby player because he did really well at football).

I don't think anyone is surprised it's made a loss so far, but it's a bigger loss than the benchmark index and I wonder how long it would take Fidelity to pull the plug if that continues.

atush

ITs aren't that hard to understand really. and I prefer them to OEICs.

mr_fishbulb

atush wrote: »

ITs aren't that hard to understand really. and I prefer them to OEICs.

I know that basics, but haven't really looked into them much as I drip feed monthly so the dealing charges rule them out for me.

le_loup

mr_fishbulb wrote: »

as I drip feed monthly so the dealing charges rule them out for me.

Not if you use their savings schemes.

Totton

The only reason to continue holding this fund is if you believe that it will turn good and outperform, okay it will probably get back to break even in a couple of years but how will you feel if it doesn't? Personally I think there are better funds for that region so if deciding to stay in China my money would be elsewhere.

As mentioned earlier, you really need to think about how this investment fits into any other holdings, if it is your only holding then it's a good one for a very high risk strategy. Personally I don't have the appetite for that level of risk so if it were my sole holding then I'd be selling out and going for a better mix with perhaps just keeping 5% of this one to remind me of my mistake (we all make them) :-)

Regards,
Mickey

mr_fishbulb

le_loup wrote: »

Not if you use their savings schemes.

Don't think Hargreaves Lansdown has one of them, and that's who I have my UTs with in my ISA. It's no problem for me at the mo, I'm happy sticking with UTs

olulia

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I've been amazed by the expertise shown - i didn't expect anything! I hope to break even - but your point about maybe selling - mostly to relieve the stress of worrying - is a good idea, but keeping enough a) as a reminder! b) to keep some prospects of breaking even open.... may be the way to go now. Many thanks, olulia

jimjames

le_loup wrote: »

Not if you use their savings schemes.

I'm reluctant to ever invest in ITs that are trading at a premium but since it has dropped I have started investing via the Fidelity savings scheme each month. I'm hoping that now is a good time as a result of the falls that have happened and I do think it is a good long term play.

IronWolf

Most important thing is don't let emotions control your decisions. Losses are something you have to put out of mind if you're investing. It isn't a loss until you sell, the only reason to sell is if you think its over priced or wont do well in the future.

Jegersmart

Olulia

Welcome to the MSE forum!

This is a new Investment Trust launched last year. It is being run by a chap called Anthony Bolton who has a long and successful track record in fund management. The IT is invested in Chinese and Hong Kong companies listed globally. Some of the most successful funds invested in this geographical area have made 60-80% return in 3 years, and over 200% over 7 years - but of course along the way there will be ups and downs, in some cases probably a lot more than the 27% or so you are/may be down at the moment. Fluctuations in price are caused by buying and selling - and over the past year or so quite a few of these "emerging" markets have been sold off. There can be many reasons for this, but generally in my opinion in this sort of region it can be put down to profit taking. If you invested 3 years ago you may have been sitting on 80% gain, and at some point if you think the world is starting to look not-so-rosy you will want to take profits and this can cause selling pressure and a falling price. The reason for hypothesising in this way is that you should understand how markets work and how market behaviour manifests itself. The market will always test prices robustly, so once the selling pressure starts it will continue until enough people start buying. In this case as a proxy, the China A50 as an example, it reached a low of the year on October 10th 2011, and we have been back to test that price level once already on 30th November and we didn't make it down to the same level as last time. This can suggest that we are starting to find the bottom.

All this may sound like absolute nonsense if you are not familiar with the markets, but if I were you and looking to make a change to this holding I would actually look to *buy* now, not sell. In any case, these types of funds are *long term* investments generally (unless you realyl know markets and are buying at lows) so to worry about what happens in one year means to me that you probably didn't fully understand the investment from the start. Having said that, I am also invested to a point in this region as I believe there will be more growth there than in Europe over the next 3 years along with other regions of the world of course.

I hope that helps and that I haven't confused you further.

J