Bankers vs JPGI

Sue58

I'm looking into investing this year's ISA allowance into a Global IT that attracts some income/yield as well as some growth. At the moment I am considering either Bankers or JP Morgan Growth & Income as these two IT's seem to fit my requirements, however, I'm struggling to decide which one to invest in or indeed maybe split the 20K between the two?

If anybody holds either of these IT's then your opinions would be appreciated.

ArchBair

I hold Bankers and am happy with the way this IT is managed by Alex Crooke who is the long term manager, I think from about 2003. Don't really know much about JPGI apart from that it changed its policy to offer a better income/yield but not really sure on how it fits into the Global Equity Income Sector as I feel it's still really more of a growth IT.

ColdIron

I've held Bankers for a while now and it's doing what I want it to do, not the highest yield but a good total return. JPGI seems to have recently undergone some sort of re-purposing to offer a higher yield so there isn't much historical data. It seems to have a policy of paying dividends from capital sales as well as dividends received to bolster income. Nothing wrong with this approach as such but it may not be sustainable if conditions turn against it. If income isn't a priority this may not be a big factor for you but then I wouldn't be looking for a higher income fund anyway and focus on total return. Do you need the income?

Sue58

ColdIron wrote: »

I've held Bankers for a while now and it's doing what I want it to do, not the highest yield but a good total return. JPGI seems to have recently undergone some sort of re-purposing to offer a higher yield so there isn't much historical data. It seems to have a policy of paying dividends from capital sales as well as dividends received to bolster income. Nothing wrong with this approach as such but it may not be sustainable if conditions turn against it. If income isn't a priority this may not be a big factor for you but then I wouldn't be looking for a higher income fund anyway and focus on total return. Do you need the income?

No I don't need the income at the moment so maybe Bankers would be OK for me.

MPN

OP, as well as considering Bankers you could also look at F&C or Alliance Trust if you want less UK exposure?

Sue58

MPN wrote: »

OP, as well as considering Bankers you could also look at F&C or Alliance Trust if you want less UK exposure?

Thanks for the suggestions and I did look at F&C but I'm really OK with Bankers UK exposure at around 25%.

Sue58

ColdIron wrote: »

I've held Bankers for a while now and it's doing what I want it to do, not the highest yield but a good total return. JPGI seems to have recently undergone some sort of re-purposing to offer a higher yield so there isn't much historical data. It seems to have a policy of paying dividends from capital sales as well as dividends received to bolster income. Nothing wrong with this approach as such but it may not be sustainable if conditions turn against it. If income isn't a priority this may not be a big factor for you but then I wouldn't be looking for a higher income fund anyway and focus on total return. Do you need the income?

Would you say Bankers is a good defensive IT for an income & growth holding? I noticed that the Trustnet risk score is 109 whereas Witan which is a growth fund only has a irsk score of 93 which is more conservative than Bankers. I'm not sure on how this is worked out?

ColdIron

I wouldn't call Bankers a particularly defensive investment. It is well diversified by both geography and sector but its remit is to maximise shareholder total return not protect it as a priority. In comparison to the very conservative Personal Assets or Troy funds it will experience much more volatility though probably less than SMT. It's somewhere between the two, perhaps you could call it average risk in keeping with its peers and well suited for income and growth

FE risk scores are backward looking, see

https://www2.trustnet.com/learn/learnaboutinvesting/FE-Risk-Scores.html

StellaN

As ColdIron has already said Bankers is well diversified by geography and sector and is about average risk. However, I believe, more importantly, investors actually buy in to the thinking and beliefs of the long term manager Alex Crooke's active management and therefore it's a mix of these two points.