80-20 Investor Best of the Best Selection – April 2017 Update

Commentary

Once again 20 funds from last month's 30 Best of the Best (BOTB) Selection regained their position in this month's shortlist. March proved a tricky investment market with US and Japanese equities being laggards while technology and UK Smaller Companies funds were among the sectors to eke out the biggest profit. This was a similar pattern to February's but with the exception that US equities underperformed.

Once again a number of the funds that have dropped out of the BOTB only just missed being included and remain in the BFBS tables. They may return to the fold in the near future just like JOHCM UK Equity Income has this month. The underlying asset mix this month hasn't changed radically with the most noteworthy changes being the reintroduction of an emerging market fund as well as the slightly reduced exposure to Japanese equities. European equities continue to have less significance in the portfolio than either UK or US equities. In terms of direct equity exposure the portfolio is still around 70%, on a par with last month.

At the foot of this article you can see how the 80-20 Investor Portfolio has continued to outperform the professional fund managers as well as the market since its launch over two and a half years ago.

Below I list this month's selection in full with the 20 funds that regained their place in black while the new additions are in green. As usual, I have included the full list sorted alphabetically by name and then by risk category.

April's Best of the Best Selection - (A-Z by fund name)

(funds unchanged from last month are in black while new additions are in green)

Name	Sector	ISIN Code	Risk Level
7IM - AAP Income	Mixed Investment 0%-35% Shares	GB0033954024	Low risk
Artemis - Global Income	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561	Medium risk
Artemis - Monthly Distribution	Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares	GB00B6TK3R06	Low risk
AXA - Framlington Global Technology	Technology & Telecommunication	GB00B4W52V57	High risk
AXA - Global High Income	Sterling High Yield	GB00B0T9V375	Low risk
BlackRock - US Dynamic	North America	GB00B87XJQ69	Medium risk
Cavendish - AIM	UK Smaller Companies	GB00B0JX3X39	High risk
Cavendish - Technology	Technology & Telecommunication	GB00B60SMN24	High risk
EdenTree - Amity European	Europe Excluding UK	GB0008448333	High risk
Fidelity - Global High Yield	Sterling High Yield	GB00B7K7SQ18	Low risk
Fidelity - Global Special Situations	Global	GB00B8HT7153	High risk
FP - Apollo Multi Asset Cautious	Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares	GB00B3FPDY55	Low risk
Investec - Cautious Managed	Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares	GB00B8NZ3M08	Low risk
JOHCM - UK Equity Income	UK Equity Income	GB00B03KR500	Medium risk
M&G - Recovery	UK All Companies	GB00B7759Y38	Medium risk
Man GLG - Japan Core Alpha	Japan	GB00B3F46Y30	High risk
Marlborough - European Multi-Cap	Europe Excluding UK	GB0001719730	High risk
Marlborough - Far East Growth	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B0NVCN62	High risk
Old Mutual - Global Equity	Global	GB00B1XG8F22	Medium risk
Old Mutual - North American Equity	North America	GB00B1XG8M98	Medium risk
Premier - Diversified	Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares	GB00B8BJV423	Low risk
R&M - UK Equity Long Term Recovery	UK All Companies	GB00B614J053	Medium risk
S&W - Saltus Wealth	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00B6RLZP73	Low risk
Sarasin - Fund of Funds - Global Equity	Flexible Investment	GB00B7YYSB32	Medium risk
Schroder - High Yield Opportunities	Sterling High Yield	GB00B83RDY83	Low risk
Schroder - UK Dynamic Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	GB0007220360	High risk
TB Saracen - Global Income & Growth	Global Equity Income	GB00B8MG4091	Medium risk
Templeton - Global Total Return Bond	Global Bonds	GB00BKT0HX25	Low risk
UBS - Emerging Markets Equity Income	Global Emerging Markets	GB00B8BDQ491	High risk
Wise Investments - TB Wise Income	Flexible Investment	GB00B0LJ0160	Medium risk

April's Best of the Best Selection - (grouped by risk)

Here is April's shortlist grouped by their risk category (funds unchanged from last month are in black while new additions are in green):

Name	Sector	ISIN Code	Risk Level
7IM - AAP Income	Mixed Investment 0%-35% Shares	GB0033954024	Low risk
Artemis - Monthly Distribution	Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares	GB00B6TK3R06	Low risk
AXA - Global High Income	Sterling High Yield	GB00B0T9V375	Low risk
Fidelity - Global High Yield	Sterling High Yield	GB00B7K7SQ18	Low risk
FP - Apollo Multi Asset Cautious	Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares	GB00B3FPDY55	Low risk
Investec - Cautious Managed	Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares	GB00B8NZ3M08	Low risk
Premier - Diversified	Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares	GB00B8BJV423	Low risk
S&W - Saltus Wealth	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00B6RLZP73	Low risk
Schroder - High Yield Opportunities	Sterling High Yield	GB00B83RDY83	Low risk
Templeton - Global Total Return Bond	Global Bonds	GB00BKT0HX25	Low risk
Artemis - Global Income	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561	Medium risk
BlackRock - US Dynamic	North America	GB00B87XJQ69	Medium risk
JOHCM - UK Equity Income	UK Equity Income	GB00B03KR500	Medium risk
M&G - Recovery	UK All Companies	GB00B7759Y38	Medium risk
Old Mutual - Global Equity	Global	GB00B1XG8F22	Medium risk
Old Mutual - North American Equity	North America	GB00B1XG8M98	Medium risk
R&M - UK Equity Long Term Recovery	UK All Companies	GB00B614J053	Medium risk
Sarasin - Fund of Funds - Global Equity	Flexible Investment	GB00B7YYSB32	Medium risk
TB Saracen - Global Income & Growth	Global Equity Income	GB00B8MG4091	Medium risk
Wise Investments - TB Wise Income	Flexible Investment	GB00B0LJ0160	Medium risk
AXA - Framlington Global Technology	Technology & Telecommunication	GB00B4W52V57	High risk
Cavendish - AIM	UK Smaller Companies	GB00B0JX3X39	High risk
Cavendish - Technology	Technology & Telecommunication	GB00B60SMN24	High risk
EdenTree - Amity European	Europe Excluding UK	GB0008448333	High risk
Fidelity - Global Special Situations	Global	GB00B8HT7153	High risk
Man GLG - Japan Core Alpha	Japan	GB00B3F46Y30	High risk
Marlborough - European Multi-Cap	Europe Excluding UK	GB0001719730	High risk
Marlborough - Far East Growth	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B0NVCN62	High risk
Schroder - UK Dynamic Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	GB0007220360	High risk
UBS - Emerging Markets Equity Income	Global Emerging Markets	GB00B8BDQ491	High risk

The funds that dropped out of the Best of the Best Selection

For reference the funds from last month that dropped out of the 80-20 Investor Best of the Best list are listed below. Many of them remain in the Best funds by Sector selection:

Name	Sector	ISIN Code	Risk Level
7IM - Unconstrained	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00B75MS619	Low risk
CF - Morant Wright Japan	Japan	GB0033010017	High risk
Henderson - Global Technology	Technology & Telecom	GB0007698847	High risk
M&G - Global Dividend	Global	GB00B46J9127	Medium risk
Neptune - Global Alpha	Flexible Investment	GB0031190555	Medium risk
Old Mutual - Cirilium Moderate	Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares	GB00B2Q8TP98	Low risk
Royal London - US Growth Trust	North America	GB0030038359	Medium risk
Schroder - Tokyo	Japan	GB00B4SZR818	High risk
UBS - US Equity	North America	GB00B7V68L26	Medium risk
Wise Investments - TB Wise Investment	Flexible Investment	GB0034272533	Medium risk

The Asset mix

The current asset mix of the new Best of the Best Selection is shown below with last month's figures in brackets:

• Global Fixed Interest 12% (12%)
• Alternatives 14% (11%) - mostly absolute return strategies
• UK Corporate Fixed Interest (i.e UK bonds) 0% (2%)
• Emerging Market Fixed Interest 2% (0%)
• North American Equities 18% (22%)
• European Equities 7% (7%)
• Japanese Equities 6% (11%)
• Property 0% (0%)
• UK Equities 20% (18%)
• Cash 4% (4%)
• Asian equities 0% (0%)
• Asia Pacific Emerging equities 0% (0%)
• Other international equities 17% (13%) which includes Asian equities

80-20 Investor's outperformance continues

As you know the Best of the Best Selection is the shortlist of the best funds highlighted by our 80-20 Investor algorithm split into high, medium and low risk categories. This shortlist is updated at the start of every month.

The green line in the chart below (click to enlarge) shows how a portfolio would have performed since inception (in August 2014) if it had been split equally between the Best of the Best Selection funds and then switched each month when each new shortlist was published. I have also charted the performance against that of the FTSE 100 (the black line) and the average cautious managed fund (blue line) and the average managed fund with up to 85% equity exposure (red line). In reality the 80-20 Investor's asset allocation typically lies between these two as it usually has 60-85% exposure to equities at any one time. So they provide a good comparison of how fund managers with a similar remit have fared over the same period.

As you can see, since launch in August 2014 the 80-20 Investor portfolio has HUGELY outperformed the average managed fund and the market. The large spike in performance in the 80-20 Investor portfolio on the right hand side of the chart is where the portfolio rallied after the Brexit referendum while global markets plummeted.

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