MFM iFunds ETF Commodity Fund sounds good

wombat42_2

jon3001 wrote: »

If it something you're interested in you may have to contact HL to add it to their system. That what I ended up doing with my broker when I had problems. Some of these securities are too new.



Umm... I can't make your investment decisions for you! However I did want to challenge your assertion that 'the Ifunds has significantly better performance than the passive ETF'.

Basically this is how I see it:

Since about Nov '06 AIGC and iFunds have delivered about equal returns. However iFunds was more probably more volatile (swings of underperformance and outperformance) and charged more. Everything else being equal this would make AIGC a superior investment.

However the data is pretty brief to draw too much conclusion from. I'm sure iFunds could have provided investors with a better service and given back-tested performance of their software model utilising hypothetical ETF commodity indices. Whether iFunds will continue is strong recent run compared to AIGC is anyone's guess.

Personally I prefer the passive investment where available unless there's a compelling reason (backed stastically) to do otherwise. So I'm sticking with ETFS's offerings. The history of iFunds is too short for me to consider it yet.

Like I've said FAIG seems to have superior characteristics to AIGC so this is my personal choice. Even though it was launched only a few month ago the index is backed by many years of statistical data.

Some people will find unit trust based investments (such as iFunds) more convenient than ETFs and I can appreciate that.

I dont know if you caught the last two bits of my previous message

"I just established that FAIG and FAGR cant be dealt online with H&L but they would do it on the phone and am not sure if they can be put into a PEP, ISA or SIP

But AIGC can be dealt online and with a PEP, ISA or SIP"

I lose the convenience of online dealing and valuations if I chose FAIG or FAGR and i may not be able to put them in an ISA, PEP or SIP anyway. Presumably FAIG and FAGR are classed as derivatives. It looks like the only choices i have are AIGC or Ifund and ifund seems to outperform AIGC according to morningstar
See here for AIGC and Ifund coparison:

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/UK/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=F0GBR06XK3


http://www.morningstar.co.uk/UK/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=F0000000GA

jon3001

According to the prospectus FAIG is eligible for investment within an ISA:
http://www.etfsecurities.com/en/updates/document_pdfs/ETFS_Forward_Fact_Sheet-All_Commodities.pdf

My broker (IWeb) will deal online - maybe HL should get their @ss in gear?

You seemed to have done your own research and drawn your own conclusions regarding perfomance. As have I.

wombat42_2

jon3001 wrote: »

According to the prospectus FAIG is eligible for investment within an ISA:
http://www.etfsecurities.com/en/updates/document_pdfs/ETFS_Forward_Fact_Sheet-All_Commodities.pdf

My broker (IWeb) will deal online - maybe HL should get their @ss in gear?

You seemed to have done your own research and drawn your own conclusions regarding perfomance. As have I.

Thanks for letting me know that FAIG is available in ISA/PEP/SIP. I Just need to prove to myself that the performance of FAIG is that much superior to the IFund that the convenience of not having online valuation/trading with H&L for FAIG is worth it. Can you choose USD FAIG or EURO FAIG and if so which is best ?

jon3001

wombat42 wrote: »

Can you choose USD FAIG or EURO FAIG and if so which is best ?

FAIG is USD denominated. ETFS don't have this in other currencies. I'm not aware of any such plans.

Ultimately the index is backed by commodity futures traded in USD so any forex considerations would already be priced in and shouldn't make any difference to the long-term investor.

wombat42_2

Can you understand why here it says AIGC gained 13.2% last year
http://www.morningstar.co.uk/UK/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=F0000000GA

but here it says it gained 20.9%
http://www.etfsecurities.com/en/securities/etfs_performance.asp

jon3001

It doesn't say it gained 20.9% last year (2007). It says it gained 20.9% over the last 12 months as of 31/01/08. i.e. 31/01/07-31/01/08.

purch

Thats the choice of the JP Morgan Nat res fund manager. He could have loads of agriculture he wanted to but most likely he has bottled out because he doesnt have the expertise

:eek:

...poor Ian Henderson............dissed by the 'king' of the prevaricators....just because he hasn't jumped on this weeks latest Bandwagon !!!

I wouldn't be surprised if we find the guy under Blackfriars Bridge with old Roberto Calvi............

If only Henderson had the bottle like Womble (remember how brave he was when he stayed in that BRIC fund, despite the volatility for all of 2 hours !!!), he might be a decent fund manager :rotfl:

wombat42_2

purch wrote: »

:eek:

...poor Ian Henderson............dissed by the 'king' of the prevaricators....just because he hasn't jumped on this weeks latest Bandwagon !!!

I wouldn't be surprised if we find the guy under Blackfriars Bridge with old Roberto Calvi............

If only Henderson had the bottle like Womble (remember how brave he was when he stayed in that BRIC fund, despite the volatility for all of 2 hours !!!), he might be a decent fund manager :rotfl:

There isnt a logical reason not to include a large slug of agriculture in any natural resources portfolio - the potential for agriculture is probably better than metals over the next few years as it is probably at an earlier stage in the growth cycle.

Liz_the_Whizz

The fund has certainly turned in an eye-catching 15.9% growth over the last 3 months, easily top of the Citywire table of 87 Specialist funds.

But my concern is whether it is already too late to catch the wave - surely it can't sustain that sort of growth?

wombat42_2

Liz_the_Whizz wrote: »

The fund has certainly turned in an eye-catching 15.9% growth over the last 3 months, easily top of the Citywire table of 87 Specialist funds.

But my concern is whether it is already too late to catch the wave - surely it can't sustain that sort of growth?

http://www.citywire.co.uk/Funds/Home.aspx?AnalysisCode=139abcd&RankModelID=9&FundID=130996&XDU=9682a94d-8691-4d84-a4c7-1a82bc002f92&XDS=C&XDNG=True&XDKL=0&XDURL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.citywire.co.uk%2fFunds%2fHome.aspx%3fAnalysisCode%3d139abcd%26RankModelID%3d9%26FundID%3d130996

One refreshing thing about this fund is that it takes you outside the equities asset class.

As i said Liz, the food growth cycle has probably only just started. The demands on food in the world should be relentless over the next decade or so because of massive population growth and developing countries like China. And because of global warming the amount of arable land is decreasing by 1% per year. Also there is the development of biofuels from plants.

The fund currently has more agriculture than anything else.

Base metals are in the doldrums at present - the fund has little exposure to them at present. Precious metals are predicted to have a heathly but bumpy future,

There is widespread talk of a "commodity supercycle" lasting at least the next decade.