Here are five such funds that fit the bill.
First State Asia Pacific
Richard Troue (pictured), fund analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, thinks that First State Asia Pacific offers the best of both worlds in terms of growth prospects and stability. “It is run by a great management team who focus on quality companies that can sustain their earnings over the long-term,” he said.
“In the short-term it can be buffered about during periods of volatility, such as when sentiment swings, but over the extreme long-term it should be a reasonably good bet.”
According to FE Analytics, the five crown-rated First State Asia Pacific fund has returned 424.47 per cent over the past 10 years, compared with 280.98 per cent from its IMA Asia Pacific ex Japan sector.
Performance of fund vs sector over 10 yrs
Source: FE Analytics
The fund is available with a minimum initial investment of £1,000 and has a TER of 1.82 per cent.
JPM Africa Equity
Juliet Schooling Latter (pictured), head of research at Chelsea Financial Services, is about to buy JPM Africa for her own portfolio.
“If you are going to hold something for the extreme long-term, for me it has to be a risky bet,” she said.
“Africa is a very interesting area, it is a frontier market and there are still lots of problems with things like corporate governance, but at the same time there are also huge opportunities.”
The five crown-rated fund has returned 62.69 per cent since launch in July 2008, slightly below the 62.93 per cent made by its MSCI Emerging and Frontier Markets Africa index benchmark.
Performance of fund vs sector and index since launch
Source: FE Analytics
It has a TER of 1.9 per cent and requires a minimum initial investment of $35,000. However, it is also available through the Cofunds, JPMorgan WealthManager+, Novia, Nucleus and Chelsea Financial Services platforms, where the minimum initial investment is typically as low as £1,000.
RIT Capital Partners
Jason Hollands (pictured), managing director, business and communications at Bestinvest, says the structure of investment trusts makes them extremely suitable for long-term investing. “If you want a ‘fire and forget’ fund, investment trusts’ strength of corporate governance certainly works in their favour,” he explained.
“They have boards that work in the interests of shareholders and there have been many examples where boards have fired the company managing the trust when performance hasn’t been up to scratch.”
“RIT Capital Partners springs to mind. It is chaired by Lord Rothschild, so you are effectively investing alongside the Rothschild family.”
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark over 10 yrs
Source: FE Analytics
“It has exposure to global equity funds, but also invests directly in property, private equity and hedge funds, so is a good one-stop shop.”
CF Odey Opus
Troue also likes a fund with a big-name manager at the helm, in this instance Crispin Odey.
“Odey Opus is another one,” he said. “It is run by Crispin Odey, who has a good track record of getting the big calls right and you can see the belief he has in his own ability by the high-conviction positions he takes up – for example his weighting to BSkyB at the moment.”
“When you are investing for the long-term it is so important to have a manager that you can trust, and Odey certainly fits the bill.”
According to FE Analytics, CF Odey Opus has returned 183.86 per cent over 10 years, compared with 128.41 per cent from its MSCI World Index benchmark and 111.78 per cent from its IMA Global sector.
It requires a minimum investment of £5,000 and has a TER of 1.58 per cent.
Newton Managed Income
Chris Spear (pictured), managing director of Spear Financial, says that anyone who wants to hold a fund for a very long period of time without having to frequently review it should consider a multi-asset or multi-manager product. “Newton Managed Income is relatively new, but it is a mixture of Newton’s most successful funds,” he said.
“It uses income, which when re-invested is a very powerful tool over the long-term. It covers most of the world, so there is plenty of potential for upside, while the income re-invested offers a good hedge against downside risks."
"It is a fettered fund of funds, but I don’t have a problem with these because as long as you get the investment house right, this helps to keep charges down.”
Its top-four holdings – Newton Global High Yield Bond, Newton Global Dynamic Bond, Newton Higher Income and Newton Global Higher Income – each make up more than 19 per cent of AUM.
According to FE Analytics, the five crown-rated fund has returned 46.1 per cent since its launch in March 2008, more than double the 22.16 per cent made by its IMA Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares sector in the same time. It is yielding 4.49 per cent.
The fund requires a minimum investment of £1,000 and has a TER of 1.4 per cent.