Top performing pension funds over 20-yrs
| Fund |
Start of data |
User defined performance: 30/11/1990 to 30/11/2010 |
| Skandia - Gartmore China Opps |
04/06/1984 | 2232.54 |
| Abbey - HS US Smaller Companies |
29/02/1988 | 1720.43 |
| Skandia - Invesco Perp HK & China |
04/06/1984 | 1612.87 |
| Skandia - Fidelity American |
01/07/1986 | 1396.41 |
| Skandia - Fidelity South East Asia |
01/07/1986 | 1330.92 |
| Skandia - Invesco Perp Global Smaller Companies |
01/05/1986 | 1214.04 |
| Merch Inv - Invesco Perpetual Global Smaller Companies |
30/09/1986 | 1103.72 |
| Skandia - Invesco Perp High Income |
26/02/1988 | 1088.27 |
| Skandia - Henderson Pac Cap Gth |
14/10/1985 | 1086.63 |
| Skandia - Baring Europe Select |
01/02/1989 | 1081.58 |
Rebased in Pounds Sterling
Of the ten top pension funds, eight were distributed by Skandia, one by Abbey and one by Merchant Investors. The funds, which are all in the ABI Pensions universe, were judged over the two decades to 30 November 2010.
Responding to the data, Skandia's head of retirement planning Adrian Walker said: "At the time we worked with the best fund managers in the market to build a fund range that offered advisers and their customer’s choice, flexibility and control. Those principles hold true today, but as the figures show we can now add high quality, long term investment performance to the list of benefits."
He added: "Customers who invested in these top performing pension funds 20 years ago will be very happy with the results and it just shows how valuable financial advice is."
AFH Wealth Management's head of investment research Graham Toone says Skandia was the first group to offer IFAs access to funds via a pension, but that the choice is now far wider.
"Distributors offer different things. Skandia was the originator of this approach, but is not necessarily the cheapest. You pay for what you get, though. Skandia have access to good providers, and good fund managers," he said.
The Gartmore China Opportunities fund tops the list of funds which have done well via a pensions providing platform.
Performance over 20-yrs
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Gartmore China fund manager Charlie Awdry said: "Our strong growth is a result of the asset class; the China equity market has done very well, the economy has modernised and the consumer class has grown."
"Within that framework, we've got good stock selection. We've been there a long time. Emerging markets are a very interesting place for pension funds, but this is a single country fund, so even more volatile than a diversified emerging markets fund. With that in mind I'd say that any exposure via a pension distributer should be small,” he added. But intermediaries remain wary on battered Gartmore.
"The fund is good, the manager is good, and China is a good long term story, but given the corporate situation at Gartmore I'd hold off on investing in any of their funds right now," Hargreaves Lansdown's Ben Yearsley said.
"China is a great place for growth, so perhaps investors should look at China funds as part of their pension portfolio," he added.
Other top performers include the emerging markets funds Invesco Perpetual's Hong Kong & China, Fidelity South East Asia and the Henderson Pacific Capital Growth funds, all distributed through Skandia.
"These top ten funds will provide a nice diversified spectrum for a portfolio. It's good to see a lot of emerging markets in there, coupled with some UK exposure, US exposure, and a bit of Europe," said Andy Parsons, advice team manager for the Share Centre.
"They key thing is that investors start saving early. If they do that then they can have high exposure to fast growing – albeit volatile – economies,"
He added: "It is said that past performance is no guidance on future performance, but given the fast growth of emerging markets, I see no reason for this to suddenly stop."