Moneyspider in the News
28/02/2008
Big funds are not always the safest
What Investment
Many investors with PEPs, ISAs and Unit
Trusts have seen the value of their holdings 'knocked for six' in
the wake if the stock market turbulence.
However, according to online investment
performance analyst, Moneyspider.com, those that have invested
in some of the UKs biggest and most popular funds have been hit far
worse than others in their sector.
Over the course of the last 12 months,
hugely popular funds run by the likes of banking giant HSBC and leading
investment houses Gartmore, Morgan Stanley and AXA have suffered steep
losses - while rival, more resilient funds have weathered the turbulent
storm pretty well.
In the Equity Income sector, for example,
HSBCs massive Equity Income fund suffered a 12.5 per cent fall in value
over the past 12 months. Yet, if an income-seeking investor had been
with rival Invesco Perpetual's High Income fund, they would have lost
just six per cent of their investment in the last year.
Moneyspider.com's media consultant,
Tony Ahearne, explains, 'Investors need to need to be especially vigilant
at this difficult time in the markets. Any fool can make money in the
good times. But here we are concerned with the fund managers who have
that instinct for survival and have helped to steer their investors
through very choppy waters since the US credit squeeze began to ripple
through to the global stock market funds'.
'If you hold PEPs or ISAs in the popular
equity income sector, for example, you could be losing four times more
money by being in the wrong fund.'
The diverse UK All Companies sector has
also been badly mauled in the downturn of the past six months - but
again Ahearne warns that it is crucial to pick the right fund in the
sector, otherwise investors could lose their shirts.
According to Moneyspider.com's
research, the pickoff the popular sectors has to be Europe excluding
UK, with funds such as Scottish Widows' European Growth and Fidelity's
European Opportunities actually making modest gains.
But Ahearne points out that this is not
without its problems: 'Pick the wrong fund, like Aberdeen's European
Growth, and you will be down by almost nine per cent year on year.'
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