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

Commentary

Of the 30 funds in February's BOTB, selection 20 funds have retained their place in March's selection after yet another strong monthly performance. The BOTB as a group rose 2.91%, significantly outperforming the average professionally managed fund, 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 263 of the 274 funds from the Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector during February. That would have put it in the top 5% of performers in February, which is even better than the performance in January. Also, don't forget that many funds from the sector take far more investment risk than the BOTB does as a whole.

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 February's BOTB are highlighted in the table below. Once again, there were some strong performances from funds with exposure to US equities and tech stocks in particular.

Fund	February 2024 % return
Artemis US Select	7.22
FTF Templeton Global Leaders	6.57
FTF Franklin US Opportunities	6.5
T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity	6.18
Artemis Global Income	5.6

At the other end of the scale bond funds and UK smaller companies funds struggled.

Fund	February 2024 % return
CT High Yield Bond	0.25
VT Downing Unique Opportunities	-0.18
Invesco Monthly Income Plus (UK)	-0.35
Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond	-0.74
Royal London UK Smaller Companies	-3.38

In terms of asset mix, not much has changed this month given that 20 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 reduction in UK equities in favour of European equity exposure. Overall the total equity exposure has increased marginally again, from 64% to 65%.

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.

March'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 European Select	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B6WFCR53	Medium risk
Artemis Global Income	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561	Medium risk
Artemis SmartGARP Global Emerging Markets Equity	Global Emerging Markets	GB00BW9HL132	Higher risk
Artemis US Select	North America	GB00BMMV5105	Medium risk
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income	Global Equity Income	GB0030441918	Medium risk
AXA Framlington Global Technology	Technology & Technology Innovation	GB00B4W52V57	Higher risk
CT European Select	Europe Excluding UK	GB0001529345	Higher risk
CT High Yield Bond	Sterling High Yield	GB0008371014	Lower risk
Fidelity Global Dividend	Global Equity Income	GB00B7778087	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 Income (UK)	Global Equity Income	GB00B3FD1Z66	Medium risk
Invesco Global Focus (UK)	Global	GB00B3KJYG12	Higher risk
Jupiter India	India/Indian Subcontinent	GB00B2NHJ040	Higher risk
Jupiter Monthly Income Bond	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00B1XG8187	Lower risk
Liontrust Global Dividend	Global Equity Income	GB00B9225P64	Higher 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
Schroder High Yield Opportunities	Sterling High Yield	GB00B83RDY83	Lower risk
Schroder Strategic Credit	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00BJZ2ZC09	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
UBS US Growth	North America	GB00B7VHZX64	Medium risk
WS Morant Wright Nippon Yield	Japan	GB00B42MKS95	Medium risk

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

Here is March'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
Fidelity Global Dividend	Global Equity Income	GB00B7778087	Lower risk
Jupiter Monthly Income Bond	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00B1XG8187	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 Strategic Credit	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00BJZ2ZC09	Lower risk
Thesis TM Tellworth UK Select	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BNY7YM73	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
Invesco Global Equity Income (UK)	Global Equity Income	GB00B3FD1Z66	Medium risk
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	North America	GB00BD5FHW12	Medium risk
UBS US Growth	North America	GB00B7VHZX64	Medium risk
WS Morant Wright Nippon Yield	Japan	GB00B42MKS95	Medium 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
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
Liontrust Global Dividend	Global Equity Income	GB00B9225P64	Higher risk
Liontrust India	India/Indian Subcontinent	GB00B1L6DV51	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
AXA Framlington Biotech	Specialist	GB00B784NS11	Higher 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 Merian Global Equity	Global	GB00B1XG8F22	Medium risk
Royal London UK Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	GB00B3NQHL55	Higher risk
Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond	Sterling Corporate Bond	GB0009379370	Lower risk
Troy Asset Management Ltd Trojan Global Equity	Global	GB00B0ZJ5S47	Medium risk
VT Downing Unique Opportunities	UK All Companies	GB00BHNC2614	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 14% (18%)
• UK Fixed Interest 3% (0%)
• Alternatives 16% (16%) - includes absolute return strategies
• North American Equities 29% (27%)
• American Emerging Market Equities 0% (0%)
• Asian Emerging Market Equities 10% (7%)
• European Equities 13% (3%)
• Japanese Equities 7% (7%)
• UK Equities 6% (11%)
• Cash 2% (2%)
• China Equities 0% (0%)
• Property Equities 0% (0%)
• Other international equities 0% (9%)
• 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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