Funds Centre |
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By Peter K Hargreaves, Chief Executive, Hargreaves Lansdown
Sometimes you want to shout EUREKA Unfortunately since that time markets have been volatile. A long hot summer kept investors on the sidelines. We have seen a spike in the oil price, interest rates rise, conflict in the Lebanon and the government fall on successive banana skins. It has not been the greatest investment environment. Despite all of these problems that fund - Global Best Ideas - launched in June has delivered excellent growth. If you assemble the cream of investment management in one fund the potential competition means you are going to see some fireworks. A few may be overzealous but the concept has up to now shown merit - albeit over a very short period. A second bite of the cherry Skandia Investment Management are just about to launch another fund using the same concept - the UK Best Ideas Fund. Whilst we were impressed with the first offering, we were surprised that the second offering has managed to assemble arguably an even better team. Anyone would struggle to find a better array of managers. Not just ten reasons to invest We know each manager and all of them have the accolade of inclusion in our Wealth 150. Unsurprisingly Skandia IM had a queue of some of the industry's best managers wishing to be selected and had to turn some big names away. The main reason we can think of for their interest is that it is a fund manager's dream. They often have an investment idea in a share where they may not be able to acquire enough stock to make a difference in their own larger fund. Their smaller portfolio in this fund can really benefit. With only having one tenth of the fund to manage it more or less takes the shackles off. Skandia IM has chosen experts to represent each sector of the market with potential. Each manager will pick their 10 best investment ideas and Skandia IM will bring them all together in a single fund. This means that there may be periods when the fund adopts a more aggressive stance than traditional unit trusts and other times when it is more conservatively positioned. Therefore, over the short term the performance may fluctuate more markedly than other funds. The majority of the fund will be invested in the UK. However Skandia IM has also given the managers the freedom to invest up to 20% of their portfolio overseas, including the emerging markets, if they find opportunities in these markets. What next? If all the above isn't enough we asked Mark Dampier, our Head of Research, for a few other pointers:- "Statistics show the Autumn is historically an excellent time to invest. New funds often do well - all the stocks bought are the ones currently favoured. It is a fund that any UK investor can consider." We always say that the UK market should be the first choice for UK investors - with expenditure in sterling it makes sense to have a significant portion of your assets in sterling where there is no currency risk. Never however forget that even a fund run by the best fund managers in the UK will suffer at times and fall in value as well as rise. In conclusion we believe the Skandia UK Best Ideas Fund is an exciting long term prospect. It is available through an ISA and SIPP as well as a fund outside the usual tax shelters. The Skandia UK Best Ideas Fund is available through Hargreaves Lansdown with an initial saving of up to 5%. Investors can apply online with a debit card or download application forms or transfer forms from our website. If you are interested and you can act by 10 October you will receive the fixed offer price of 50p. The Fund of the Month is written by Hargreaves Lansdown. An independent broker offering unit trust, stockbroking, pension and investment services. |
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