There are a great many investment funds in which you can invest your ISA contributions, so it can be difficult to decide which ones to choose. So, to help you, here are five possible ideas.
There are a great many investment funds in which you can invest your ISA contributions, so it can be difficult to decide which ones to choose. So, to help you, here are five possible ideas.
These are not recommendations as to which funds you should invest in, but all of the funds listed here are based on investment themes that could be particularly significant in the near future, such as sustainability, income and value investing.
1. Brown Advisory US Sustainable Growth Fund
This fund aims to achieve capital growth by investing primarily in shares of US companies.
To qualify for the fund, these companies must, in the opinion of the fund managers, have “sound fundamentals and business models which are sustainable over the long-term.”
The fund is a high-risk fund, with a risk rating of 6 on a scale of 1 to 7. Investors in this fund should definitely take a medium to long-term perspective and not be tempted to exit their ISA in the early years, especially given the nature of the companies in which the fund invests.
The fund managers are David Powell, who joined Brown Advisory in 1999; and Karina Funk, who has been with the company since 2009.
You can invest in this fund via the Fidelity investment platform – more info »
2. Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders Sustainability Fund
This fund aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in companies with connections to the Asia and Pacific region.
The fund managers can invest in companies who are listed in, or incorporated in, or who have significant connections to, Asian and Australasian countries. At the time of writing, around 15% of the fund is invested in Japan and 10% in Australasia.
The focus of the fund is economically and environmentally sustainable development. The buzzword used by the fund managers is ‘social usefulness’, in that the companies in which they invest must provide goods and services that society actually needs.
This is also a fairly high-risk fund, with a risk rating of 5.
The fund managers are David Gait, who has spent his entire career with Stewart since joining the company in 1997; and Sashi Reddy, who moved to Stewart in 2007 from Indian research house Irevna Research.
You can invest in this fund via the Fidelity investment platform – more info »
3. Foresight UK Infrastructure Income Fund
The primary investment objective of this fund is to generate income, although it also seeks to preserve capital with the potential for capital growth.
The fund primarily invests in investment trusts, Real Estate Investment Trusts and Exchange Traded Funds which are listed on the London Stock Exchange. These trusts and funds are generally invested in companies based in the UK, or other companies which have significant connections to the UK. The fund may also invest in collective investment schemes, equities, other transferable securities, bonds, money market instruments, deposits or cash.
The fund has a particular focus on the renewable energy and infrastructure sectors and has a risk rating of 5.
The fund managers have a target to achieve 5% annual income. There are two lead managers of this fund: Nick Scullion, who joined Foresight in 2017 and who has nine years of fund management experience; and Mark Brennan, who came on board in the same year and has eight years’ experience.
You can invest in this fund via the Fidelity investment platform – more info »
4. Fidelity Special Situations Fund
This fund aims to achieve capital growth, and any investment in this fund should be viewed as a minimum five-year investment. At least 70% of the fund invests in equities and related securities of UK companies, or other companies with significant connections to the UK.
The fund’s name is ‘special situations’ and this means that the fund managers will pick companies that they believe are undervalued and whose potential for a recovery in their share price has not been fully recognised by the market. The fund can invest in companies of any size and from any business sector, indeed the fund has always displayed a mixture of larger, medium-sized and smaller companies in its asset mix.
Special situations funds will always be a risky proposition, with the fund manager required to predict which companies’ share prices have the potential to recover, so this fund carries a risk rating of 6.
The fund managers are Alex Wright, who joined Fidelity in 2001; and Jonathan Winton, who has been with the company since 2005.
You can invest in this fund via the Fidelity investment platform – more info »
5. Fidelity UK Select Fund
This fund’s primary objective is to achieve capital growth, and as with most ISA investments, any investment in this fund should be viewed as a minimum five-year investment.
At least 70% of the fund invests in equities and related securities of UK companies, or other companies with significant connections to the UK. The fund may also invest in companies from other countries who have a UK stock market listing.
This is a ‘Select 50’ fund and the fund managers seek to hold a concentrated portfolio of less than 50 securities. The investment focus is on companies which have sustainable long-term earnings potential, in the opinion of the managers. These companies can be from any business sector, and the managers might also choose companies of any size.
This fund carries a risk rating of 6.
The lead fund manager is Aruna Karunathilake, who joined Fidelity in 2000.
You can invest in this fund via the Fidelity investment platform – more info »
Final important considerations
These are not personal recommendations as to where you should invest your ISA contributions. If you are in doubt as to where you should place your ISA monies, it is recommended that you seek professional financial advice
The value of any stocks and shares-based investment can fall as well as rise. All five of these funds are relatively high risk, carrying a risk rating of either 5 or 6 on Fidelity’s seven-point risk rating scale
Diversifying your ISA portfolio can be beneficial and can reduce the risk. For example, if you choose just one of the funds listed above, and it performs badly, then you could lose money. However, if you choose two or more of these funds, hopefully at least some of them will achieve good returns.