Opinions on this investment fund

N

noproblem

Registered User
Messages
3,282
My elderly uncle has a substantial investment in the fund below and I would appreciate peoples opinion on if he should stay or get out of it. He doesn't need the money but has had advice recently and was told it hasn't been doing too well which worries him a bit. If he was to leave where might he put it? He has a will made and his worry is the person he's leaving it to (no, not me) might not get what he thought they might. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

"Standard Life Global absolute return strategies"
 
noproblem said:
My elderly uncle has a substantial investment in the fund below and I would appreciate peoples opinion on if he should stay or get out of it. He doesn't need the money but has had advice recently and was told it hasn't been doing too well which worries him a bit. If he was to leave where might he put it? He has a will made and his worry is the person he's leaving it to (no, not me) might not get what he thought they might. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

"Standard Life Global absolute return strategies"
Click to expand...

seems to be a multi asset fund with both long and short positions , plenty of bond as well as equity exposure , charges are about average at 1.25%

morning star gives it a fairly positive review , i might be wrong but im not sure its a particularly conventional fund choice .
 
noproblem said:
absolute return
Click to expand...
Absolute return funds are essentially hedge funds.

They sell themselves as aiming to achieve the same return as the market, but without volatility. They can make a positive return in a falling market by betting on a falling market. The reality is that most of them haven't done well when compared to a straight equity fund as there hasn't been volatility to take positions against.

It's impossible to find out what you've actually invested in, and the fees are higher than equity funds. They have their place, but
personally I don't invest in what I don't understand.

If you search this forum you will find other threads about absolute return funds.

If he has a sum of money, and wants to know that sum will be available to pass in, he should be looking to convert it to cash equivalents, and just put on deposit or in prize bonds. Minimal return at moment, but he will know it's safe.
 
Thanks guys, he's not short by any means but it has lost a bit on this one since he invested. In 2015 he put in €75k and it's now valued at €73.5k. He invested in 4 funds and are all up in value apart from this one, I guess overall he's not doing too bad with 3 out of 4 seeing him making money. I guess after reading up on some of the other stuff he's as well to stick with it as changing will cost and with no guarantees. Thanks again for the answers which i'll show him.
 
I invested an old pension Buyout Bond in that Standard Life GARS fund around 2011, by 2016 the growth was negligible and I moved elsewhere. Agree with everything Red Onion said in relation to absolute return funds, and from memory that fund performed well during and in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 crash, but hasn't since. I see an article in the Guardian from May which states an investment in May 2013 would have returned a total of 0.7% as of May 2018. Then again it could jump 10% tomorrow, who knows.

These products usually allow a number of free switches within the providers fund range, but if the overall investments are substantial like you say, I would think it's worth helping him get some professional advice before doing anything.
 
noproblem said:
My elderly uncle has a substantial investment in the fund below and I would appreciate peoples opinion on if he should stay or get out of it. He doesn't need the money but has had advice recently and was told it hasn't been doing too well which worries him a bit. If he was to leave where might he put it? He has a will made and his worry is the person he's leaving it to (no, not me) might not get what he thought they might. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

"Standard Life Global absolute return strategies"
Click to expand...
To a large extent it depends on what other investments your uncle has. GARS is basically a hedge fund, with the objective of making a return of 5% better than cash, before fees, over three year rolling periods. It has underperformed its benchmark in the past few years. So you invest in it as a hedge against the risks of your other investments. Most people invest in 'long only' funds. There is a definite diversification benefit, therefore, of investing some of your assets in funds such as GARS that can take short positions or take positions in uncorrelated assets. (Note there are other absolute return / non-correlated funds available.) You're not buying this type of fund to get rich, it's to lower the overall risk of your portfolio. (Note I invest in GARS and some equivalent funds.)
 
Thanks PMU, yes he's into 4 funds and I guess this is the only turkey so on balance he's not doing too bad. I've been in with him and he's seen the advice etc and is going to stick with it. He's 80 years old, but all there and in good health and he gets a great kick out of all this stuff. Understands all the ups and downs but wants to stick with it as he says it could go the other way just as quickly so it's his choice and it has settled his mind to know that it's 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other. I'd be inclined to agree with him. The older folk have a great outlook, don't worry too much, take a lot in their stride and see age as just that,ie, age, but the numbers attached to it don't matter. Gave out to me for bringing him 2 litres of milk at 1.49 coz he was able to tell me the saving was only 1c as the 1 litre is 75c. You can't beat them and he wrth nearly a million :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top