Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

28 June 2007

 LOOK TO REALITY, NOT THE STARS, FOR TRACKING DOWN BEST INVESTMENT PROFITS - MONEYSPIDER.COM PREDICTS TROUBLE AHEAD AS FINANCIAL ASTROLOGY TAKES OFF

-          US craze for financial star-gazing heads to UK

-          Forget horoscopes - rational research and analysis the key

-          Moneyspider.com sorts fact from fiction

FINANCIAL astrology - plotting financial fortunes on the back of readings from the stars - is a worrying trend now gaining momentum in the UK, warns investment funds analyst Moneyspider.com (www.moneyspider.com)

Immensely popular in the States - where many financial fads originate - financial astrology, as the term suggests, uses planetary movements to predict the performance of currencies, stock markets, property prices and other financial asset classes.

Websites - predominantly based in the US - are currently targeting potential UK investors with spam email inviting them to invest via this unconventional methodology.

"It is also worrying that there are now specialist fund managers, such as The Astrologers Fund, incorporating planetary movements within their standard calculations, and this is in our view quite frankly dangerous for investors," said Moneyspider.com managing director Bill Ross.

"It is one thing to have a bit of fun with the likes of Mystic Meg et al, but would anyone in their right minds seriously want to invest their hard earned cash on the basis of the relative positions of celestial bodies," questioned Ross.

"Who is the sensible investor most likely to believe? A research service like Moneyspider.com, which constantly monitors all 2,000 or so funds available to UK investors, utilising a unique computer system which compares fund performance over 1, 3 and 5 years involving 34 separate computations - or a man in a pointy hat rambling on about when Mercury is rising in Gemini, or whatever," added Ross.

A recent study by The British Association for the Advancement of Science asked a professional investor, a financial astrologer and a five-year old child to invest a fictional £5000 on the FTSE100.

The investor chose shares on the basis of his experience, the astrologer based her decisions on the 'birthdate' of companies and the child chose her shares randomly. The child lost the least amount of money and the financial astrologer made the largest losses.

"Investors living in the real world who want to know how their funds are performing on a daily basis need look no further than Moneyspider.com. Our unique rating system, updated daily, grades funds on an A - E rating, and, as the table below shows, anyone in the Old Mutual UK Select Mid Cap fund over the past five years would have made a profit of £9,357 on an initial investment of £5,000.

"And that is hard cash - not star-gazing fantasy."

Source: Moneyspider.com/Financial Express, 25.05.07, based on a £5,000 investment, May 2002 - May 2007

Editor's notes

Moneyspider was launched in April 2004 and is a totally independent investment research and information company for private investors. Moneyspider constantly monitors all 2,000 or so funds available to UK investors and provides online personal reports that are updated on a daily basis showing current valuation and performance of all funds in one place.

The Moneyspider Rating® provides a unique assessment of the performance of each fund measured against four key parameters:

• Sector ranking: a comparison with all other funds in the same sector as your fund (based on the sector definitions used by the Investment Management Association).
  
• All funds ranking: a comparison with all other 2000 or so Unit Trusts and Open Ended Investment Company funds available to UK investors.
  
• FTSE 100: a comparison of the total return of the fund with the total return of the FTSE 100 index (comprising the UK's 100 largest companies), providing a consistent benchmark for each fund.
  
• Cash: a comparison of the fund's performance with the return from an equivalent amount deposited in a 90 day non-high interest access account.

Moneyspider is an appointed representative of Anthony, Bryant & Company (Investment Consultants) Limited of 25 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1NS, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. The contents of this press release are not intended, and should not be construed as, advice, a recommendation or as an inducement to buy or sell any investment. Moneyspider relies on information regarding investments that is provided by third parties and accepts no liability (including that arising from negligence) for the accuracy of such information.