Bankers vs Witan

StellaN

I currently hold Bankers which is doing very well for me, however, now it is at a small premium of 1.2 would it be beneficial to switch to Witan. This is another IT that I like but is trading at a discount of -1.6 or is the difference too insignificant to warrant a switch?

jamei305

You shouldn't chop and change ITs on the basis of premiums and discounts, especially when you have no idea why they exist and whether they are likely to increase or decrease.

ColdIron

The premium or discount is just the difference between the value of the underlining assets (the NAV) and the value of the shares of the company that holds them expressed as a percentage. When you bought Bankers (presumably at a discount) well done, you got a bunch of the underlying assets cheaper than you would have done if you bought them separately yourself. Just because they are now trading at a small premium doesn't really affect you, you still have the same number of shares and your purchase cost is unchanged. It would matter to someone who wanted to buy Bankers now as they are purchasing fewer underlying shares per pound than you did

It depends what you want to achieve. If you want to buy at a discount, hope for the discount to narrow or even trade at a premium then jump ship and try again you are essentially trading. If you have an objective (growth, income, volatility etc) and choose something like Bankers that meets that objective then stick with it unless it stops meeting your objective or you find something that does it better

Are you a trader hoping to exploit margins or are you a long term buy and hold investor with a portfolio that meets your needs?

pip895

I would vote for the difference being far to small - by the time you take into account the trading costs you wouldn't be that much better off even if you discount the possibility of there being a good reason for the premium.

That said I did once sell out of something because it went to a premium - that was WPTC and its not a trade I regretted!

dividendhero

I have both and they're both old school diversified IT's that you can buy and hold forever.

Having to make a choice is hard because they're so similar on any metric, but I wouldn't go flipping due to discount/premium.

Being an atheist i'd put 50:50 in each, if I were religious i'd flip a coin and let God decide

MPN

dividendhero wrote: »

I have both and they're both old school diversified IT's that you can buy and hold forever.

Having to make a choice is hard because they're so similar on any metric, but I wouldn't go flipping due to discount/premium.

Being an atheist i'd put 50:50 in each, if I were religious i'd flip a coin and let God decide

So, out of interest how many global IT's do you hold apart from these two?

dividendhero

MPN wrote: »

So, out of interest how many global IT's do you hold apart from these two?

HINT, MYI, FRCL, SOI, TEM, HFEL & JPEM

I know that's a fair few - but I'm a big fan of Global IT's and portfolio is fairly big

chrisgg

StellaN wrote: »

I currently hold Bankers which is doing very well for me, however, now it is at a small premium of 1.2 would it be beneficial to switch to Witan. This is another IT that I like but is trading at a discount of -1.6 or is the difference too insignificant to warrant a switch?

The short answer is a simple no.

The difference, as you say, isn't significant.

Thrugelmir

Probably find you'll lose 0.75% simply by conducting the trade. There's stamp duty, differential between buying and selling price along with the brokers trading cost to be considered.

Remember discounts/premiums tend to be out of date except for weekly/monthly updates issued by the trusts themselves.

If the differential was over 10% then something worth considering.

ffacoffipawb

dividendhero wrote: »

HINT, MYI, FRCL, SOI, TEM, HFEL & JPEM

I know that's a fair few - but I'm a big fan of Global IT's and portfolio is fairly big

That's nothing - I have 27 IT's (and nothing else) in my ISA ...

Aberdeen Asian Income Fund Ltd. AAIF
Bankers Inv Trust BNKR
Aberdeen Diversified Inc and Grth Trust ADIG
City of London Inv Trust CTY
Dunedin Income Growth Inv Trust DIG
Edinburgh Inv Trust EDIN
European Assets Trust EAT
F&C Capital & Income Inv Trust FCI
Henderson Far East Income Ltd. HFEL
Invesco Income Growth Trust IVI
JPMorgan European Investment Trust JETI
JPM Global Mkts Emerging Income Trust JEMI
JPMorgan Claverhouse Inv Trust JCH
Law Debenture Corp. LWDB
Lowland Investment Co. LWI
Mercantile Inv Trust MRC
Merchants Trust MRCH
Murray Income Trust MUT
Murray International Trust MYI
Perpetual Income & Growth Inv Trust PLI
Schroder Income Growth Fund SCF
Schroder Oriental Income Fund SOI
Scottish American Inv Company SCAM
Seneca Global Income & Growth Trust SIGT
Standard Life Equity Income Trust SLET
Value and Income Trust VIN
Temple Bar Inv Trust TMPL

I hold 16 (and nothing else) in my SIPP

Aberdeen Asian Income Fund Ltd. AAIF
Aberdeen Diversified Inc and Grth Trust ADIG
City of London Inv Trust CTY
Dunedin Income Growth Inv Trust DIG
F&C Capital & Income Inv Trust FCI
Henderson Far East Income Ltd. HFEL
Invesco Income Growth Trust IVI
JPM Global Mkts Emerging Income Trust JEMI
JPMorgan European Investment Trust JETI
Merchants Trust MRCH
Murray Income Trust MUT
Murray International Trust MYI
Scottish American Inv Company SCAM
Schroder Income Growth Fund SCF
Standard Life Equity Income Trust SLET
Temple Bar Inv Trust TMPL
Troy Income & Growth Trust TIGT

Equal weightings in each account, SIPP is worth approx 2 x the ISA.

The only holding "underwater" is ADIG in both accounts.

bostonerimus

You can think too much sometimes. Bankers or Witan, Witan or Bankers. Such marginal trading is usually a way for the non-professional to lose money.