Charles Cade, head of investment companies research at Numis Securities, believes globally focused trusts may be the answer for anyone who has little experience of this type of product.
"These give more diversified exposure and the majority of the trusts in the sector have very good long-term track records."
"If I was to pick out two investments trusts, I would say Scottish Mortgage and Henderson’s Bankers."
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust
"Scottish Mortgage is a fairly concentrated portfolio of around 50 stocks. I think it is a very good long-term savings vehicle, it also gives investors exposure to emerging markets," Cade said.
"It has performed well over the years and is trading on a discount of 7 per cent."
According to FE Analytics, Baillie Gifford’s Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is a top-quartile performer over three and 10 years.
Over the longer period, it has returned 227.31 per cent while the IT Global Growth sector and the FTSE All World index have returned 154.77 per cent and 117.57 per cent, respectively.
It is 18.4 per cent geared.
Performance of trust vs sector and index over 10-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
James Anderson has run Scottish Mortgage IT since 2000. Multi-national names such as Amazon and Google are among its top-10 holdings.
Bankers Investment Trust
"The Bankers is another good global fund. It is a growth trust but also has a pretty good yield and a strong management team," continued Cade.
The trust is currently trading on a 5 per cent discount, meaning investors can access it at a lower price than the value of its underlying assets. It is yielding 3.01 per cent.
It is a top-quartile performer over five years and is the best-performing trust in the IT Global Growth sector over the last 12 months.
It has been headed up by Alex Crooke since 2003 and during that time the trust has returned 142.46 per cent. It has underperformed against its sector over that period, but beaten its benchmark by 29.59 percentage points.
Murray International
James Brown, investment companies analyst at Winterflood Securities, agrees that first-time investors should concentrate on global trusts.
"I think they should go for a fairly conservative trust that isn’t going to give you too much of a rough ride; so I would say a global generalist fund like Murray International."
"It is a big trust and it is trading on quite a big premium, which we would normally be worried about."
"However, it has such a good long-term track record. If an investor was to buy it now, I would expect them to make more money than buying other funds in the sector that are trading on a discount."
Murray International is headed up by star manager Bruce Stout and is the best-performing trust in the IT Global Growth and Income sector over five and 10 years. It is also the second-best performing portfolio over three years.
Over 10 years, Murray International has returned 388.39 per cent while IT Global Growth and Income has returned 183.87 per cent.
Performance of trust vs sector over 10-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
The trust is trading on a premium of 6.36 per cent and has a yield of 3.91 per cent. It has an annual management charge of 0.50 per cent.
Personal Assets Trust
Brown says investors who are looking to preserve their capital should consider the Personal Assets Trust.
"For a low-volatility approach, I would go for Sebastian Lyon’s Personal Assets Trust. It has an absolute return mindset and looks to protect investors’ wealth with a low-volatility approach."
"It is trading on a very small premium, but the trust has a zero-discount policy so you are always going to be buying near NAV (net asset value)."
The five crown-rated Personal Assets Trust, which has been run by FE Alpha Manager Lyon since 2009, boasts top-quartile performance over three- and five-year periods.
Over three years, it has made 38.64 per cent, while the FTSE All Share and IT Global Growth sector have returned 29.8 per cent and 27.73 per cent, respectively.
It has been considerably less volatile than the sector and index over those periods. Over five years, the trust has an annualised volatility of 9.51 per cent. The only trust to be less volatile over the period is the Ruffer Investment Company.
Personal Assets Trust has an AMC of 0.75 per cent.
British Empire Securities & General Trust
Tom Tuite-Dalton, fund analyst at Oriel Securities, echoes the global favouritism and highlights British Empire Securities & General Trust as a possible option.
"I think first-time investors should go for global general funds and I like British Empire Securities," he said.
"It has been out of favour and the discount has been wider than previously, at 13 per cent. The performance is picking up too, over the last six months it is the best NAV performer in the sector."
"It has a weak five-year record, but it has been very strong over 10 years."
The British Empire Securities & General Trust has been managed by John Pennink since 2001, but it was launched back in 1889.
According to FE Analytics, it has struggled over the medium-term and is a bottom-quartile performer over one and three years.
However, the trust has returned 214.29 per cent over 10 years. The IT Global Growth sector and MSCI World Index returned 154.77 per cent and 96.2 per cent respectively over this time.
Performance of trust vs sector and index over 10-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
The British Empire Securities & General Trust is geared at 3 per cent and has a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.72 per cent.