Investment Trusts

firestone

takesyourchances wrote: »

I have been exploring property ITs for a while and understanding them more. That's good FCPT has been a solid holding for you and this could interest me and it can be added on HLs regular monthly payments too which is good for me.

Have you any experience with the standard life property trust or any others worth considering to maybe hold with FCPT?

Bowlhead99 as usual makes some good points.But if you are still looking to do some research in the same vain as F&C is Picton property there is also TR property which is more into the companies then bricks and mortar but has some and a European leaning.There are also funds for student living,warehousing & health etc which may up the risk possably due to being more niche

takesyourchances

bowlhead99 wrote: »

I never quite understand what people are looking for when they ask what someone's "experience" has been with a particular trust or fund, or look to the fact that someone else out there in the rest of the UK has indeed made money off something to validate the fact that it did go up in price or pay out the dividends it declared, just like its claimed performance said it did.

If you look at the historic performance charts going back 10+ years you can imagine that any random stranger bought at x price on x date and got the return that followed from that point, positive or negative until he sold it at y price on y date or perhaps z price on z date. Having someone else pop up on a forum and say "yes my experience was it paid reliable growing dividends between year b and year c then it cut them for a few years and dropped in price then eventually it started paying and went back up to d" does not add much to your due diligence process, as it's something you can already see from performance charts.

So you are looking for something intangible that you don't get from a chart? The quarterly reports are well written, delivered on time and seem to consistently explain what's going on? The fund manager has been in place for 17 years and seems to still have his marbles? The annual general meetings are held in a room with a nice view over the city?

Plenty of people hold all sorts of investment trusts, whether for income, growth, access to particular types of asset classes etc. What sort of experiences are you looking for that would sway your strategy one way or another?

I totally agree with you and certainly when I re-read my post I deserved these points being made I had looked over as much information provided as possible over a reasonable period of time through the various sites and was comfortable with the objectives of the trust and all I can say is my post was further unnecessary procrastination, so I don't really know what other experiences I needed to hear or what that would provide to follow with a second post. Points taken and learnt from

Based on everything I have looked at for this sector I have set up a regular investment into the F&C trust.

takesyourchances

firestone wrote: »

Bowlhead99 as usual makes some good points.But if you are still looking to do some research in the same vain as F&C is Picton property there is also TR property which is more into the companies then bricks and mortar but has some and a European leaning.There are also funds for student living,warehousing & health etc which may up the risk possably due to being more niche

Thanks for that, Bowlhead certainly made good points that helped wake me up with my coffee I have set up for F&C, also it can be part of my HL regular payments which suits my regular investing.

I was looking for a trust holding the bricks and mortar, I looked at TR property before and see it is more into the companies.

I have some small holdings built up in property partner which include some of the student living and as part of my IT/Income investments I had been looking into a property IT as well and this meets the objectives I was looking for to get started with this.

Many thanks

takesyourchances

Anyone invested in Middlefield Canadian Income Trust?


I have been thinking of adding this to my IT / Income portfolio as some diversification from my US / UK / Europe / Asian IT's.



Canada has a lot of plus points I feel and is a stable country in many ways with it's own trading agreements and solid system and I understand the country well as I have spent a lot of time there over the years and will be spending more, so I partly like the reason also to have some investment interest there.


The oil boom in Alberta has dried up a lot and the property is overheaded in likes of Vancouver and Toronto, but there is a lot to like about Canada's system and stability and thinking on this as a diversifier from UK possible woes and Europe and US etc.

Voyager2002

takesyourchances wrote: »

Anyone invested in Middlefield Canadian Income Trust?


I have been thinking of adding this to my IT / Income portfolio as some diversification from my US / UK / Europe / Asian IT's.



Canada has a lot of plus points I feel and is a stable country in many ways with it's own trading agreements and solid system and I understand the country well as I have spent a lot of time there over the years and will be spending more, so I partly like the reason also to have some investment interest there.


The oil boom in Alberta has dried up a lot and the property is overheaded in likes of Vancouver and Toronto, but there is a lot to like about Canada's system and stability and thinking on this as a diversifier from UK possible woes and Europe and US etc.

OK, but why not Australia?


Do you believe that the Canadian economy is significantly different from that of the USA? In other words, does this add more diversity than buying something in another sector of the US economy?


You don't seem to have any holdings in Latin America: don't neglect such a major part of the world. And that could well be a good way to add diversity: throughout the bull market over the last decade my holdings in Latin America have lost value, so maybe they will go the other way when the recession comes.

takesyourchances

Voyager2002 wrote: »

OK, but why not Australia?


Do you believe that the Canadian economy is significantly different from that of the USA? In other words, does this add more diversity than buying something in another sector of the US economy?


You don't seem to have any holdings in Latin America: don't neglect such a major part of the world. And that could well be a good way to add diversity: throughout the bull market over the last decade my holdings in Latin America have lost value, so maybe they will go the other way when the recession comes.

To be honest I don't understand Australia like I would Canada, yes I believe the Canadian economy is different to the US the political system is different and it has a solid banking system and Canada avoided a lot of the melt down the US suffered during 2008 etc and the property crash, although now certain markets like I pointed out are a bit overheaded and due a correction namely Vancouver/Toronto.



Canada has a trade deal with the Eu and it's own direction so I feel it's a different North American market and st least understand it and is attracting at lot of skilled immigration. I've spent time in both Canada and the US and my preferred country of the two if I was to live in North America would be Canada.


Your right I don't have a direct holding on Latin America so I have overlooked this sector this way, I hold Murray international and my only exposure would be through other global type holdings. I'll consider Latin America next tax year I'm down to 5k left on.my allowance at the moment.


Thanks for your input much appreciated.

cloud_dog

I don't know your portfolio make up but, I can understand holding a local fund to produce income in your local currency (FCPT), but I do not understand the focus of a foreign, country specific fund for income.

I would simply look for a global income fund. I think you hold MYI so why does this not provide you with hat you are looking for? Does the fund not provide enough yield for you, or perhaps you don't have sufficient confidence in the fund manager to recognise Canada as the next big income driver?

As mentioned, I do not know your portfolio set up but I wouldn't really be looking for a country specific income fund. I would rather the manager 'manage' the investment allocations so as to produce the stated requirement (for the fund).

If you are not happy with MYI then consider a different fund or possibly an additional fund, although probably worth reviewing if they have too similar an overlap.

takesyourchances

cloud_dog wrote: »

I don't know your portfolio make up but, I can understand holding a local fund to produce income in your local currency (FCPT), but I do not understand the focus of a foreign, country specific fund for income.

I would simply look for a global income fund. I think you hold MYI so why does this not provide you with hat you are looking for? Does the fund not provide enough yield for you, or perhaps you don't have sufficient confidence in the fund manager to recognise Canada as the next big income driver?

As mentioned, I do not know your portfolio set up but I wouldn't really be looking for a country specific income fund. I would rather the manager 'manage' the investment allocations so as to produce the stated requirement (for the fund).

If you are not happy with MYI then consider a different fund or possibly an additional fund, although probably worth reviewing if they have too similar an overlap.

Thank you that's very fair points I'll take them on board. Limited in reply as on phone for now.

My IT /Income portfolio so far consists of.

CTY

Murray International

Bankers

EAT

Schroder Oriental Income

Blackrock North America Income Trust

F&C Commercial Property

Standard Life Property Income

Bigbox IT

3i Infrastructure

HICL Infrastructure

I'm happy with MYI and the yield and adding monthly I'm reinvesting dividends until such time I want to use across all of them.

Now I've typed this out it looks like I've plenty to be getting on with and maybe over thinking with the Canadian IT and closeness to the country.

Hopefully as an IT / Income section of my portfolio this looks reasonable.

Thanks again bit limited on phone typing

cloud_dog

Wow :eek:

So, you are big on income funds then.

I suppose it could be argued that the portfolio 'as is' is acceptable but possibly depending on your age, commitments, financial situation, yada ,yada...

Really unsure why you need soooo many income funds.

EDIT: On a slight tangent, I would consider FCPT as part of a property asset (as it actually holds bricks and mortar).

talexuser

As an aside are you happy with Murray international? I had it for some years as a long term bet and dropped it recently because all the recent gains seem to have been down to £ devaluations rather than performance. The manager has a good long term record but is perhaps not in tune with the new QE world having been permanently bearish in outlook. Saying this he might come up trumps after the next downturn and prove me wrong, but I don't see Murray as a capital preservation fund and the last 5 years have been absolutely dismal compared to Witan or Foreign & Colonial.