This sounds a lot simpler than it is, however.
Managers who have built up a wealth of experience are more often than not in the twilight of their career. The recent retirements of the likes of Anthony Bolton, Anthony Nutt and Philip Gibbs are a testament to this.
Equally, backing a manager who has not seen a full market cycle is a risk, shown by the immaturity of many managers in the lead-up to the financial crisis back in 2008.
With that in mind, FE Trustnet highlights managers who are in the sweet spot of their careers – in other words, those who have a wealth of experience but who are at an age that ensures retirement is a long-way off.
Richard Buxton
Richard Buxton’s recent switch from Schroders to Old Mutual has been one of the most talked-about manager moves in years.
Charles Stanley Direct’s Rob Morgan says that because Buxton (pictured), who is in his early 50s, has committed himself to a new role it should give investors the confidence to back him for the long-term.
"Someone like Richard Buxton – who has just recently moved – is quite an interesting one," he said. "He has been around for a while but then you would ask what is left to incentivise him. However, though he has been running funds for years, by just joining a new firm it shows he still thinks there is plenty to achieve and shows he still has ambition," Morgan added.
Buxton has been running funds in the IMA universe since 1999 so has witnessed various market conditions.
Investors will no doubt remember Buxton’s track record as manager of the Schroder UK Alpha Plus fund, which he ran between June 2002 and May 2013.
According to FE Analytics, his fund was the sixth best performer in the highly competitive IMA UK All Companies sector over that time with returns of 242.66 per cent, beating its benchmark – the FTSE All Share – by more than 100 percentage points.
Performance of fund vs sector and index from June 2002 to May 2013
Source: FE Analytics
Upon moving to Old Mutual, he has become the fund group’s head of UK equities and has taken over the Old Mutual UK Alpha fund. The £279.1m fund has a total expense ratio (TER) of 1.6 per cent and requires a minimum investment of £1,000.
Alexander Darwall
FE Alpha Manager Alexander Darwall has managed his Jupiter European Opportunities investment trust since November 2000 and his open-ended Jupiter European fund since January 2001.
At only 50, Morgan says investors should be happy to hold his funds for the long-term.
"Alexander Darwall is a very experienced manager but is still a relatively young chap. He is very committed to his fund and has years and years of experience already," Morgan said.
Darwall is a rigorous stock picker, whereby he concentrates fully on a company's fundamentals and long-term earnings power instead of listening to market noise. This approach has certainly worked so far.
Our data shows that his five crown-rated closed-ended Jupiter European Opportunities trust has returned 334.03 per cent since Darwall has been in charge, beating its FTSE World Europe ex UK benchmark, which has returned 78.73 per cent.
The £331m trust has also returned more than the index over one, three, five and 10 years while his open-ended fund is a top-quartile performer in the IMA Europe ex UK sector over three, five and 10 years.
His trust has gearing of 12 per cent and is currently trading on a 0.7 per cent discount to its NAV. It has ongoing charges of 1.19 per cent.
Richard Woolnough
FE Alpha Manager Richard Woolnough is one of the best-known fixed income managers in the UK market. He was born in 1964 which Chris Wise, investment director at Gemmells, says makes him intelligent beyond his years.
"Richard Woolnough isn’t particularly old and he isn’t going to be retiring any time soon," Wise said.
"He has been one of the leading bond managers for the last five years or so. Also, both he and M&G have been very good at getting the right calls at the right time, so I would be very comfortable putting my money in his fund for a long time to come," he added.
Woolnough currently runs the M&G Corporate Bond, M&G Strategic Corporate Bond and M&G Optimal Income funds. This means he is in charge of more than £25bn worth of assets under management.
He has managed funds in the IMA universe since 2000, beginning with Old Mutual and joining M&G in 2004. He has returned 130.97 per cent to his investors during his time running funds while his peer group composite has made 76.85 per cent.
Performance of manager vs peers since Jan 2000
Source: FE Analytics
His funds all require a minimum investment of £500 and have OCFs ranging from 1.16 per cent through to 1.41 per cent.
Harry Nimmo
FE Alpha Manager Harry Nimmo has a long career running funds, taking over his top-performing £1.1bn Standard Life UK Smaller Companies OEIC in 1997. Though he is one of the best UK small cap managers, he is only 57 years old, and most advisers agree that he has many years in him still.
His open-ended fund is a top-quartile performer in the IMA UK Smaller Companies sector over five and 10 years.
However, it was recently soft closed to protect existing investors. Nevertheless, he also runs the five crown-rated Standard Life UK Smaller Companies investment trust.
He has managed the closed-ended fund since September 2003 and his trust is the best-performing portfolio in the IT UK Smaller Companies sector over three, five and 10 years, beating the Numis Smaller Companies ex IT sector comfortably over each of those time frames.
He also recently launched the Standard Life Global Smaller Companies fund last year.
Nimmo describes himself as a growth manager and says that because of that approach his fund can underperform at times when the market is entering a recovery mode or is rebounding from a crisis.
The closed-ended Standard Life UK Smaller Companies trust is currently 9 per cent geared and is trading on a slight discount to its NAV. It has ongoing charges of 0.98 per cent.
Nick Train
FE Alpha Manager Nick Train has run portfolios since the mid-1990s, taking over the Invesco Income Growth Trust in March 1996. At 54 he is by no means a spring chicken, but few managers of this age have so much experience under their belt.
He co-founded Lindsell Train in 2000 and currently runs the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust and the Lindsell Train Investment Trust.
Train is also manager of Lindsell Train UK Equity, though the fund is geared towards institutional investors.
He began running the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust in December 2000 which has returned 252.23 per cent since then, beating its benchmark – the FTSE All Share – by more than 175 percentage points.
Performance of fund vs index since Dec 2000
Source: FE Analytics
His five crown-rated Lindsell Train UK Equity fund is one of only two funds in the IMA UK All Companies sector to register top-quartile returns over each of the last five calendar years.
Like Nimmo, Train doesn't mind paying up for a company if he believes it has growth-potential.
He has just 26 holdings in his £398m investment trust, meaning that he isnt afraid to make high-conviction bets. The manager has large positions in drinks company Diageo and consumer goods company Unilever, making up a combined 18.1 per cent of his AUM.
His Finsbury Growth & Income trust has a yield of 2.04 per cent. It is currently trading on a 0.4 per cent discount and has gearing of 4 per cent. The trust has ongoing charges of 0.94 per cent.
