Mate, I have to deal with them all the time - think yourself lucky. It's the majority as well, unfortunately. People certainly are better in a tracker than paying fees to them.
Interesting Article
Times (Business section today)
Amateur investors on par with City fund managers
Retail investors have bagged returns of 12.6 per cent on average over the past three years, according to analysis from the online platform Interactive Investor.
DIY investors are achieving returns on a par with highly paid City fund managers, figures suggest.
Retail investors on the online platform Interactive Investor have bagged returns of 12.6 per cent on average over the past three years, compared with 10.7 per cent delivered by funds in the Investment Association’s 40-85% Shares sector, where managers invest across a mix of both stocks and bonds.
Since the broker started collecting the data four years ago, the performance of retail investors has been neck-and-neck with that of fund managers, at 18.4 per cent and 18.6 per cent respectively.
In the first quarter of this year, retail investors were up 4 per cent, while fund managers were up 4.2 per cent.
The findings come as industry data shows investors are increasingly shunning fund managers in favour of cheaper trackers. Passive funds attracted net retail inflows of £2.9 billion in March while actively managed funds lost £1 billion in outflows, according to data from the Investment Association, a trade body.
Only 36 per cent of active equity funds outperformed passive alternatives last year, according to separate research published by the broker AJ Bell. Passive investing has surged in popularity in recent years, with tracker funds now taking up 24 per cent of the market compared with 11 per cent a decade ago.
Kyle Caldwell, a fund expert at Interactive Investor, said: “Private investors arguably have more freedom than fund managers. There is no benchmark a private investor is measured against, although keeping returns above inflation should be the minimum aim.
“A private investor, depending on their stomach for risk and goals, may be prepared to take on greater risk by holding a higher percentage in shares. Over the long term, having a higher weighting may pay off.”
The most popular equity investment on Interactive Investor last month was the insurer Legal & General, followed by the electric carmaker Tesla and the aerospace and defence business Rolls-Royce. On the rival platform Hargreaves Lansdown, the two most popular investments were also L&G and Tesla last week. On AJ Bell it was BP and GlaxoSmithKline.
Interactive Investor found that young people and women were among the best-performing groups among its customers. Investors aged 18-24 have notched up a 21 per cent return on average since the start of 2020, compared with an 18 per cent average across the platform. Female investors across all age groups have averaged a return of 18.7 per cent, compared with 18 per cent among men.