The FER Select 100 Short List uses four quantitative ratings to analyse funds from all angles: FE Crown Fund Ratings to highlight excellent funds; FE Alpha Manager ratings to highlight excellent managers; FE’s new Group Awards to identify groups with a specific edge in a given asset class; and the consensus view of the adviser industry from the AFI panel of leading IFAs.
All funds that make it on to FE’s Select 100 list are subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis from the FE Research team of analysts, headed up by Rob Gleeson.
A detailed report is made available for every fund featured on the list. Both the list and the reports will be re-balanced once every six months, in March and September, in line with FE’s other ratings tools.
Additionally, all portfolios are subject to a thorough, ongoing governance and monitoring process.
Throughout the day, a series of stories from FE Trustnet will take a closer look at some of the funds that feature in the FER Select 100. For more information about how investors can access the full list and the fund reports, go to www.feresearch.net.
FE is also la
unching a range of FE Select portfolios for IFAs who are interested in outsourcing aspects of their investment proposition. The 15 portfolios will be split into three groups of actively managed funds from the FER Select 100 Short List, for investors with a short-, medium- and long-term horizon. They look to maximise the diversification benefits of active funds with different strategies and styles and aim to produce greater returns and lower drawdown than a passive portfolio with the same target risk level.
"The shortlist is completely free of emotional interference and bias," said Gleeson (pictured left).
"All funds on the shortlist are there on merit and no amount of personal preference for a fund, fund manager or fund size can change this."
With regard to the model portfolios, he said: "These analyse how funds interact with each other, by studying their historic volatility and correlations."
"Individual funds’ volatility has proven to be remarkably stable over the long-term and is a much better indication of future behaviour than past performance."
"In addition, each portfolio has an asset allocation strategy overlaid, which allows us to incorporate the benefits of stochastic projections of what the future may hold."
"We are confident that this method of portfolio creation is superior to more traditional methods as it has the benefit of maximising diversification, minimising risk and ensuring consistency of returns."
"Unlike discretionary fund management solutions, the FE Select Portfolios keep IFAs in the driving seat. FE Research offers asset allocation and fund-selection guidelines, while IFAs control the implementation, allowing them to tweak the models or fund choices to suit individual clients."
"The feedback we have had so far from advisers has been extremely positive," he finished.
FE Research and FE Select are FE services used by financial advisers. Investors wishing to benefit from them should use an adviser who subscribes to the relevant service.