Thoughts on these funds?

rathernot

OK toe in the water time..

If I were looking at these funds (even distribution), what would your initial thoughts be:

Gartmore China Opps.
Invesco Perpetual High Income
Invesco Perpetual Latin America
HSBC FTSE 250 Index Ret Inc
JPM Natural Resources
ML Gold & General
Jupiter UK Growth

I'm specifically not mentioning my aims and views as I'd quite like to see what "the panel" would assume I was aiming for.

dolce_vita

I'm no expert, but just happen to hold a couple of those funds myself.

I would say it's quite a high risk potforlio given the exposure to emerging markets, commodities etc. which can be volatile.

But to get a true idea of risk you need to say how much is in each fund

As I said, I'm just an amateur and these are my initial thoughts

I hope your in for the long term.

dunstonh

Nothing wrong with those funds. Obviously it is a very high risk spread with the potential (assuming even weighting) to lose about 50-60% in any 12 months but also see that sort of gain as well.

It's one for the rollercoaster ride if you are up for it.

rathernot

Thanks both.

Amounts are tiny initially and I could afford to lose the lot - though of course that's not the intention.

Basically it's an alternative as a "bit of fun" to horses/poker/traditional gambling which I've no interest in.

I want to dabble and try to learn a bit, and so long as I'm using amounts I could afford to lose I see no better way to do this than with my own money.

nrsql

Although they may appear high risk a number of analysts are suggesting this sort of thing as a hedge against a possible market downturn as it's possible emerging markets won't be affected so much by a fall in more established markets.
Historic determination of risk is looking less and less applicable.
As always no one really knows what will happen and as long as you pick funds that are trying to beneift you rather than the management team then your choice is as good as anyones.

rathernot

Still ploughing through various threads, but any suggestions on how to assign weightings i.e. I have a pot of £x, which gets what percentage of it initially and in the future?

nrsql

Depends on what you think will perform best at this time and how confident you are about that.
Guess you have picked funds you think will do well and probably more funds in areas which you think will do better so do you have a reason to do other than equal allocations?
Another question would be whether you should put everything into the fund you consider best - anything else would mean reducing the expected return but also hopefully the possible minimum. Looking at this will help you decide what to do.

For a first atempt I would go for a monthly contribution no matter how much you are happy to lose. Reduces the maximum return but stops you worrying about timing - and gives you something to be happy about no matter what happens.

EdInvestor

rathernot wrote: »

HSBC FTSE 250 Index Ret Inc
Jupiter UK Growth


JPM Natural Resources
ML Gold & General

These two pairs of funds are likely to be invested in much the same thing.Better to just choose one, and then find a couple more funds to add some more diversification.

I'd suggest a UK smaller companies fund and perhaps an international property fund.

rathernot

EdInvestor wrote: »

These two pairs of funds are likely to be invested in much the same thing.Better to just choose one, and then find a couple more funds to add some more diversification.

I'd suggest a UK smaller companies fund and perhaps an international property fund.

OK, silly question maybe, but I did look at the portfolio's of the funds and they don't appear especially similar - what have I missed?

dunstonh

what have I missed?

You havent missed anything.

Ed thinks that the UK companies have exposure in the same areas and there isnt a need for specialist or focused area funds. That is her opinion and not one that seems to get much support round here. Certainly not from me anyway.

dolce_vita

rathernot wrote: »

Still ploughing through various threads, but any suggestions on how to assign weightings i.e. I have a pot of £x, which gets what percentage of it initially and in the future?

I would say it all depends on your circumstances like age, risk profile, whether you have other investments etc and what you hope to achieve.

I have a similar portfolio but most of my riskier funds are in my SIPP which I consider an "add-on" to my main final salary pension and like you I can afford to gamble. These are the ones where I put my "I won't miss that money" every month.

If it pays off -great

If it doesn't -I will still be ok because I still have other more secure investments.

Like I say I'm not an expert in all this (property is my main game) but I think I'm doing the right thing for myself after doing some research.