Commentary
Of the 30 funds in March's BOTB, selection 19 funds have retained their place in April's selection after yet another strong monthly performance where only two funds failed to register a positive return. The BOTB as a group rose 2.58%, following February's impressive rise of 2.91%. However, a last day rally for its benchmarks saw the BOTB marginally underperform them, but it doesn't take the shine off another good month for the BOTB.
Obviously, the chart above only looks at the average across all of the funds within the BOTB and there is a wide range of performances among the funds that make up the selection. The top-performing funds in April's BOTB are highlighted in the table below. Once again, there were some strong performances from funds Artemis US Select and FTF Templeton Global Leaders. It's good to see two of the funds listed are in my own £50k portfolio (namely Ninety One UK Special Situations and Artemis European Select) but they are recent additions.
Fund | March's 2024 % return |
Artemis Global Income | 7.58 |
Ninety One UK Special Situations | 6.10 |
Artemis European Select | 5.39 |
Artemis US Select | 5.34 |
FTF Templeton Global Leaders | 4.84 |
At the other end of the scale high yield bond funds and emerging market equities struggled. Disappointingly three of the funds listed are in my own £50k portfolio, but at least any losses were minimal.
Fund | March 2024 % return |
Artemis SmartGARP Global Emerging Markets Equity | 0.31 |
Liontrust India | 0.31 |
CT High Yield Bond | 0.11 |
abrdn High Yield Bond | -0.18 |
Thesis TM Tellworth UK Select | -0.37 |
In terms of asset mix, not much has changed this month given that 19 of the funds remain the same. As can be seen from the asset mix comparison (see later in this article) the main difference is a slight increase in global bond exposure. Overall the total equity exposure has reduced marginally, from 65% to 64%.
Below I list this month's selection in full with the 19 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 |
abrdn Europe ex UK Equity | Europe Excluding UK | GB00BPBR9T62 | Higher risk |
abrdn High Yield Bond | Sterling High Yield | GB00B79RR984 | Lower risk |
Artemis European Select | Europe Excluding UK | GB00B6WFCR53 | Medium risk |
Artemis Global Income | Global Equity Income | GB00B5N99561 | Medium risk |
Artemis US Select | North America | GB00BMMV5105 | Medium risk |
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income | Global Equity Income | GB0030441918 | Medium risk |
Aviva Inv Multi Strategy Target Return | Targeted Absolute Return | GB00BMTRW090 | Lower risk |
CT Emerging Market Bond | Global EM Bonds - Hard Currency | GB0002365608 | Lower risk |
CT High Yield Bond | Sterling High Yield | GB0008371014 | Lower risk |
CT Sustainable Opportunities Global Equity | Global | GB0008464207 | Higher risk |
Fidelity Extra Income | Sterling Strategic Bond | GB00B469P257 | Lower risk |
Fidelity Index Japan | Japan | GB00BHZK8872 | Medium risk |
FP Pictet Multi Asset Portfolio | Targeted Absolute Return | GB00BVYTTC41 | Lower risk |
FTF Franklin US Opportunities | North America | GB00B7KCG406 | Higher risk |
FTF Templeton Global Leaders | Global | GB00B7K6LK38 | Medium risk |
Invesco Global Focus (UK) | Global | GB00B3KJYG12 | Higher risk |
Invesco High Yield (UK) | Sterling High Yield | GB00B3RW7649 | Lower risk |
Jupiter India | India/Indian Subcontinent | GB00B2NHJ040 | Higher risk |
L&G Global Technology Index Trust | Technology & Technology Innovation | GB00B0CNH163 | Higher risk |
Liontrust Balanced | Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares | GB00B85K7211 | Medium risk |
Liontrust India | India/Indian Subcontinent | GB00B1L6DV51 | Higher risk |
Liontrust Japan Equity | Japan | GB00BXDZFF23 | Medium risk |
Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth | Global | GB0030030067 | Higher risk |
Man GLG High Yield Opportunities | Sterling High Yield | GB00BJK3W057 | Lower risk |
Man GLG Sterling Corporate Bond | Sterling Corporate Bond | GB00BNLYQX62 | Lower risk |
Ninety One UK Special Situations | UK All Companies | GB00B1XFJS91 | Higher risk |
Schroder High Yield Opportunities | Sterling High Yield | GB00B83RDY83 | Lower risk |
T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity | Technology & Technology Innovation | GB00BD446K01 | Higher risk |
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity | North America | GB00BD5FHW12 | Medium risk |
UBS US Growth | North America | GB00B7VHZX64 | 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 |
abrdn High Yield Bond | Sterling High Yield | GB00B79RR984 | Lower risk |
Aviva Inv Multi Strategy Target Return | Targeted Absolute Return | GB00BMTRW090 | Lower risk |
CT Emerging Market Bond | Global EM Bonds - Hard Currency | GB0002365608 | Lower risk |
CT High Yield Bond | Sterling High Yield | GB0008371014 | Lower risk |
Fidelity Extra Income | Sterling Strategic Bond | GB00B469P257 | Lower risk |
FP Pictet Multi Asset Portfolio | Targeted Absolute Return | GB00BVYTTC41 | Lower risk |
Invesco High Yield (UK) | Sterling High Yield | GB00B3RW7649 | Lower risk |
Man GLG High Yield Opportunities | Sterling High Yield | GB00BJK3W057 | Lower risk |
Man GLG Sterling Corporate Bond | Sterling Corporate Bond | GB00BNLYQX62 | Lower risk |
Schroder High Yield Opportunities | Sterling High Yield | GB00B83RDY83 | Lower risk |
Artemis European Select | Europe Excluding UK | GB00B6WFCR53 | Medium risk |
Artemis Global Income | Global Equity Income | GB00B5N99561 | Medium risk |
Artemis US Select | North America | GB00BMMV5105 | Medium risk |
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income | Global Equity Income | GB0030441918 | Medium risk |
Fidelity Index Japan | Japan | GB00BHZK8872 | Medium risk |
FTF Templeton Global Leaders | Global | GB00B7K6LK38 | Medium risk |
Liontrust Balanced | Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares | GB00B85K7211 | Medium risk |
Liontrust Japan Equity | Japan | GB00BXDZFF23 | Medium risk |
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity | North America | GB00BD5FHW12 | Medium risk |
UBS US Growth | North America | GB00B7VHZX64 | Medium risk |
abrdn Europe ex UK Equity | Europe Excluding UK | GB00BPBR9T62 | Higher risk |
CT Sustainable Opportunities Global Equity | Global | GB0008464207 | Higher risk |
FTF Franklin US Opportunities | North America | GB00B7KCG406 | Higher risk |
Invesco Global Focus (UK) | Global | GB00B3KJYG12 | Higher risk |
Jupiter India | India/Indian Subcontinent | GB00B2NHJ040 | Higher risk |
L&G Global Technology Index Trust | Technology & Technology Innovation | GB00B0CNH163 | Higher risk |
Liontrust India | India/Indian Subcontinent | GB00B1L6DV51 | Higher risk |
Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth | Global | GB0030030067 | Higher risk |
Ninety One UK Special Situations | UK All Companies | GB00B1XFJS91 | Higher risk |
T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity | Technology & Technology Innovation | GB00BD446K01 | Higher 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:
Name | Sector | ISIN Code | Risk |
Artemis SmartGARP Global Emerging Markets Equity | Global Emerging Markets | GB00BW9HL132 | Higher risk |
AXA Framlington Global Technology | Technology & Technology Innovation | GB00B4W52V57 | Higher risk |
CT European Select | Europe Excluding UK | GB0001529345 | Higher risk |
Fidelity Global Dividend | Global Equity Income | GB00B7778087 | Lower risk |
Invesco Global Equity Income (UK) | Global Equity Income | GB00B3FD1Z66 | Medium risk |
Jupiter Monthly Income Bond | Sterling Strategic Bond | GB00B1XG8187 | Lower risk |
Liontrust Global Dividend | Global Equity Income | GB00B9225P64 | Higher risk |
Man GLG Absolute Value | Targeted Absolute Return | GB00BF1X8084 | Lower risk |
Schroder Strategic Credit | Sterling Strategic Bond | GB00BJZ2ZC09 | Lower risk |
Thesis TM Tellworth UK Select | Targeted Absolute Return | GB00BNY7YM73 | Lower risk |
WS Morant Wright Nippon Yield | Japan | GB00B42MKS95 | 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 18% (14%)
- UK Fixed Interest 3% (3%)
- Alternatives 13% (16%) - includes absolute return strategies
- North American Equities 29% (29%)
- American Emerging Market Equities 0% (0%)
- Asian Emerging Market Equities 8% (10%)
- European Equities 12% (13%)
- Japanese Equities 7% (7%)
- UK Equities 5% (6%)
- Cash 2% (2%)
- China Equities 0% (0%)
- Property Equities 0% (0%)
- Other International Equities 3% (0%)
- Commodities and Energy 0% (0%)
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 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 40-60% 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 BOTB has outperformed the average managed fund and the market.
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