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

Commentary

Of the 30 funds in April's BOTB, selection 19 funds have retained their place in May's selection despite the selection enduring a tricky month, which was the result of a slump in global equity markets, especially in the US and Japan. The BOTB fell 1.35% during April, however, as the chart below shows, the BOTB's benchmarks also endured a pullback during April.

Obviously, the chart above only looks at the average across all of the funds within the BOTB but there were some positive performances among the funds that make up the selection. The top-performing funds in April's BOTB are highlighted in the table below. The standout performers were funds with exposure to Indian equities,. UK equities also fared well as did bond funds. The BOTB's underweight in UK equities is one of the reasons the selection struggled during April. But on a positive note, it's good to see two of the funds listed are in my own £50k portfolio (namely Ninety One UK Special Situations and Liontrust India).

Fund	April 2024 % return
Jupiter India	3.71
Liontrust India	3.34
Man GLG High Yield Opportunities	0.56
Ninety One UK Special Situations	0.54
Aviva Inv Multi Strategy Target Return	0.26

At the other end of the scale, funds with exposure to large cap US equities were generally the biggest laggards. Disappointingly two of the funds listed are in my own £50k portfolio, but their performances reflect the losses of the respective equity markets in which they invest, namely Japanese and US equities.

Fund	April 2024 % return
Fidelity Index Japan	-3.64
T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity	-3.66
Artemis US Select	-3.91
Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth	-4.19
abrdn Europe ex UK Equity	-4.37

In terms of asset mix, not much has changed this month given that 19 of the funds remain the same. Don't forget that the 80-20 Investor algorithm doesn't focus on short term trends when assessing momentum. If the weakness we've seen in April becomes more entrenched then we will likely see more changes to the funds contained in the BOTB and also its asset mix. As can be seen from the asset mix comparison (see later in this article) the main difference from last month is a slight increase in UK equity exposure at the expense of Japanese equities. Overall the total equity exposure remains at 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.

May'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
Allianz Continental European	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B3Q8YX99	Higher risk
Allianz Emerging Markets Equity	Global Emerging Markets	GB00B0WDH832	Medium risk
Artemis Global Income	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561	Medium risk
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B2PLJD73	Medium risk
Artemis US Select	North America	GB00BMMV5105	Medium risk
Aviva Inv Multi Strategy Target Return	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BMTRW090	Lower risk
AXA Framlington Managed Income	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00B7H1PG56	Lower risk
CT High Yield Bond	Sterling High Yield	GB0008371014	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
L&G Strategic Bond	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00B1TWMW95	Lower risk
Liontrust Balanced	Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares	GB00B85K7211	Medium risk
Liontrust India	India/Indian Subcontinent	GB00B1L6DV51	Higher risk
Liontrust US Opportunities	North America	GB00B7K9LQ88	Higher risk
Man GLG Absolute Value	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BF1X8084	Lower risk
Man GLG High Yield Opportunities	Sterling High Yield	GB00BJK3W057	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
UBS US Growth	North America	GB00B7VHZX64	Medium risk
Unicorn UK Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	GB0031791238	Higher risk
WS Morant Wright Nippon Yield	Japan	GB00B42MKS95	Medium risk
WS Saracen Global Income and Growth	Global Equity Income	GB00B5B35X02	Medium risk

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

Here is May'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
AXA Framlington Managed Income	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00B7H1PG56	Lower risk
CT High Yield Bond	Sterling High Yield	GB0008371014	Lower risk
Invesco High Yield (UK)	Sterling High Yield	GB00B3RW7649	Lower risk
L&G Strategic Bond	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00B1TWMW95	Lower risk
Man GLG Absolute Value	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BF1X8084	Lower risk
Man GLG High Yield Opportunities	Sterling High Yield	GB00BJK3W057	Lower risk
Schroder High Yield Opportunities	Sterling High Yield	GB00B83RDY83	Lower risk
Schroder Strategic Credit	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00BJZ2ZC09	Lower risk
Allianz Emerging Markets Equity	Global Emerging Markets	GB00B0WDH832	Medium risk
Artemis Global Income	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561	Medium risk
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B2PLJD73	Medium risk
Artemis US Select	North America	GB00BMMV5105	Medium risk
FTF Templeton Global Leaders	Global	GB00B7K6LK38	Medium risk
Liontrust Balanced	Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares	GB00B85K7211	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
WS Saracen Global Income and Growth	Global Equity Income	GB00B5B35X02	Medium risk
Allianz Continental European	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B3Q8YX99	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 US Opportunities	North America	GB00B7K9LQ88	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
Unicorn UK Smaller Companies	UK Smaller Companies	GB0031791238	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 Europe ex UK Equity	Europe Excluding UK	GB00BPBR9T62	Higher risk
Artemis European Select	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B6WFCR53	Medium risk
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income	Global Equity Income	GB0030441918	Medium risk
CT Emerging Market Bond	Global EM Bonds - Hard Currency	GB0002365608	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
Liontrust Japan Equity	Japan	GB00BXDZFF23	Medium risk
Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth	Global	GB0030030067	Higher risk
Man GLG Sterling Corporate Bond	Sterling Corporate Bond	GB00BNLYQX62	Lower 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 19% (18%)
• UK Fixed Interest 4% (3%)
• Alternatives 11% (13%) - includes absolute return strategies
• North American Equities 29% (29%)
• American Emerging Market Equities 0% (0%)
• Asian Emerging Market Equities 10% (8%)
• European Equities 11% (12%)
• Japanese Equities 4% (7%)
• UK Equities 8% (5%)
• Cash 2% (2%)
• China Equities 0% (0%)
• Property Equities 0% (0%)
• Other International Equities 2% (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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