Investor's Chronicle

[Simpo Two]

This used to be a good reference for keeping tabs on things, but in the internet age is it still so? I'm looking for a source of fund performance data on which to base investment decisions. Many thanks.

[bad company]

Simpo Two said:

This used to be a good reference for keeping tabs on things, but in the internet age is it still so? I'm looking for a source of fund performance data on which to base investment decisions. Many thanks.

Try opening an account with Hargreaves Landsdown. There is lots of advice and info on funds and shares which is regularly updated including Investors Chronicle share tips every Friday.

Here is the link - http://www.hl.co.uk

[Simpo Two]

Thanks BC; HL crop up a lot here; I might give them a call and see what they sound like.

[PetrolTed]

HL are very good - pick up the phone straight away etc.

Online info is available (for free) from a number of sources including HL, trustnet etc.

[Simpo Two]

Excellent, thank you - looks like Simpo Investments is up and running

Having just dumped my IFA after some frightful service I feel responsibility, but I feel empowered.

[PetrolTed]

Simpo Two said:

Excellent, thank you - looks like Simpo Investments is up and running

Having just dumped my IFA after some frightful service I feel responsibility, but I feel empowered.

I recently took control of my pensions for similar reasons. A lot more work required to manage them but I enjoy it and it's actually a comfort to be in control whichever way they go.

[Ginge R]

"Having just dumped my IFA after some frightful service I feel responsibility, but I feel empowered"

Invigorating times! Good luck and frankly, the sooner more dog IFAs dissapear, the better.

Consider opening an account on Trustnet, Citywire or MorningStar. You'll find that some fund managers will send you updates if you ask although you might need an FCA number. Lipper is good for getting a steer on the way that institutional managers are thinking, before retail reflects credible cash flow movements. The problem is going to be sifting through the chaff.

None of that is advice of course!

[Simpo Two]

Ginge R said:

Consider opening an account on Trustnet, Citywire or MorningStar. You'll find that some fund managers will send you updates if you ask although you might need an FCA number. Lipper is good for getting a steer on the way that institutional managers are thinking, before retail reflects credible cash flow movements. The problem is going to be sifting through the chaff.

None of that is advice of course!

Thanks for the advice. Erm, I mean...

Then again official paid-for advice can be as wrong as unofficial free advice, so one may as well take the free one

In point of fact I'm not looking to buy and sell and wheel/deal every day; I'm at the stage now where I'm looking for income with reliability and preservation of capital, 'fire and forget' if you like.

[bad company]

Simpo Two said:

Thanks for the advice. Erm, I mean...

Then again official paid-for advice can be as wrong as unofficial free advice, so one may as well take the free one

In point of fact I'm not looking to buy and sell and wheel/deal every day; I'm at the stage now where I'm looking for income with reliability and preservation of capital, 'fire and forget' if you like.

That's pretty much where I'm at. There are some good funds on HL's 'Wealth 150' that should achieve that for you including their own 'fund of funds'.

[The Stiglet]

Simpo Two said:

This used to be a good reference for keeping tabs on things, but in the internet age is it still so? I'm looking for a source of fund performance data on which to base investment decisions. Many thanks.

Yes it's still good and the online subscription gives you the tips sooner than print, obviously. This is helpful when Simon Thompson tips something as by the time it's made its way into print the sp has already risen beyond his target price. The sub is expensive however and quite a lot of the content can be found elsewhere for free. Simon's tips continue to work well for me though.

Re HL providing tips from Shares mag and the IC, those deals are content subscription offerings to boost circulation for the publishers and increase trades for HL. Don't expect the best tips from their articles though, they want you to sign up for the juicy stuff. Quid pro quo.

[Simpo Two]

That rather confirms my thoughts, in that by the time a tip is in the public domain the best pickings have probably gone. I am instinctively rather contrarian! So rather than today's hot share tip, I'm more interested in general fund performance. The 'Wealth 150' smells attractive; I'll investigate next week when my brain is fully tuned up

[PetrolTed]

Don't get too suckered by the Wealth 150 - the criteria by which they select them might not always have the investors' interests at heart whatever they say.

I ended up with a dozen or so funds based on my own research, of which about 5 happen to be Wealth 150.

[bad company]

PetrolTed said:

Don't get too suckered by the Wealth 150 - the criteria by which they select them might not always have the investors' interests at heart whatever they say.

I ended up with a dozen or so funds based on my own research, of which about 5 happen to be Wealth 150.

Agree. HL will not say what if any benefit they receive from by Wealth 150 funds. It's not a bad guide tho. I also have about 12 funds mostly (but not all) Wealth150 recommended . Some were when I bought them but have since been dropped.

[matrignano]

Morning star

[Simpo Two]

Communist newspaper?

[bad company]

Simpo Two said:

Communist newspaper?

Taking the pee.

[Martin4x4]

My uncle used rave about it but it always struck me as classic pump and dump operation.

[bad company]

Martin4x4 said:

My uncle used rave about it but it always struck me as classic pump and dump operation.

Sorry, your uncle raved about what exactly?

[Ginge R]

Simpo Two said:

That rather confirms my thoughts, in that by the time a tip is in the public domain the best pickings have probably gone. I am instinctively rather contrarian! So rather than today's hot share tip, I'm more interested in general fund performance. The 'Wealth 150' smells attractive; I'll investigate next week when my brain is fully tuned up

Yes, but it isn't just fund performance and I know that someone who talks about buy and hold and preservation like you have, knows that as well. I think I read elsewhere here, a while back, a point you made that costs are not everything, and that's also bang on. In addition to fund performance, asset allocation is also important (I read that in another recent thread here, just last night).

But it isn't *just* about being prescriptive about asset allocation either, it's also about how you invest within those asset allocations. For instance, let's assume that you want a fused portfolio with a blend of actives and passives, and let's assume too, that the active v passive jury is still out (which, despite those evangelicals at either end of the light and noise twitter spectrum, it is).

Do you allocate a higher number of passive funds to held funds within your portfolio that focus on the lower end of your risk spectrum where activity is a little less 'busy' and less volatile, and do you keep your powder dry by preserving your 'actives' for the more sex and violence end of things where your fund managers have to be a little more agile and lighter on their feet? They are your 'force multipliers' (you can take the boy out of the infantry, but you can't take the infantry out of the boy).

You refer to performance, and I mentioned MorningStar the other day. It published research last year that the average large-stock fund earned 4.5% pa in the 15 years 1998-2013, but that the average investor earned just 2.59% (pro rata, an even bigger clout if you assume that the long-term returns from US equities are nearer 6.45%). Where the hell does that all go? Question mark rhetorical! Look at the news about salary of the new head of the Co-Op banking group this morning if you ever needed evidence that a leopard doesn't change its spots overnight.

Many clients don't want you to shoot the lights out, and thank god for that, and cheap isn't always the best. But as most business owners know, over the long term, you have to forget the headlines, and instead, keep the overhead down to prop the actuals up.

Using your rational, if wealth preservation is the key, most clients are clever and informed enough anyway to have already emotionally reconciled him/herself to there being a certain Reduction in Yield (RiY) through overhead and instead they will be focused on nailing the odds by increasing the certainty of (say) 5.25% being achieved year on year with metronome like montony. It's that blend of not wanting to be seen as a cash cow by keeping the RiY down, and sleeping at night by dreaming of those retirement toys.. *that's* just as important. Because you can't plan without certainty.