Help Interprating Data

The_Fiddler_2

Picking a random FUND one is presented with a lot of data. What does it all mean and how can you tell if a fund is performing well or not.

Thanks

jem16

By doing a lot of research.

First part might be comparing how it's doing with others in its sector. You can click on the tabs to sort by 1y, 3yrs, 5yrs etc. Remember though it won't tell you how it's going to perform in the future.

http://www.trustnet.com/ut/funds/perf.asp?sort=31&ss=0&txts=&txtss=&columns=&page=0&booIMA=1&reg1=all&sec=all&ima=ukeqinc&unit=all&type=all

egamar

Well, how long is a piece of string? It all depends.

First off, up to a point, it depends how well you did at maths at school, or how comfortable you are with things like ratios, returns, percentages and the like and interpreting charts. I'm not trying to be elitist or anything, but you do need to understand these basics before you can start using the very useful tools on things like Trustnet. Hope I haven't offend you already!

Personally I don't find Trustnet the most user friendly, and it doesn't have all my funds in its databases (not all FundManagers give their information to Trustnet which is a shame) but the information it does have is excellent. Morningstar is another good site.

Morningstar has an excellent glossary, a bit of a pain to plough through, but well worth the effort in the long run.

I'm sure there are easier ways to access it, but here's how I found it tonight:

I go to http://www.fidelity.co.uk/adviserclient/select/fundsnetwork/fundfinder/search.html and click on any fund (of course, if I were doing this for real, I'd select a fund I owned or was interested in)

That opens a popup window (so enable popups) with the Morningstar analysis of the fund.

In tiny tiny print just above the section heading "Quick Statistics" (White on Blue) is the word Glossary. Click on it and all shall be revealed!

HTH

.

Joey122

Thanks - This does not work in Safari on Mac os x - You need to use Firefox

The_Fiddler_2

jem16 wrote: »

By doing a lot of research.

First part might be comparing how it's doing with others in its sector. You can click on the tabs to sort by 1y, 3yrs, 5yrs etc. Remember though it won't tell you how it's going to perform in the future.

http://www.trustnet.com/ut/funds/perf.asp?sort=31&ss=0&txts=&txtss=&columns=&page=0&booIMA=1&reg1=all&sec=all&ima=ukeqinc&unit=all&type=all

Thanks

But what do thes figures actually mean? how do you gauge performance by them?

The_Fiddler_2

egamar wrote: »

Well, how long is a piece of string? It all depends.

First off, up to a point, it depends how well you did at maths at school, or how comfortable you are with things like ratios, returns, percentages and the like and interpreting charts. I'm not trying to be elitist or anything, but you do need to understand these basics before you can start using the very useful tools on things like Trustnet. Hope I haven't offend you already!

No offence taken. I am comfortable with the maths, but I don't know how to interprate the data.

Personally I don't find Trustnet the most user friendly, and it doesn't have all my funds in its databases (not all FundManagers give their information to Trustnet which is a shame) but the information it does have is excellent. Morningstar is another good site.

Morningstar has an excellent glossary, a bit of a pain to plough through, but well worth the effort in the long run.

I'm sure there are easier ways to access it, but here's how I found it tonight:

I go to http://www.fidelity.co.uk/adviserclient/select/fundsnetwork/fundfinder/search.html and click on any fund (of course, if I were doing this for real, I'd select a fund I owned or was interested in)

That opens a popup window (so enable popups) with the Morningstar analysis of the fund.

In tiny tiny print just above the section heading "Quick Statistics" (White on Blue) is the word Glossary. Click on it and all shall be revealed!

HTH

.

thanks for the link, its good to know the terms, but unfortunately that does not help me to interprate the data.

jem16

The_Fiddler wrote: »

Thanks

But what do thes figures actually mean? how do you gauge performance by them?

The 1y, 3y and 5y figures tell you how much the fund has grown over those years ( Cumulative performance). If you click on Customize this table you can also add in the Discrete Performance and pick the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - this will give you the percentage growth for each individual year.

Citywire gives you 10 year figures which can be useful.

It does give you an indication of how a fund has performed - not to say it will do so in the future though.

The_Fiddler_2

jem16 wrote: »

The 1y, 3y and 5y figures tell you how much the fund has grown over those years ( Cumulative performance). If you click on Customize this table you can also add in the Discrete Performance and pick the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - this will give you the percentage growth for each individual year.

Citywire gives you 10 year figures which can be useful.

It does give you an indication of how a fund has performed - not to say it will do so in the future though.

Sorry but I'm having a thick moment Can you spell this out to me in layman's terms.

Thanks :beer:

cheerfulcat

The_Fiddler wrote: »

Picking a random FUND one is presented with a lot of data. What does it all mean and how can you tell if a fund is performing well or not.

Thanks

Hi, Fiddler,

Going by the link you gave, the figures show how the fund has performed 1) annually and 2) against its benchmark ( the " sector " figure ). A fund which is performing well should be outperforming the sector against which it is benchmarked - if it is performing more or less in line with the benchmark it is a closet tracker; that is, an investor in that fund would be better off with a tracker fund in the same sector.

jem16

The_Fiddler wrote: »

Sorry but I'm having a thick moment Can you spell this out to me in layman's terms.

Thanks :beer:

Let's take Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund

2002 - minus 10.8% ( so fund lost money probably due to 9/11 in USA), 2003 - 21.5%, 2004 - 21%, 2005 - 27%, 2006 - 27.3%.

This is what you would have made or lost if you had invested in this fund.

Cumulative Performance

Over 5 years the fund grew by 152.3%

So if you invested £1000 5 years ago you would now have approximately £2523.

The_Fiddler_2

How did you calculate the 152.3%? I've tried to manipulate the figures, but can't get them to that figure.