Page 30 - DIY Investor Magazine - Issue 27

SEVEN CONSISTENT FUNDS UP 100% OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS
Saltydog Investor finds 10 funds that top the consistency charts, seven of which have doubled investors’ money over the three-year period.
At Saltydog Investor, we provide information designed to help DIY investors manage their own portfolios.
We focus on funds, rather than stocks and shares, and provide performance data each week covering funds, investment trusts and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
To help our members understand how the data can be used, we also run a couple of demonstration portfolios. The first, Tugboat, was launched in November 2010. The plan was to run it in such a way that it avoids any major market falls, but makes gains when markets go up.
In just over 10 years our initial investment has grown from £40,000 to nearly £75,000. It has gone up by 87%.
To control the overall volatility, we review our holdings each week. This means that we can react very quickly to changing conditions. This time last year, over 90% of the portfolio was invested in funds, with the balance in cash. Within three weeks we were able to move to 100% cash and avoided the worst of the coronavirus crash.
‘OUR INITIAL INVESTMENT HAS GROWN FROM £40,000 TO NEARLY £75,000’
Past performance is not a guide to future performance
‘SEVEN OF THESE FUNDS HAVE GONE UP BY MORE THAN 100% IN THE LAST THREE YEARS’
One of the disadvantages of the way in which we manage this portfolio is that it is fairly time-consuming. Every week we evaluate all the data, although we do not necessarily make changes.
We understand that there are some people who appreciate our momentum-driven approach, but do not feel that they can allocate the time required every week. That is why, in August 2019, we produced our first ‘6 x 6’ report.
We wanted to find funds that had performed consistently
well over the last three years, and were looking for a return
of 5% every six months. It is very unusual to find a fund that has managed to achieve the target in all six of the six-month periods, but we can usually find a handful that have done it five out of six times.
We update the report every three months, and have just completed our latest analysis, which covers the three years up until the end of January 2021.
On this occasion, there are no funds that have achieved the elusive six out of six, but there are 10 funds that have only missed out on one period. There are a further 81 funds that have beaten the target four out of six times.
DIY Investor Magazine | Mar 2021 30