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Critique My S&S ISA Selection

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24

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  • Totton
    Totton Posts: 981 Forumite
    edited 26 February 2012 at 11:44PM
    Hi Jabba,
    Out of interest which 7 funds did you previously hold and what did you switch to for each?

    I held the following within the previous 2 yrs and went for those in bold as a close alternative -

    First State Asia Pacific Leaders Acc Newton Asian Income & Scottish Smaller Co's IT (SST)
    JPM Natural Resources A Acc Blackrock World Mining Trust (BWMT)
    Neptune European Opportunities Acc Personal Assets IT (PNL)
    Aberdeen Emerging Markets Acc Templeton Emerging Markets IT (TEM)
    M&G Global Basics Fund A Acc Caledonia IT (CLDN)
    Neptune Global Equity Fund Acc RIT Capital Partners IT (RCP)
    Jupiter Financial Opportunities Fund Throgmorton IT (THRG) & Worldwide Healthcare (WWH)
    Invesco Perpetual High Income Acc Troy Income & Growth IT

    Taking them from the top, the Newton fund and Scottish Smllr Co's fund will shortly all be SST. I chose this as I wanted small cap exposure in the Far East. It is high risk though.

    PNL replaced the Neptune fund, okay PNL is not a European fund but the manager Lyon is a buyer of Euro stocks so it's the closest I have at the moment.

    TEM replaced Aberdeen, basically I got out of EM funds and then bought back in via TEM due to its discount and move towards Frontier markets.

    The M&G Global Basics fund has been a core holding, I got out of it as it was slacking and I fancied the huge discount Caledonia found itself on following poor performance. The fund is apparently being turned around and is a pick of some IT commentators.

    THRG replaced Jupiter Financial as the OEIC had made me a lot in a short space of time, financials were bombing out and generally I was losing faith with Jupiter as a management house, I held a few of their funds and none were sparkling. I do like Jupiter though but my money could do better elsewhere for awhile. I also bought into WWH as part of my satellite holdings as was the Jupiter financial fund.

    IP High Income is a good fund but I sold out of it in favour of the cheaper Edinburgh IT (EDIN) which I have since sold as I prefer Troy Income & Growth (TIGT) because the IT was taken over by Troy and they have been doing some good things of late. I also hold a couple of other UK IT's but am cutting back in favour of Capital Gearing Trust (CGT), Scottish Mortgage (SMT) and Mithras IT which is a risky Private Equity play but on a 30% discount at the moment.

    If all that seems confusing then apologies, things are in transition as I mostly switch current OEIC holdings into IT's.

    It is worthwhile taking a look at IT's, ETF's and Trackers, there are some good funds out there on a cheaper basis than the OEICS but be sure to go for performance over cost, cheap isn't always best in this universe :-)

    Best Wishes,
    Mickey
  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 18,155 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Hung up my suit!
    BLB53 wrote: »
    Most of your returns will be going to the fund managers rather than you! I would seriously consider some cheaper investment options.


    Surely the objective is to maximise ones own return rather than minimise someone elses. This isnt a zero sum game.

    What portfolio would you suggest for someone who believes that possibly higher risk niche investments are more likely to generate a good return than whole of mature market ones?
  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 18,155 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Hung up my suit!
    Totton wrote: »
    Hi Jabba,



    I held the following within the previous 2 yrs and went for those in bold as a close alternative -

    First State Asia Pacific Leaders Acc Newton Asian Income & Scottish Smaller Co's IT (SST)
    JPM Natural Resources A Acc Blackrock World Mining Trust (BWMT)
    Neptune European Opportunities Acc Personal Assets IT (PNL)
    Aberdeen Emerging Markets Acc Templeton Emerging Markets IT (TEM)
    M&G Global Basics Fund A Acc Caledonia IT (CLDN)
    Neptune Global Equity Fund Acc RIT Capital Partners IT (RCP)
    Jupiter Financial Opportunities Fund Throgmorton IT (THRG) & Worldwide Healthcare (WWH)
    Invesco Perpetual High Income Acc Troy Income & Growth IT

    Taking them from the top, the Newton fund and Scottish Smllr Co's fund will shortly all be SST. I chose this as I wanted small cap exposure in the Far East. It is high risk though.

    PNL replaced the Neptune fund, okay PNL is not a European fund but the manager Lyon is a buyer of Euro stocks so it's the closest I have at the moment.

    TEM replaced Aberdeen, basically I got out of EM funds and then bought back in via TEM due to its discount and move towards Frontier markets.

    The M&G Global Basics fund has been a core holding, I got out of it as it was slacking and I fancied the huge discount Caledonia found itself on following poor performance. The fund is apparently being turned around and is a pick of some IT commentators.

    THRG replaced Jupiter Financial as the OEIC had made me a lot in a short space of time, financials were bombing out and generally I was losing faith with Jupiter as a management house, I held a few of their funds and none were sparkling. I do like Jupiter though but my money could do better elsewhere for awhile. I also bought into WWH as part of my satellite holdings as was the Jupiter financial fund.

    IP High Income is a good fund but I sold out of it in favour of the cheaper Edinburgh IT (EDIN) which I have since sold as I prefer Troy Income & Growth (TIGT) because the IT was taken over by Troy and they have been doing some good things of late. I also hold a couple of other UK IT's but am cutting back in favour of Capital Gearing Trust (CGT), Scottish Mortgage (SMT) and Mithras IT which is a risky Private Equity play but on a 30% discount at the moment.

    If all that seems confusing then apologies, things are in transition as I mostly switch current OEIC holdings into IT's.

    It is worthwhile taking a look at IT's, ETF's and Trackers, there are some good funds out there on a cheaper basis than the OEICS but be sure to go for performance over cost, cheap isn't always best in this universe :-)

    Best Wishes,
    Mickey

    Have you been tracking your old and new portfolios? Any conclusions or is it too early?
  • Totton
    Totton Posts: 981 Forumite
    Have you been tracking your old and new portfolios? Any conclusions or is it too early?

    Yes, I am tracking them both in Morningstar and Trustnet as both portfolio services offer me different things. At the moment the IT version is doing better but it is probably too early to draw a conclusion.

    Templeton Emerging Mkts got hit with a big fall close to 20% during the transition so that had to be recovered and is still around 5% off the pace compared to First State. TIGT, CLDN and THRG all have been kind. I'm running a separate but very similar portfolio in OEICS and that is well behind the IT portfolio over this short period.

    I'm very happy with the IT's, a few reasons are that I like to read the extra reports in the form of Annual and Six Monthly documents, these are much more informative than the OEICS give me whilst both types do monthly fact sheets. I also like the limited universe rather than the thousands of choices in funds and finally I can generally pay lower fees whilst still retaining the active management element which suits me as I don't currently want to hold individual equities.

    HTH,
    Mickey
  • BLB53
    BLB53 Posts: 1,583 Forumite
    Thanks. What would you suggest as an alternative?


    Personally, I just think a lot of these OEICS are over hyped by the financial media and the charges are often too high imo - 1.5% or 2%. My preferences would be for inv. trusts like Murray International and City of London, possibly a smaller companies trust like Aberforth.

    In addition, a selection of low cost trackers from e.g. HSBC should do the job. I think there is really no need to pay more than say 0.5% and certainly 1% pa max. in charges.

    Just my two penn'orth fwiw!

    BLB
  • Totton wrote: »
    Hi Jabba,



    I held the following within the previous 2 yrs and went for those in bold as a close alternative -

    First State Asia Pacific Leaders Acc Newton Asian Income & Scottish Smaller Co's IT (SST)
    JPM Natural Resources A Acc Blackrock World Mining Trust (BWMT)
    Neptune European Opportunities Acc Personal Assets IT (PNL)
    Aberdeen Emerging Markets Acc Templeton Emerging Markets IT (TEM)
    M&G Global Basics Fund A Acc Caledonia IT (CLDN)
    Neptune Global Equity Fund Acc RIT Capital Partners IT (RCP)
    Jupiter Financial Opportunities Fund Throgmorton IT (THRG) & Worldwide Healthcare (WWH)
    Invesco Perpetual High Income Acc Troy Income & Growth IT

    Taking them from the top, the Newton fund and Scottish Smllr Co's fund will shortly all be SST. I chose this as I wanted small cap exposure in the Far East. It is high risk though.

    PNL replaced the Neptune fund, okay PNL is not a European fund but the manager Lyon is a buyer of Euro stocks so it's the closest I have at the moment.

    TEM replaced Aberdeen, basically I got out of EM funds and then bought back in via TEM due to its discount and move towards Frontier markets.

    The M&G Global Basics fund has been a core holding, I got out of it as it was slacking and I fancied the huge discount Caledonia found itself on following poor performance. The fund is apparently being turned around and is a pick of some IT commentators.

    THRG replaced Jupiter Financial as the OEIC had made me a lot in a short space of time, financials were bombing out and generally I was losing faith with Jupiter as a management house, I held a few of their funds and none were sparkling. I do like Jupiter though but my money could do better elsewhere for awhile. I also bought into WWH as part of my satellite holdings as was the Jupiter financial fund.

    IP High Income is a good fund but I sold out of it in favour of the cheaper Edinburgh IT (EDIN) which I have since sold as I prefer Troy Income & Growth (TIGT) because the IT was taken over by Troy and they have been doing some good things of late. I also hold a couple of other UK IT's but am cutting back in favour of Capital Gearing Trust (CGT), Scottish Mortgage (SMT) and Mithras IT which is a risky Private Equity play but on a 30% discount at the moment.

    If all that seems confusing then apologies, things are in transition as I mostly switch current OEIC holdings into IT's.

    It is worthwhile taking a look at IT's, ETF's and Trackers, there are some good funds out there on a cheaper basis than the OEICS but be sure to go for performance over cost, cheap isn't always best in this universe :-)

    Best Wishes,
    Mickey

    Hi Mickey,

    Thanks for the update. Out of interest how long had you held these funds before you switched? I have found that switching within less than 5 years of holding often leads to bad timings or decisions. Would be interested in your views and those of others?

    Jabba
  • Hi All,

    Just received this link by email from HL. Would appreciate views from the forum whether this is marketing promotion or worthwhile considering from a portfolio construction perspective.

    http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/master-portfolios

    Thoughts?

    Jabba
  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 18,155 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Hung up my suit!
    jabbahut40 wrote: »
    Hi All,

    Just received this link by email from HL. Would appreciate views from the forum whether this is marketing promotion or worthwhile considering from a portfolio construction perspective.

    http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/master-portfolios

    Thoughts?

    Jabba


    It's a marketing promotion. If it was an aid to portfolio construction I would want to see in the following order:
    1 - Objectives
    2 - Strategy
    3 - Sector allocation
    4 - Funds

    Only then could you assess whether this particular portfolio ties in with your objectives and follows an investing approach with which you feel happy. Which particular funds are chosen IMHO should be relatively speaking unimportant.
  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 18,155 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Hung up my suit!
    BLB53 wrote: »
    Personally, I just think a lot of these OEICS are over hyped by the financial media and the charges are often too high imo - 1.5% or 2%. My preferences would be for inv. trusts like Murray International and City of London, possibly a smaller companies trust like Aberforth.

    In addition, a selection of low cost trackers from e.g. HSBC should do the job. I think there is really no need to pay more than say 0.5% and certainly 1% pa max. in charges.

    Just my two penn'orth fwiw!

    BLB

    Have you compared the performance of your preferences with the OEICs/UTs listed in this thread in different market conditions and over different time periods? You can do it fairly easily on Trustnet - I think it is an instructive exercise.

    Have a look at Aberforth compared with my UK Smaller Companies investment in Old Mutual Select UK Smaller Companies over individual years and over say 10 years.
  • gadgetmind
    gadgetmind Posts: 11,130 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Linton wrote: »
    I am afraid there are many here who would say we are on the wrong track and should really be going for FTSE trackers.

    Trackers, yes, FTSE trackers, not so much. Maybe you want to add some home bias, but you probably want some EM and small cap bias - I know I do!
    I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.

    Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.
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