Creating a wider spread of investments in your portfolio
If you require your money to provide the potential for capital growth or income, or a combination of both, provided you are willing to accept an element of risk pooled investments could just be the solution you are looking for. A pooled investment allows you to invest in a large, professionally managed portfolio of assets with many other investors. As a result of this, the risk is reduced due to the wider spread of investments in the portfolio.
Pooled investments are also sometimes called ‘collective investments’. The fund manager will choose a broad spread of instruments in which to invest, depending on their investment remit. The main asset classes available to invest in are shares, bonds, gilts, property and other specialist areas such as hedge funds or ‘guaranteed funds’.
Most pooled investment funds are actively managed. The fund manager researches the market and buys and sells assets with the aim of providing a good return for investors.
Trackers, on the other hand, are passively managed, aiming to track the market in which they are invested. For example, a FTSE100 tracker would aim to replicate the movement of the FTSE100 (the index of the largest 100 UK companies). They might do this by buying the equivalent proportion of all the shares in the index. For technical reasons the return is rarely identical to the index, in particular because charges need to be deducted.
Trackers tend to have lower charges than actively managed funds. This is because a fund manager running an actively managed fund is paid to invest so as to do better than the index (beat the market) or to generate a steadier return for investors than tracking the index would achieve. However, active management does not guarantee that the fund will outperform the market or a tracker fund.
Unit trusts
Unit trusts are a collective investment that allows you to participate in a wider range of investments than can normally be achieved on your own with smaller sums of money. Pooling your money with others also reduces the risk.
The unit trust fund is divided into units, each of which represents a tiny share of the overall portfolio. Each day the portfolio is valued, which determines the value of the units. When the portfolio value rises, the price of the units increases. When the portfolio value goes down, the price of the units falls.
The unit trust is run by a fund manager, or a team of managers, who will make the investment decisions. They invest in stock markets all round the world and for the more adventurous investor, there are funds investing in individual emerging markets, such as China, or in the so-called BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
Alternatively some funds invest in metals and natural resources, as well as many putting their money into bonds. Some offer a blend of equities, bonds, property and cash and are known as balanced funds. If you wish to marry your profits with your principles you can also invest in an ethical fund.
Some funds invest not in shares directly but in a number of other funds. These are known as multi-manager funds. Most fund managers use their own judgment to assemble a portfolio of shares for their funds. These are known as actively managed funds.
However, a sizeable minority of funds simply aim to replicate a particular index, such as the FTSE all-share index. These are known as passive funds, or trackers.
Open-ended investment companies
Open-ended investment companies (OEICs) are stock market-quoted collective investment schemes. Like unit trusts and investment trusts they invest in a variety of assets to generate a return for investors.
An OEIC, pronounced ‘oik’, is a pooled collective investment vehicle in company form. They may have an umbrella fund structure allowing for many sub-funds with different investment objectives. This means you can invest for income and growth in the same umbrella fund moving your money from one sub fund to another as your investment priorities or circumstances change. OEICs may also offer different share classes for the same fund.
By being “open ended” OEICs can expand and contract in response to demand, just like unit trusts. The share price of an OEIC is the value of all the underlying investments divided by the number of shares in issue. As an open-ended fund the fund gets bigger and more shares are created as more people invest. The fund shrinks and shares are cancelled as people withdraw their money.
You may invest into an OEIC through a stocks and shares Individual Savings Account ISA. Each time you invest in an OEIC fund you will be allocated a number of shares. You can choose either income or accumulation shares, depending on whether you are looking for your investment to grow or to provide you with income, providing they are available for the fund you want to invest
