When picking fund managers there are hares, tortoises and of course sharks.
I have a blend of hares and tortoises. If any metamorphose into sharks I will tell you. When I can, not often because of tax, I shift my allegiance to the tortoises, because I’m in my 70th year and want security. It will not surprise you that the last few years have been dismal for my hares and even the tortoises have lagged well behind inflation.
If you measure your savings or, let’s talk posh, your portfolio every year and cannot accept any diminishment you should put your money on deposit somewhere safe – like under the mattress. To digress, the jockey, Lester Piggott, put aside his savings under his mattress. When I tried to verify this a well known search engine starting with G led me here. So inadvertently I am repeating myself.
My grandfather, in his later years, used to repeat himself but it was always worth hearing. He was a successful investor but his technique has not stood the test of time. My uncle (Henty) gave me advice that has stood the test of time; if you can survive on a modest income, investment trusts will increase your capital – how right he was. Actually there are good investment trusts that pay out around 5% annually and also deliver some capital growth. I’m thinking of City of London that pays out 4.6%; Merchants Trust, 4.7%; and Murray International, 4.1%. That’s all good news and they have all gone up a bit over the last five years. The only bad news is they all trade at small premiums to Net Asset Value so not an ideal entry point.
