Wealth Preservation Funds

Aged

I am invested in a couple of these funds and have been contemplating investing in at least one other. How many funds are classed as 'wealth preservation funds'? I have Trojan O and Capital Gearing Absolute Return. I have been considering investing in Ruffer as well but, is this a wise thing to do eg are there common elements with these three funds which may lead to over-exposure in certain areas? I would appreciate hearing your views.

ColdIron

The usual suspects are Personal Assets (PNL, the IT version of Troy Trojan), Capital Gearing Trust (CGT, the IT version of Capital Gearing Absolute Return) and Ruffer (RICA, an IT)

The two that you have will probably suffice IMO. I only have PNL

You might want to have a read of this post by a respected former 'forumite'

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/73109011/#Comment_73109011

NB I don't consider RIT Capital Partners plc (RCP) to belong in the WP space, rather it's a conservatively managed IT. It's surprisingly volatile and currently going through a rough patch due to its allocation to private equity

bd10

I would study and compare the monthly fact sheets of Ruffer vs CGT vs PNL and see where the overap is. Morningstar does this beautifully, normally though. They currently have some issues with their website... What sets Ruffer's absolute return strategy apart from PNL and CGT is their use of derivatives: they had equity index puts and payer swaptions. The former are hedging their perceived downside risk in equity markets, the latter hedges against rising interest rates. CGT explicitly state no derivatives, so their inflation play would have to be tips and linkers instead of either inflation swaps or break-evens.

Here are their fact sheets:

https://www.capitalgearingtrust.com/document/monthly-factsheet-january-2023/ 

https://www.ruffer.co.uk/-/media/ruffer-website/files/fund-reports/rtrf/i-class/2022/2022-12-rtrf-i-class-fund-report-dec2022.pdf 

The main concentration risk I would see is that both funds are loaded up with inflation linked bonds. So should inflation undershoot market implied expectations, both would suffer together. Other than that, both offer a low overall beta to equity markets which suits me personally quite well.

Linton

I only use CGT and |Troy Trojan.  For a few minutes I considered buying a gilt but then thought again as CGT and Troy Trojan are dont need any help managing bonds. 

I agree that Ruffer and RCP arent really in the same space.

talexuser

I sold out of Ruffer a while back when they were left behind by others, since then they have climbed back a little, but in that time dipped in and out of bitcoin substantially to boost the returns out of the dog fund area. Although it may have worked that time I don't regard betting on crypto to be a wealth preservation strategy so would have to be well convinced to buy again.