How do I find a unit trust?

Totton

Rollinghome wrote: »

The OP said she didn't "want to be picking & choosing" and so I really don't think that considering ITs would be very sensible.

I couldn't agree with you less on this, the choice for IT's is far easier than funds which number in their thousands. For a simple choice there are the likes of F&C IT, Witan and a few others. I'm sure you now that though :-)

Rollinghome

Totton wrote: »

I couldn't agree with you less on this, the choice for IT's is far easier than funds which number in their thousands. For a simple choice there are the likes of F&C IT, Witan and a few others. I'm sure you now that though :-)

And there are also Scottish Mortgage and Law Debenture, both of which you earlier recommended.

I don't know what research you did before recommending those shares but presumably you are aware that Scottish Mortgage has moved from a discount of 6% to a premium of over 2% in just over 2 months. What is it that causes you to recommend an IT whose differential to its NAV has moved to that extent in such a sort period? I assume you have some strongly researched reasons to justify it?

Similarly with Law Debenture. I assume you also have some justification for recommending an IT on a premium of 16% and something pretty strong. Is it based on the returns you expect from its associated business and if so why? It's not always sensible to invest in shares solely because they're going up.

You're right that F&C, which you didn't initially recommend, is a more staid proposition largely due to its discount management policy. But without some "picking and choosing" and some research how would expect the OP to know that?

Last time I looked at their accounts Tigue had big problems after misreading interest rates and taking on huge debt on unfavourable terms. If it's a company you've been following, how did that pan out and has it been resolved? You are presumably also aware of the BMO offer for F&C Asset Management so how do you expect that to affect the performance of F&C longer term?

The point I'm making is that ITs are companies, not unit trusts, and so need to be researched like the shares any other companies. That's not too hard for most people provided they're interested but at the very least you should be reading the company reports and preferably going to the shareholders meetings. Because they need more time and effort they aren't so suitable for very small holdings.

If you haven't been investing in ITs for very long and think they can be bought like unit trusts without looking under the bonnet then are you sure you fully understand what you're invested in? All the shares you've mentioned are those that tend to be recommended by the likes of the Mail which affects the price and generally isn't a good way to buy shares.

And more to the point, while I'm sure your intentions were good, should you be recommending shares that you may hold to unsophisticated new investors on a forum like this, especially without giving your reasons?