80-20 Investor Best of the Best Selection – February 2024 Update

Commentary

Of the 30 funds in January's BOTB, selection 16 funds have retained their place in February's selection after another strong monthly performance. The BOTB as a group rose 0.76%, significantly outperforming the average professionally managed fund which lost money, as shown by the performance of the Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector (green line) in the chart below. In fact, if the BOTB selection was a fund  it would have outperformed 229 of the 262 funds from the Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector during January. That would have put it in the top 10% of performers in January, but don't forget that many funds from the sector take far more investment risk than the BOTB does as a whole.

What is interesting is that the BOTB underperformed its benchmark by some margin. The benchmark is calculated based on the average performance of funds from those sectors represented by the fund's within the BOTB itself. What the chart therefore suggests is that the performance of the BOTB was driven more by the asset allocation rather than the outperformance of the individual funds within it.

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 January's BOTB are highlighted in the table below. Once again, there were some incredible performances from funds with exposure to US equities and tech stocks in particular. It is good to see Liontrust India and T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity, which are in my own £50k portfolio, performing well. It's also good to see Japanese equities enjoying a resurgence after a more disappointing December.

Fund	January 2024 % return
Liontrust Global Technology	6.36
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	5.18
Liontrust India	4.51
FTF Franklin US Opportunities	4.47
Artemis US Select	3.88
WS Morant Wright Nippon Yield	3.81

At the other end of the scale European equities, Property equities and emerging market equities prop up the performance table for January, with emerging markets hurt by a strengthening dollar.

Fund	January 2024 % return
Schroder Income Maximiser	-1.99
WS Ardtur Continental European	-2.26
Invesco Emerging Markets ex China (UK)	-2.63
abrdn UK Real Estate Share	-2.88
CT Latin America	-3.89

In terms of asset mix, not much has changed this month given that over half of the funds remain the same, and those that have changed have mostly been replaced with peers from the same sector. As can be seen from the asset mix comparison (see later in this article) the main difference is a reduction in emerging market and European equity exposure while property shares have been removed entirely. Overall the total equity exposure has increased marginally again, from 62% to 64%. You can see the full asset mix breakdown later in this article.

Below I list this month's selection in full with the 16 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.

February'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 High Yield Bond	Sterling High Yield	GB00B79RR984	Lower risk
Artemis Global Income	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561	Medium risk
Artemis US Select	North America	GB00BMMV5105	Medium risk
AXA Framlington Biotech	Specialist	GB00B784NS11	Higher risk
AXA Framlington Global Technology	Technology & Technology Innovation	GB00B4W52V57	Higher risk
CT High Yield Bond	Sterling High Yield	GB0008371014	Lower risk
Fidelity Index Japan	Japan	GB00BHZK8872	Medium risk
FTF Franklin US Opportunities	North America	GB00B7KCG406	Higher risk
FTF Templeton Global Leaders	Global	GB00B7K6LK38	Medium risk
Invesco Global Equity (UK)	Global	GB00B3RS9Q62	Medium risk
Invesco High Yield (UK)	Sterling High Yield	GB00B3RW7649	Lower risk
Invesco Monthly Income Plus (UK)	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00B1W7J204	Lower risk
Jupiter Financial Opportunities	Financials and Financial Innovation	GB0004790191	Higher risk
Jupiter India	India/Indian Subcontinent	GB00B2NHJ040	Higher risk
Jupiter Merian Global Equity	Global	GB00B1XG8F22	Medium risk
Liontrust India	India/Indian Subcontinent	GB00B1L6DV51	Higher risk
Man GLG Absolute Value	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BF1X8084	Lower 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
Royal London UK Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	GB00B3NQHL55	Higher risk
Schroder High Yield Opportunities	Sterling High Yield	GB00B83RDY83	Lower risk
Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond	Sterling Corporate Bond	GB0009379370	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
Thesis TM Tellworth UK Select	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BNY7YM73	Lower risk
Troy Asset Management Ltd Trojan Global Equity	Global	GB00B0ZJ5S47	Medium risk
UBS US Growth	North America	GB00B7VHZX64	Medium risk
VT Downing Unique Opportunities	UK All Companies	GB00BHNC2614	Higher risk
WS Morant Wright Nippon Yield	Japan	GB00B42MKS95	Medium risk

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

Here is February'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
CT High Yield Bond	Sterling High Yield	GB0008371014	Lower risk
Invesco High Yield (UK)	Sterling High Yield	GB00B3RW7649	Lower risk
Invesco Monthly Income Plus (UK)	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00B1W7J204	Lower risk
Man GLG Absolute Value	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BF1X8084	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
Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond	Sterling Corporate Bond	GB0009379370	Lower risk
Thesis TM Tellworth UK Select	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BNY7YM73	Lower risk
Artemis Global Income	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561	Medium risk
Artemis US Select	North America	GB00BMMV5105	Medium risk
Fidelity Index Japan	Japan	GB00BHZK8872	Medium risk
FTF Templeton Global Leaders	Global	GB00B7K6LK38	Medium risk
Invesco Global Equity (UK)	Global	GB00B3RS9Q62	Medium risk
Jupiter Merian Global Equity	Global	GB00B1XG8F22	Medium risk
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	North America	GB00BD5FHW12	Medium risk
Troy Asset Management Ltd Trojan Global Equity	Global	GB00B0ZJ5S47	Medium risk
UBS US Growth	North America	GB00B7VHZX64	Medium risk
WS Morant Wright Nippon Yield	Japan	GB00B42MKS95	Medium risk
AXA Framlington Biotech	Specialist	GB00B784NS11	Higher risk
AXA Framlington Global Technology	Technology & Technology Innovation	GB00B4W52V57	Higher risk
FTF Franklin US Opportunities	North America	GB00B7KCG406	Higher risk
Jupiter Financial Opportunities	Financials and Financial Innovation	GB0004790191	Higher risk
Jupiter India	India/Indian Subcontinent	GB00B2NHJ040	Higher risk
Liontrust India	India/Indian Subcontinent	GB00B1L6DV51	Higher risk
Ninety One UK Special Situations	UK All Companies	GB00B1XFJS91	Higher risk
Royal London UK Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	GB00B3NQHL55	Higher risk
T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity	Technology & Technology Innovation	GB00BD446K01	Higher risk
VT Downing Unique Opportunities	UK All Companies	GB00BHNC2614	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
abrdn UK Real Estate Share	Property Other	GB00B0XWNM59	Higher 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 Latin America	Latin America	GB0001531754	Higher risk
Fidelity American Special Situations	North America	GB00B89ST706	Medium risk
Fidelity UK Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	GB00B7VNMB18	Higher risk
Invesco Emerging Markets ex China (UK)	Global Emerging Markets	GB00B3RW8X82	Higher risk
Invesco Global Equity Income (UK)	Global Equity Income	GB00B3FD1Z66	Medium risk
L&G Multi-Asset Target Return	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BD97XY71	Lower risk
Liontrust Global Technology	Technology & Technology Innovation	GB00BYXZ5N79	Higher risk
M&G Strategic Corporate Bond	Sterling Corporate Bond	GB00B4MQK815	Lower risk
Man GLG Undervalued Assets	UK All Companies	GB00BFH3NC99	Higher risk
Schroder Income Maximiser	UK Equity Income	GB00B5B0KM51	Medium risk
WS Ardtur Continental European	Europe Excluding UK	GB0031831570	Higher 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% (18%)
• UK Fixed Interest 0% (0%)
• Alternatives 16% (16%) - includes absolute return strategies
• North American Equities 27% (27%)
• American Emerging Market Equities 0% (6%)
• Asian Emerging Market Equities 7% (4%)
• European Equities 3% (5%)
• Japanese Equities 7% (4%)
• UK Equities 11% (10%)
• Cash 2% (4%)
• China Equities 0% (0%)
• Property Equities 0% (3%)
• Other international equities 9% (3%)
• 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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