Best Investment magazines?

bigfreddiel

Which is the most useful investment magazine, in particular performance tables for unit trusts etc.

Money Observer seems good to me - what do you think?

Investors Chronicle I never have time to read before the next issue is out, and the same goes for The Share magazine.

fj

dunstonh

i doubt any of them can match the data available online. Past performance is so overated and leads to many poor decisions. Just ask anyone with Fidelity European

RayWolfe

The Observer Mag is one of the best but .... as dunstonh says, online data is much better and is up-to-date. Most of these magazines are vehicles for advertisers and they just recycle information from other sources and repeat articles round-and-round. Try Citywire and the FT for current information.

Geoffo_M

dunstonh wrote: »

i doubt any of them can match the data available online. Past performance is so overated and leads to many poor decisions. Just ask anyone with Fidelity European

Thanks dunstonh, I hold some Fidelity European - not for much longer though!

dunstonh

Geoffo, look at the Fid European performance in a shorter period. Anything upto 2 years. Look at 3 months to get current trend and you will find that in those periods its mostly bottom quartile. It ties in loosely with the fund manager change (about 1 year difference. It would take a while on a large fund for changes to factor in. A bit like trying to stop an oil tanker).

5 year performance shows it still at the top as it is there based on performance of a different fund manager and 3-5 years ago and not the last 2 years under the current fund manager.

bigfreddiel

Thanks for those replies, I agree the web has wealth of info - too much sometimes!

And I agree about the adverst in magazines and adverts - but they are handy to read while watching TV etc.

Cheers

fj

JDinho

dunstonh wrote: »

Geoffo, look at the Fid European performance in a shorter period. Anything upto 2 years. Look at 3 months to get current trend and you will find that in those periods its mostly bottom quartile. It ties in loosely with the fund manager change (about 1 year difference. It would take a while on a large fund for changes to factor in. A bit like trying to stop an oil tanker).

5 year performance shows it still at the top as it is there based on performance of a different fund manager and 3-5 years ago and not the last 2 years under the current fund manager.

According to Fidelity's material McCarron took over from Bolton in Jan 2003, which is significantly more than two years ago.

oldfella

my Fidelity European is showing a 23% gain in the last 12 months - is this really bottom quartile ?

dunstonh

According to Fidelity's material McCarron took over from Bolton in Jan 2003, which is significantly more than two years ago.

As I said, big funds are like oil tankers. You can change direction but it takes a while to impact.

my Fidelity European is showing a 23% gain in the last 12 months - is this really bottom quartile ?

ranked 167 out of 213 over 12 months (till end of May in Europe ex UK and inc/acc funds listed with both versions)

Over last 12 months bottom quartile. Previous 12 months 3rd quartile.

EdInvestor

Update on Fidelity European fund performance

Over 10 years: No.2 out of 56 funds

Over 5 years: 3/84

3 years: 15/93

1 year: 77/103

BUT

...three months: 17/105


Looks like it's beginning to bounce back.


http://www.citywire.co.uk/Funds/Home.aspx

Mojo71

I sold out of Fidelity "European" a few months ago, when I was deciding which PEP holding to liquidate (i.e. still wanted to keep my better investments).

However, I have recently gone back into it again via my Norwich Union pension, since they don't offer a great deal of external funds to choose from, and based on recent performance, as well as European market performance in general, I felt it better to diversify than having purely UK holdings.

Sorry, don't want to turn this into a Pension thread, but perhaps Dunston or Ed could comment on whether Norwich Union's external fund offerings are typical of the insurance company pensions industry. By this, I mean that they don't offer very many choices of providers (either their own funds, or a few by Invesco, Newton, Schroder, Merrill Lynch and Aberdeen). Do other insurance providers offer wider choice? And before anyone suggests alternatives, I have to use Norwich Union through my employer's plan.