Bertie likes to sleep by the door in case he gets left behind. I wouldn’t normally follow his advice but if, like me, you put your money in managed funds Bertie has a point.
I am a massive fan of managed money, especially investment trusts. When the fund manager changes you need to be a Bertie and try to prick up your floppy ears. It’s easy to say but not always easy to do. The new manager might be hopeless but how am I to know? I don’t have the answer except to observe that the most successful fund managers have been at it for decades and manage the succession smoothly. I’m especially pleased with the continuity at McInroy & Wood up in Haddington. I groom Bertie and Victor Wood groomed his son Tim to take over the day-to-day running of the firm but grooming, like dogging which I used to do over pointers on grouse moors, seems to have a different meaning in some circles. Haddington is a good place for a fund manager to be – far from the madding crowd in London. It is a backwater. They are so laid-back they haven’t updated the market commentary on their website since August 2018. It is the easiest place to pass a driving test. More than 60% pass as opposed to about 45% nationally.
If like me you have a portfolio valued in Sterling you will be feeling pound rich. In reality I am dollar poor. In 2007 I could buy 2.05 dollars for a pound. Now I can only get 1.22; heigh-ho, no silver lining. If you invested in Neil Woodford’s Equity Income Fund you won’t know if you are rich or poor until December when it will re-open, doubtless to a flurry of redemptions. Woodford has become as toxic as Woodbines.