Don't just hope for the best

Don't just hope for the best...


When you first took out your investment, I'm sure that you did plenty of research to find well established, good performing funds or perhaps took advantage of a new fund launch by a respected investment manager. Since then, how closely have you tracked the performance of your carefully chosen fund(s)?

When it comes to keeping an eye on the performance of your investment portfolio, more often than not, it's surprisingly easy to find something more pressing to keep you occupied. Let's face it, in the not too distant past, unless you thoroughly enjoyed sitting with lists of fund performance figures along with the financial press and checking them against benchmarks and sectors, it was far more simple and less stressful to have a just quick glance at your bi-annual fund manager statement and think "well, it's gone up since the last statement, so that's good!" or "hmmm it's dropped a bit but I'll wait and see". Of course, our twice yearly Fund Monitoring report is designed to highlight any of your funds that may be dragging their heels, but how do you find the better performing funds and how easy is it to make a change?

Thankfully, technology has moved on rapidly over the last few years and you no longer have to troll down to the shops for a Financial Times or wrestle with pages of performance figures. With the introduction of our brand new online service 'Leaders, Laggards & Losers' you can simply spend a few minutes taking a look at your valuation and then use 'Leaders, Laggards & Losers', to see not only how your own funds are performing against their peers, but also those funds that may have consistently out-performed your own. In fact, 'Leaders, Laggards & Losers' used in conjunction with our 'Detailed Performance Browser' (where you can find the latest fund prices, fact sheets, comparison charts and Key Investor Information Documents) means you really do have a one stop shop to help you make an informed decision and make your savings work harder.

Should you find a different, better performing fund that you would like to take advantage of, then it couldn't be more simple to transfer. If your existing holdings are held under a platform such as Cofunds or FundsNetwork then you can just call us for a switch application form or alternatively, you can sign up for online account and switch that way. If your holdings are held direct with the fund manager you can either transfer directly to another fund manager, or alternatively, to a platform. The good news is, that whatever way you choose to transfer, in 99% of cases, you can transfer through us free of any initial charges.

Keeping a weather eye on your investments could pay big dividends in the long run, so why not spend a few minutes now to see if you need to make a change.

Posted by David Bremer on August 9th, 2017

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Elson Associates does not offer advice as to the suitability of investments. If you are unsure whether an investment is suitable for you, you should obtain expert advice. Past performance of an investment is not necessarily a guide to its performance in the future. The value of investments or income from them may go down as well as up. You may not necessarily get back the amount you invested.

Please remember that tax advantages of ISAs may be subject to future statutory change. Eligibility to invest in an ISA and the value of tax savings will depend on individual circumstances.

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