Woodford Concerns

There is no chance of the fund falling to zero. It is invested in too many companies, even if they are almost all mid-sized and smaller.

However with the fund's significant exposure to unlisted companies, it could lose pretty much any figure above that. The possibility of a permanent loss (i.e. the fund falls and never recovers no matter how long you wait) is significant, unlike a vanilla equity income fund invested in a widely diversified portfolio of blue-chips. If you are not comfortable with taking that risk in the hope that it eventually comes good, the fund is unsuitable.

When I say "any figure above that", I don't think it's likely to lose, say, 95%, but it's virtually impossible to put a robust figure on the maximum realistic short-term loss, without far more research than I am going to conduct for free.

If it falls by say 50% and never fully recovers, "at least it didn't lose all my money" isn't going to be much consolation from the sound of your post.

Brexit is already priced in and is irrelevant. All Woodford's obscure unlisted nags could tank or go bust completely even if Brexit is a smashing success.

You say you have £50k invested in Woodford. Out of interest, what percentage of your total investments is this? A fund like Woodford shouldn't really have a large percentage of your total investments.


I know I'm being wise after the fact, and it doesn't really help your current situation, just something for others to consider when looking at investing in a fund like this.


As others have mentioned in other threads about Woodford (there are quite a few on this board), if you think that another fund, e.g. a global multi asset fund, is going to grow faster than Woodford in the coming years, then why not transfer your money out now rather than later?

Forget past performance for the moment do you believe investing in that fund is the current best chance for your fund to grow in future? I appreciate your already invested financially and emotionally, if you were picking fresh would you pick this fund.

I have around 50k invested and have obviously lost on this due to his poor performance recently

So, that would indicate you have a portfolio of around £500,000 or maybe closer to around £300,000 if you have a home bias.

This being a single sector fund, you shouldn't be investing in it in isolation. It should be held in a portfolio of other single sector funds with weightings appropriate for your risk level. If you are in this in isolation then that is bad investing and you should make changes now.

I was of the belief (probably wrongly) that once Brexit was done and it was quite a soft Brexit then the UK would start flying.

The UK stockmarket has been a near bottom performer consistently for the last 25 or more years. Brexit is a recent issue.

I am tempted to just sell and go into the lindsell train global equity and UK equity.

How do they fit with your wider portfolio?

Is what is happening to Woodford and his fund considered exceptional?Not in terms of the down turn in performance but the bad press, people exiting his fund etc?

Usual media. Build them up and then knock them down.

Or is this a regular occurrence among funds.

No. most fund managers keep a low profile.

Jonah01 wrote: »

"Thank you for everyone's replies.

Obviously I am learning the hard way. This is my only investment currently."


I am looking to steady the sinking ship in the short term and the two Lindsell funds are obviously performing well and invest in well established companies.

I am thinking the UK and the global fund might be enough diversity for 50k.

Just a thought. It seems like a no brainer to me to get out. What are the other people thinking that make up the 4 billion already invested?

Hi Jonah

I recently got out of Woodford. I had held accumulation units since launch so did make a small paper profit, but a very miserable one given the time period, and especially when sat alongside my other holdings which have done much, much better (Lindsell Train UK being the most obvious point of comparison). My only regret was not getting out much sooner. Reading discussions on here I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't touch Woodford with a barge pole if investing now, so why was I still holding? The fund has totally failed to recover from the dip in the markets at the end of last year, and stood out like as a sore thumb as the only one of my holdings not to have done so. Looking more deeply into where Woodford was investing my money, I came to the conclusion he was holding too many duff companies for my liking. Some in his fund, like the housebuilders are probably due a rally at some point (post-Brexit) but overall, why I tend to agree with Woodford that the UK market is undervalued and that there will be a post-Brexit bounce, IMHO there are better ways to position to hopefully benefit from this.