Leaders, Laggards & Losers

Our very own unique fund performance rating system.

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Leaders, Laggards and Losers provides a rating for over 2,000 funds highlighting both the out-performers and under-achievers over a three year period. You'll now be able to see at the click of a button just how well (or badly) your funds are doing compared to their peers.

Highlighting both the out-performers and under-performers, relative to their sector averages over the past three years.

To be a Leader, a Laggard or a Loser, your fund must fulfil certain criteria. Its category rating will be arrived at by looking not only at its relative performance over a full three year period but also how consistently it has either out-performed or under-performed its sector average in each of the last three discrete one year periods.

Many funds won't meet the criteria to be classified as a Leader, Laggard or Loser. These funds will appear in the 'Others' category. This simply means a fund's performance is not good enough to achieve the status of a Leader, but neither is it so poor as to appear in the Laggards or Losers list.

There are literally thousands of funds on the market and to be honest, there is no way of predicting how any of these funds will perform in the future, despite how well or poorly they've performed in the past. There are so many factors that could affect performance going forward and there are no guarantees as to what lies ahead.

Having said this, you can look at how a fund has performed in the past and compare that to the performance of other similar funds. Some fund managers have gained a reputation for outstanding long term out-performance, and this is one factor you might wish to take into account when assessing the likelihood of a fund's continued success.

How can I use Leaders, Laggards and Losers to my benefit?

Leaders, Laggards and Losers is an enhancement to the fund monitoring services we've been providing to our clients now for many years. It's come about as a result of feedback we've had from existing customers who wanted that extra detail when reviewing their investments.

While on the one hand it's good to know that you're invested in a consistently above-average performing fund, no one benefits from a fund that under-achieves year-in, year-out. Leaders, Laggards and Losers will not only help you see the funds that regularly out-shine their rivals, but also identify the 'villains' of the investment world who might just be robbing you of some decent returns you could be getting elsewhere.

That said, you shouldn't use this performance categorisation system as a guide to whether a fund will deliver good (or poor) growth in the future or whether or not you should invest in it (or sell it).

You should only use it to assist you in your decision making process, alongside other information about the fund in the Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs), taking into account your investment goals, your circumstances and your attitude to risk.

A Leaders, Laggards and Losers categorisation can't tell you the reasons why the fund performed in a certain way in the past. Changes in personnel and strategy could all impact performance in the future. You should try to research the factors that drove past performance and whether or not those are still in place. Do not use this system as a recommendation to buy or sell.