Which Funds? - FP New Generation Pension

TCA

My money within my above pension is currently sitting 100% in their Balanced Index Enhanced Fund of Funds but I'd now like to switch my £40k to a variety of riskier investments which I'm prepared leave for the long term. Going by FP's risk categorisation, that probably means a combination of "medium+" and "high-" funds.

Do any funds experts out there have any suggestions or favourites from my list of possibles below? Or conversely companies, funds or fund managers to avoid?

I've listed the risk category and charges (which are reduced as it's a former works pension) for each fund.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

* Artemis Global Growth H 1.35%
* First State Global Emerging Markets Leaders H 1.35%
BGI European Equity Index H- 0.6%
BGI Japan Equity Index H- 0.6%
BGI Pacific Rim Equity Index H- 0.6%
BGI US Equity Index H- 0.6%
BGI World (Ex-UK) Equity Index H- 0.6%
FP European H- 0.6%
FP North American H- 0.6%
FP Pacific Basin H- 0.6%
FP UK Smaller Companies H- 0.6%
* Ssga Pacific Enhanced Equity Index H- 0.9%
* Lazard European Alpha H- 0.95%
* Newton International Growth H- 0.95%
* UBS Global Optimal H- 0.95%
* UBS US Equity H- 0.95%
* Baillie Gifford Japanese H- 1.05%
* Baillie Gifford North American H- 1.05%
* Artemis European Growth H- 1.35%
* First State Asia Pacific Leaders H- 1.35%
* Schroder Tokyo H- 1.35%
BGI Global Equity 40:60 Index M+ 0.6%
BGI Global Equity 50:50 Index M+ 0.6%
BGI Global Equity 60:40 Index M+ 0.6%
BGI UK Equity Index M+ 0.6%
FP UK Index Tracking M+ 0.6%
FP Overseas M+ 0.6%
FP UK Equity M+ 0.6%
* Baillie Gifford International M+ 0.8%
* BlackRock UK Equity M+ 0.8%
* Baillie Gifford Overseas Equity M+ 0.9%
* Baillie Gifford UK Equity Pension M+ 0.9%
* Global Equity Fund of Funds M+ 0.9%
* HSBC Amanah Global Equity Index M+ 0.9%
* Lazard UK Income M+ 0.9%
* Ssga Global 50:50 Enhanced Equity Index M+ 0.9%
* Ssga Overseas Enhanced Equity Index M+ 0.9%
* UBS Global Equity 50:50 M+ 0.95%
* UBS UK Select M+ 0.95%
* AllianceBernstein UK Style Blend M+ 1.05%
* Investec UK Blue Chip M+ 1.1%
* AllianceBernstein Global 50:50 Style Blend M+ 1.14%
* AllianceBernstein Global Style Blend M+ 1.2%
* Artemis Capital M+ 1.35%
* Artemis UK Special Situations M+ 1.35%
* BlackRock UK Dynamic M+ 1.35%
* BlackRock UK Smaller Companies M+ 1.35%
* Invesco Perpetual High Income M+ 1.35%
* M&G UK Select M+ 1.35%
FP UK Special Situations M+ 1.35%
* Schroder Mid 250 M+ 1.5%
FP Balanced Index Enhanced Fund of Funds M 0.6%
BGI Balanced Index M 0.6%
BGI Consensus M 0.6%
FP Managed M 0.6%
FP Stewardship M 0.6%
FP Stewardship Managed M 0.6%
* Baillie Gifford Managed M 0.8%
* Newton Balanced M 0.8%
* Newton Income M 0.8%
* Aegon High Yield Bond M 0.9%
* Balanced Fund of Funds M 0.9%
* F&C Global Real Estate Securities M 1%
* Cazenove UK Growth & Income M 1.35%

*=managed externally

EdInvestor

You can look up the performance of many of these funds here:

https://www.citywire.co.uk/Funds/Home.aspx

The FP ones are probably under "ABI" and the others under "IMA"

It's a good idea to check performance over various periods (1,3,5 and 10 years are featured).A fund which is in the top 10 over all four would demonstrate consistent top performance.

TCA

Thanks Ed. I've already started the process of doing just what you suggest but was more wondering if anyone in the know had any tips for or against any specific funds, companies or managers from that list that I wouldn't manage to glean from performance charts. I can pick up to 10 funds and thought that basing my choice purely on past performance was probably not the right thing to do. Also not sure what's a good number of funds to choose and how much I should mix up the companies running them?

Any pointers appreciated.

TCA

Anybody got any suggestions for a "medium plus risk/high minus risk" combination of funds?

Number of funds, number of different fund managers, geographic spread? Any to avoid for any reason whatsoever?

Currently looking at best performers but wouldn't mind a steer on some other factors as above.

Thanks.

TCA

I've selected a few funds below based on performance and fund ratings from various websites. Has anyone any views on maybe 4 or 5 from this lot? Or any other better combinations to add in from my list of options?

First State Asia Pacific Leaders
Artemis Global Growth
BlackRock UK Dynamic
BlackRock UK Smaller Companies
BlackRock UK Equity
Invesco Perpetual High Income

and maybe First State Global Emerging Markets Leaders

EdInvestor

Have you checked the performance of these funds over at Citywire?Do they feature in the top 10 of their category?

TCA

Most are highly placed within their categories (although not all top 10 as some categories have hundreds) and ofcourse this varies dependant on over how many years you look. They all do broadly well over time and score good ratings from Lipper and Standard and Poor. These are my guess as the best performers (from my available selection) and now am wondering how to make a final selection and good combination.

First State Asia Pacific Leaders:
http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/fund-performance/fund-factsheet.aspx?FundID=25363&CitywireClassSchemeID=1&TimePeriod=36

BlackRock UK Dynamic:
http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/fund-performance/fund-factsheet.aspx?FundID=9137&CitywireClassSchemeID=1&TimePeriod=36

BlackRock UK Equity Inc:
http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/fund-performance/fund-factsheet.aspx?FundID=7389&CitywireClassSchemeID=1&TimePeriod=36

Invesco Perpetual High Income:
http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/fund-performance/fund-factsheet.aspx?FundID=9305&CitywireClassSchemeID=1&TimePeriod=36

BlackRock UK Smaller Companies:
http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/fund-performance/fund-factsheet.aspx?FundID=7393&CitywireClassSchemeID=1&TimePeriod=36

Artemis Global Growth:
http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/fund-performance/fund-factsheet.aspx?FundID=9289&CitywireClassSchemeID=1&TimePeriod=36

First State Global Emerging Market Leaaders:
http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/fund-performance/fund-factsheet.aspx?FundID=25364&CitywireClassSchemeID=1&TimePeriod=36

EdInvestor

Taking a look at the list for Global Growth unit trusts we find it here:

http://www.citywire.co.uk/Adviser/fund-performance/best-funds-by-sector.aspx??

Although the Artemis fund makes it into the top 10 most years, it is regularly outclassed by several others. You might like to see if any of the better ones are on the FP list.

The Invesco Perpetual ticks income fund all the boxes, so you don't really need to check that one, though it's an excellent example of consistent outperformance by top notch fund manager for many years.

The bottom line is that it's the fund manager, not the fund, that's the important factor in gauging potential returns.The Citywire site has a fund manager rating service so you can check that out too. Strangely enough the same fund managers come top of the categories year after year and there are onlyt ariund 20 of them.

You can bin the rest, including anything not in the top ten.

TCA

Hi Ed. Unfortunately I'm restricted to the funds listed in my opening post, so would either have to choose poorer performing funds or less funds in total. The Artemis fund is the best performing Global Growth fund on the list and the fund manager is ranked 4th by citywire for this category over 3 years. The fund managers of my other choices all rank in citywire's top 10 for the relevant fund category in either or both of the last 3 and 5 years. So not bad.

What I can't decide is whether I split my pot equally between my selections, drop a few or indeed whether I should have more European or US exposure in the mix? Artemis Global Growth is 72% US and European though which may be enough. Or am I top heavy on UK funds?

Decisions....

EdInvestor

This is a good example of why it's so much easier in a SIPP. All you do is decide on your sector allocation, go to Citywire and pick the best fund in each class and then buy them in the SIPP, which is certain to have them on the list..

PPs are a real bore.Yyou have to go through this lengthy list, check each fund out for quality, takes ages, and even then you often end up with some pretty ordinary ones in some sectors as there are usually only a few 'star funds'.

Tedious stuff.

deadparrot

TCA wrote: »

I've selected a few funds below based on performance and fund ratings from various websites. Has anyone any views on maybe 4 or 5 from this lot? Or any other better combinations to add in from my list of options?

First State Asia Pacific Leaders
Artemis Global Growth
BlackRock UK Dynamic
BlackRock UK Smaller Companies
BlackRock UK Equity
Invesco Perpetual High Income

and maybe First State Global Emerging Markets Leaders

might want to consider the FP-Pacific Basin fund, when I looked at this 6 months ago the performance was about as good as the First State Asia Pacific leaders, but it's half the cost.

edit: dosn't seem to have done so well recently, so maybe not such a good idea