FE Trustnet takes a look at a few options available to investors:
Asia Pacific ex Japan
JF Asean has returned 356.32 per cent in the last decade, outperforming the average IMA Asia Pacific ex Japan fund by more than 200 per cent. Angus Tulloch’s First State Asia Pacific fund – which is the best-performing onshore vehicle of its kind over a 10-year period – has returned 43.32 per cent less than JF Asean since 2001.
Performance of funds over 10-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
The fund also holds up well in the short- and medium-term. Only three IMA Asia Pacific ex Japan funds have returned more than JF Asean over five years, and only five have beaten it over three years.
However, investors should be aware that the fund is around 3 per cent more volatile than the average onshore Asia fund, and lost more during the 2008 global downturn.
The fund seeks to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in equities listed in the ASEAN region, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. It is benchmarked against the MSCI South East Asia index.
Pauline Ng and Jenny Tang currently head up the $2.3bn vehicle, which is domiciled in Hong Kong. It has an annual management charge (AMC) of 1.5 per cent, and a minimal investment of $2,000.
North America
Findlay Park American is the mother of all US equity funds. In the last decade, the $6.6bn vehicle has returned 144.02 per cent; the average IMA North America fund meanwhile has lost investors 9.08 per cent during this period, with around the same level of volatility.
Performance of funds vs sector and benchmark over 10-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
The best-performing onshore North America fund of the last decade – GAM North American Growth – has returned 53.02 per cent.
It has also substantially outperformed the best onshore vehicle over three- and five-year periods.
Fund manager James Findlay seeks to achieve capital growth by investing principally in small and mid cap US companies, which have done better than US large caps in recent years. However, the fund still comfortably outperforms every IMA North American Smaller Companies vehicle over every time period.
Findlay Park American has a composite benchmark made up of the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 indices. It has an AMC of 1 per cent, and is domiciled in Ireland.
Commodities
Investors looking to benefit from the mounting gold price may also want to look further afield than the UK. With a return exceeding 170 per cent, the €597m DWS Gold Plus fund has substantially outperformed every gold-focused onshore vehicle over a five-year period.
In the last three years, it has returned 105.95 per cent, which only CF Ruffer Baker Steel and Smith & Williamson Global Gold & Resources have topped.
Pierre Martin’s fund is unique, in that it looks to maximise its returns by investing a large proportion of its portfolio in short-term bonds. It currently has more than half of its assets in fixed interest securities – the rest is invested in precious metals and options on precious metals.
Performance and volatility of gold funds
| Name |
5-yr returns (%) |
5-yr volatility (%) |
| DWS Gold Plus |
172.61 |
22.42 |
| CF Ruffer Baker Steel Gold |
91.78 |
35.38 |
| BlackRock Gold & General |
119.19 |
36.35 |
| Investec Global Gold |
116.9 |
37.41 |
| Smith & Williamson Global Gold & Resources |
137.43 |
38.22 |
Source: FE Analytics
DWS Gold Plus is substantially less volatile than every gold-focused fund in the IMA unit trust and OEIC universe, thanks largely to its exposure to fixed interest rather than equities.
The fund is domiciled in Luxembourg, and has a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.9 per cent.
Absolute Return
Vantage Global Invest has a far superior record than any IMA Absolute Return vehicle over one-, three-, five- and 10-year periods. The $517.1m vehicle has returned 96.13 per cent in the last decade – nearly twice as much as Iain Stewart’s sector-leading Newton Real Return fund.
It also has a lower FE Risk Score than Stewart’s fund, though it is riskier than the average IMA Absolute Return vehicle. The only year that Vantage Global Invest failed to at least break even was 2006.