Article by Phil
It’s that time of year again when Best Invest publish their list of so called “dog funds”. These are investment funds which have underperformed against the market index for more than 5% for three years running, which is good Investment Planner information.
The good news this time is that there are less funds on the list than ever before. The number of funds has fallen from over 80 to 31. A reduction in invested assets of over £35 billion. This is being put down to a recent improvement in returns for most funds after the last difficult couple of years.
The majority of the investment funds on the list are in the Global Investments market. Although not all.
One on the list is the Schroeder European Investment Fund. Unfortunately for its customers this includes the Halifax UK and European Equity investment funds. These are also the biggest funds on the list. When you include Scottish Widows, the fund has almost £7 billion invested. These are known as “Great Danes” because they each have over £1 billion invested into them.
In terms of Investment Planner information, that’s a lot of disappointed customers!
The list is updated every six months, for Investment Planner information and this is the list to 30th June this year.
Sadly 70% of the funds on the list are UK managed investment funds. Amounting to over £10 billion the majority of which is Schroders.
If you are managing your own funds on a DIY basis, then you should also be checking your fund performance against the market index to see how you are doing. Or of course, you can contact an Investment Planner to review your finances.
If you are thinking of investing in cryptocurrency investments, you should be careful about what you read.
A report in the FT Adviser (5/8/22) reported that HSBC have been criticised for sponsoring an Influencer on Tik Tok. It seems that the “Influencer” was offering “educational and general advice” about Inheritance Tax, which was incorrect. HSBC have tried to defend themselves by saying that they are supporting financial education. When a massive institution like HSBC seems to be confused about the rules for financial planning promotions, it helps you understand what a big job the FCA actually has when it comes to Investment Planner information.
Of course, the same “influencer” also advertises cryptocurrency. So much for education!
It gets worse. This week (10/8/22) the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) sent a warning letter to Premier League club Arsenal for promoting cryptocurrencies to their fans. Apparently, the club had posted a promotion on its Facebook page encouraging fans to buy “fan tokens” which are a cryptocurrency. The advert was endorsed by player videos as well. The ASA warned Arsenal about not making the required disclosures about the high risks of crypto investments. It seems that everyone wants to be in on the action, but no one wants to acknowledge the risks. It’s a disaster waiting to happen (and one that probably already has happened) with everyone thinking that crypto is a one-way street to make money.
