Willis Owen Fund in Focus
Standard Life Global Absolute Return Strategies Fund
Aiming to provide consistent, positive returns across all market conditions
| TOTAL AMOUNT SAVED ON CHARGES ON A £10,680 INVESTMENT IS £427.20 |
|---|
| Normal Standard Initial Charge | 4.00% |
| Your Standard Initial Charge after Discount | 0% |
| Annual Management Charge | 1.50% |
| Total Expense Ratio* | 1.60% |
| Fund Unit Type | Acc |
The case for investing in “Absolute Return” funds can be quite persuasive. For instance did you know that in both 2009 and 2010 the IMA Absolute Return sector was in the top 4 best selling IMA Sectors invested in by retail clients through the platform Cofunds? Even as recent as April 2011, the Standard Life Global Return Strategies Fund was the best selling retail fund on its platform. Whilst the memory of recent market falls is still in the forefront of peoples mind, many clients have sought relief from market volatility whilst still looking for suitable returns on their investment. The Absolute Return sector certainly looks like a possible option.
So what is absolute return investing?
When investing their money, most investors naturally want to participate in the potential rewards but without taking excessive risk. However, traditional investment funds usually only reward investors when markets go up and penalise them when they fall. When markets are volatile, this can lead to sharp, short-term losses, causing unease for the risk-averse investor.
In contrast, absolute return funds seek to deliver positive returns whether markets are rising or falling. To do so they often use a wide variety of assets, such as equities, bonds, property and cash. They can also use advanced instruments, such as derivatives, to gain additional returns or guard against market falls. It should be noted that ability to deliver positive returns in all market conditions are merely aims and not guarantees.
Introducing GARS
Standard Life investments Global Absolute Return Strategies Fund aims to provide positive investment returns in all market conditions over the medium to long term. The investment team who actively manage the fund have a wide investment remit to help them try to achieve this aim. The team look to exploit market inefficiencies through active allocation to highly diversified market positions. The fund manager utilises a combination of traditional assets (such as equities and bonds) and investment strategies based on advanced derivative techniques resulting in a highly diversified portfolio. The fund can take long and short positions in markets, securities and groups of securities through derivative contracts.
IMA Sector: Absolute Return
Invest in an ISA
Invest in Investment Funds
*Total Expense Ratio (TER): This is the total of the Annual Management Charge plus any additional charges and expenses applied by the fund manager. Additional charges might cover, for example, fees paid to trustees. The amount of additional charges and expenses can be found by deducting the Annual Management Charge from the TER.
Euan Munro
