80-20 Investor FAQs

80-20 investor is a  service which empowers DIY investors to make their own investment decision. It screens tens of thousands of funds based on a unique algorithm which harnesses the power of risk adjusted momentum investing to grow your money, while our stop loss alerts can help protect it. We also allow you to submit your own bespoke research requests to one of the most widely quoted investment experts in the national press. Quite simply the 80-20 investor helps you minimise the effort it takes be a successful DIY investor while maximising your returns, allowing you to get on with the things you want to in life.
Momentum investing is the act of riding unfolding trends which are working in the current investment environment and is one of the few investment strategies to consistently outperform other strategies over the long term, as proven by countless academic papers. One of the most influential was that produced by Jegadeesh & Titman in 1993. The key is identifying the latest trends and riding the best and strongest of those until they've run their course or better opportunities present themselves. The problem has always been that momentum analysis can be time-consuming and the volume of data required to do it means that only professional investors and institutions have access to it. On top of that the academic research focusses on buying individual shares. Most ordinary investors buy funds to help mitigate company specific risks and to keep trading costs down. But there have been other less accessible academic studies that have analysed why momentum investing works and ways to enhance it. As investment research analysts, we took this on another step and developed algorithms and systems to analyse and research the power of momentum. How could we improve it, how could we identify the trends most likely to continue? So, based on thousands of hours of research, 80-20 Investor developed a unique algorithm which enhances the proven power of momentum investing by taking into account other investment factors to risk adjust our screening process. In plain English that means we've made millions of calculations to pick the most stable trends to follow. Through 80-20 Investor we give you access to this, so empowering armchair investors to take advantage of the proven power of momentum investing.
No. The numerical analysis we provide uses our unique algorithm to identify the best trends to follow, which is based around momentum.  The key is identifying the latest trends and riding the best and strongest of those until they've run their course or better opportunities present themselves. However, we realise that other styles of investing, such as Value investing, also have merit and so we provide analysis and research on these here. We wanted to give people an investment research department in their pocket, so we also provide research for those looking for income. We also allow users to request bespoke research. For example, do you want to know 'the best currency hedged Japan fund to buy'? What about the best strategy to invest cash into the market? 80-20 Investor has answered these questions and many more for its members.
We continually track the performance of our fund shortlist versus the market and professional fund managers in the chart on this page. As you can see we have hugely outperformed. However, Damien also invests £50,000 of real money live on the site to prove how 80-20 Investor can be used to successfully run your own money. No other service or investment expert does this! You can see the full details of his current performance here.
A fantastic and perfectly valid question. I encourage caution and cynicism regarding all areas of finance however what this questions highlights is how the financial world has succeeded in embedding the misconception that: a) the more you pay the better the quality of service or product you receive b) the more money you have the more you should pay for advisers to engage with you This is complete and utter nonsense and is what drives much of the greed in the financial world. Sure I could make more money by working in the City taking a percentage from clients who I barely service. However, I believe that this is fundamentally wrong and only serves to increase the number of people who can't get access to financial advice, simply because they are not deemed rich enough. MoneytotheMasses.com and 80-20 Investor were created to empower people to take control of their own personal finances, something the financial world does not want to happen. Every week I receive messages from people thanking me for my help. The buzz I get from that far exceeds "2 to 4% plus 30% of the profits”.
Yes absolutely. Unlike other investment experts you read in the national press, Damien backs his research by investing his money using 80-20 Investor. Damien runs a £50,000 portfolio live on the site to show you how to use 80-20 Investor successfully to run your own money. Since inception our £50,000 portfolio has outperformed the market, passive investing strategies and 90% of professional fund managers running portfolio. In the first 17 months we made over 11% versus the market which made 2.81% as shown in the table below:
Investment % return March 2015 to August 2016
Our £50,000 portfolio (using 80-20 Investor) 11.25%
Passive Vanguard benchmark 7.74%
Average managed fund 5.86%
FTSE 100 2.81%
Firstly I challenge you to find any other financial expert, adviser or commentator who backs their convictions by putting their own money into the services and funds they promote. The quick answer is you won’t. When I created 80-20 Investor I wanted to create a service that was authentic and had integrity. It was therefore important that I had “skin in the game”. It’s easy to hide behind headlines and model portfolios and claim to be achieving good returns but in my opinion those claims are worthless unless you have your own money invested in them. This is why I run a personal £50k portfolio live on 80-20 Investor so others can see how I use the service and the real life impact on my portfolio in pounds and pence, including ALL charges. So why have I not put more in? Well first of all £50k is not a trivial amount of money so should not be dismissed. Secondly in order for me to demonstrate how to use 80-20 Investor I believe that £50k is an appropriate amount. Whether I had £50,000 or £1million I would run the portfolio in exactly the same way. In addition, all my time energy and the rest of my money goes into MoneytotheMasses.com and 80-20 Investor to give everyone access to the information and insights they deserve.
Our analysis covers Unit Trusts, Investment trusts and ETFs.
80-20 Investor provides insight and information only. Members make the ultimate decision and then invest via a fund platform or investment broker.
No as long as they don't charge you for switching in and out of funds you can use any fund/investment platform. The most popular investment platform used by 80-20 Investor member is Hargreaves Lansdown because of its wide fund choice.
There is no minimum but typically 80-20 Investor members use 80-20 Investor to invest £10,000+.  
You receive:
  • weekly market insight emails
  • monthly market insight emails
  • regular investment research articles
  • Best of the Best fund shortlist and data (updated monthly) which is a shortlist of the best funds split by low, medium and high risk
  • Best funds by Sector shortlist and data (updated weekly)
  • stop loss email alerts
  • unique tools such as our stress test tool and Heatmaps
  • ability to ask Damien questions directly
  • access to the community Chatterbox where you can exchange ideas or ask questions
  • access to see Damien's live £50,000 investment and see the changes he makes alongside expert commentary
It's very easy to cancel your account at anytime. To Cancel your Account: Simply access your "My Account" page and select the "Cancel My Subscription" button.
For the annual and biennial membership level we offer a 30 day money back guarantee in addition to the 30 day free trial. How this works is that after the 30 day free trial ends we take the payment for the annual or biennial membership (whichever you've chosen). You then have a further 30 days to ask to cancel your 80-20 Investor membership and ask for a refund under the money back guarantee. In reality it means you can try 80-20 Investor for 60 days for free if you invoke the money back guarantee at the last minute.
There are no performance guarantees with 80-20 Investor. 80-20 Investor empowers members to make better informed investment decisions. As with all investing you must be comfortable with investment risk and that the value of your capital could fall as well as rise.
We analyse tens of thousands unit trusts, investment trusts and ETFs available to UK investors to bring you the best investment opportunities. As we are not linked to any fund platform or stockbroker our research is truly independent and not restricted in any way.
No. The material in any email, the MoneytotheMasses.com website, 80-20 Investor, associated pages / channels / accounts and any other correspondence are for general information only and do not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. As such we do not need to be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Information provided by MoneytotheMasses.com and 80-20 Investor is not intended to be relied upon by readers in making (or not making) specific investment decisions. Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decisions and for your own particular situation. Leadenhall Learning (owner of MoneytotheMasses.com and 80-20 Investor) and its staff do not accept liability for any loss suffered by readers as a result of any such decisions. Funds invest in shares, bonds, and other financial instruments and are by their nature speculative and can be volatile. You should never invest more than you can safely afford to lose. The value of your investment can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you originally invested. Tax rules can change and benefits depend on individual circumstances. See full Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy and Disclaimer.  
80-20 Investor is funded by the membership fee. We do not take money from your investments.
The reviews on the review page come from genuine 80-20 Investor members. When submitting their reviews they were given the choice of submitting the details they were happy to make publically available. In most cases this was their first names. Integrity, honesty and privacy are extremely important to me and therefore I will only publish details that I have been given permission to post. In the coming months we will be adding video testimonials to the site so you can hear members’ opinions of 80-20 Investor first hand.
80-20 Investor helps you identify investment opportunities for you based on quantitative and qualitative research. You then use your existing fund platform provider such as Fidelity Fundsnetwork or Hargreaves Lansdown to purchase the funds. You can then monitor the ongoing performance there. We essentially provide analysis, which is truly independent as we are funded by your monthly 80-20 Investor subscription. Fund platforms and discount brokers are paid by the products they sell which means the independence and the integrity of any of their 'buy lists' can and should be questioned.
80-20 Investor was designed to allow people to get the maximum gain from however much time they invested. Ultimately you could spend a few minutes every month or so using our 80-20 research to inform your fund selection. Thats's exactly why I (Damien Fahy) built it as it's what I do myself.
Research shows that reviewing your portfolio of funds every 6 months dramatically increases the performance of your portfolio. But 80-20 Investor was designed to allow people to review their funds more frequently if they so wished as the data is updated weekly.
We provide stop loss alerts on our 'Best of the Best' selection for 1 month, at which point the portfolio is refreshed and all stop losses reset to monitor the new selection. If the main share price of any of the funds in our selection falls by 5% from its monthly high we email everyone. Stop loss alerts are a smart tool to take the emotion out of investing and help you to avoid a severe market correction. If you get a stop loss alert this will be a trigger to remind you to review your portfolio and consider switching funds or into cash if you are worried about preserving your money. Think of it like a fire alarm for funds.
If the main share price of any of the funds in our 'Best of the Best' selection falls by 5% from its monthly high we email everyone.
Funds are monitored every morning and stop loss alerts are sent, where necessary, via email
80-20 Investor costs:
  • £12 a month - for a 2 year subscription with a no quibble 30 day money back guarantee. This is taken as a one-off payment of £288 upfront.
OR
  • £17 a month - for a 1 year subscription with a no quibble 30 day money back guarantee. This is taken as a one-off payment of £204 upfront.
OR
  • £25 a month - for a rolling monthly contract where you can cancel at any time.
You can pay by using paypal, debit card or credit card. If you wish to pay using a credit or debit card you will still need to open a paypal account. However, paypal simply processes card payments for 80-20 Investor members. So while you do have to open a paypal account you do not have to fund it with money as the payment is taken directly from your credit/debit card, via paypal. We use paypal as it has industry leading security and it means we do not have to collect or store members' debit/credit card details at all.
To Upgrade your Account: Simply access your "My Account" page and select the plan that you wish to change to. The upgrade will come into effect when your next payment is due. To Cancel your Account: Simply access your "My Account" page and select the "Cancel My Subscription" button. Please note the following cancellation terms apply:
  • Free Trial - after cancelling your membership during your 30 day free trial you will continue to enjoy access to the 80-20 Investor service for the remainder of your free trial. No money will be taken once you reach the end of your free trial at which point you will no longer have access to membership services that require payment. If you cancel your free trial but change your mind before the end of the free trial you can re-join by following the upgrade procedure outlined above. Please note if you cancel your free trial and subsequently decide to sign up to 80-20 Investor again your first payment will be taken immediately.
  • Monthly - after cancelling your monthly membership you will continue to enjoy access to the 80-20 Investor service for the remainder of the month in which you cancelled your subscription. No money will be taken the following month and you will no longer have access to membership services that require payment beyond the date that your next payment would have been due.
  • Annual & Two Year memberships - after cancelling your annual or two-year membership you will continue to enjoy access to the 80-20 Investor service for the remainder of your agreed minimum term. No money will be taken when your membership level is set to renew and you will no longer have access to membership services that require payment beyond that date.
  To re-join after previously cancelling your account: Simply login and access your "My Account" page and select the plan that you wish to sign up for. As you will have already had a free trial in the past your first payment will be taken immediately.