Decent equity ISA funds?

BarrBru

Conrad wrote: »

In terms of the following, what might be some funds worth considering? I understand Investment Trusts have provided better returns that Unit Trusts?

Conrad I'm a big fan of investment trusts. I used work for an IFA as a Paraplanner, which the guy who does the research, comes up with funds, writes the report.
What I learned back then was that investment trusts performed better but we never recommended them because they didn't pay commission and clients didn't want to pay fees.

All mine and my wife's savings are in investment trusts and one unit trust.

I'm not sure if you are looking for actual fund suggestions or just where to invest? There are a lot of funds I think are great right now, though it would be sensible to be a wee bit cautious because markets have risen so much.

Also, you don't state how long you can put your money away for?

There is really good stuff on two websites regarding investment trusts - Morningstar.co.uk - good research
or WhichInvestmentTrust.com - good research but in plain English
There is some good stuff elsewhere but be careful of journalists just writing about the latest fad. That happens on Trustnet & Citywire though there is good stuff on them too.

Happy to share my investment choices if you are looking for that.

Smithy101

BarrBru, there are good tips on the Motley Fool Forums though their website isn't so good I find but the forums are.

WhichInvestmentTrust.com forums are getting busier, they're newer but they're not as good as Fool yet.
The weekly newsletter on the Whichinvestment..... site is worth signing up for.

Citywire has one really good analyst I just can't remember his name? Cardew or something?

gadgetmind

BarrBru wrote: »

investment trusts performed better but we never recommended them because they didn't pay commission

But wait what? Do you mean that the desires of the advisers were placed above the needs of the clients? That's just crazy talk!

BarrBru

gadgetmind wrote: »

But wait what? Do you mean that the desires of the advisers were placed above the needs of the clients? That's just crazy talk!

No that's too simplistic. I'm not suggesting that at all.

IFA's are misunderstood here. It's not just that because investment trusts didn't pay commission that IFA's didn't recommend them, it's that they have to get paid somehow, the alternative to commission is fees and clients didn't want to pay fees.

To make matters worse, when clients did decide to pay fees (which was rare), the fees were higher because HMRC demanded VAT be added to fees but not to commission.

gadgetmind

I want whatever will give me the best long-term outcome. Maybe I'm odd!

lejog2003

Shaolin_Monkey wrote: »

As others said, I would not be too concerned with going only with names you have heard of. The fact you weren't familiar with Blackrock or Vanguard (two of the largest fund management groups in the World) perhaps is a sign your investment knowledge is not what it could be For what it's worth Blackrock took over Merrill Lynch funds and a large chunk of Barclay's asset management business.

Yes I held Blackrock trackers via my employer's pension scheme since they acquired BAM in the early 90s(?). Their charges were just as low as Vanguard's, although they have been slower to offer these funds to the retail market. But post RDR they do seem to have a range of trackers available at 0.16% (even a "property tracker" at 0.25% ) so are now worth considering for low cost tracker funds.

gadgetmind

I'm roughly 50:50 between Vanguard trackers (in SIPPs and ISA) and Blackrock trackers (in my Group Personal Pension) and am happy with the range and fees of both.