Advice clients don't want managed fundsBY MARK SMITH | FRIDAY, 20 JUN 2014 12:25PMAFA Adviser of the Year Jenny Brown has said that clients are simply not interested in investing in managed funds. Related News |
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I think Jenny Brown's comments relate more to her bias in terms of investment approach rather than client preference - we are in the ADVICE not PERMISSION profession - and if our advice is a certain investment approach clients will accept it or go elsewhere.
Our clients for example are not interested in direct investments as they don't offer access to the broad range of absolute strategies that managed funds offer (this is due to our investment approach - not due to their investment preferences). Minimizing costs is important - but not to the detriment of returns - ie. cheap is not always better.
I hope that Jenny Brown's selection of direct investments is as good as the section of investments made by investment managers. Somehow I doubt that an adviser will consistently select stocks better than a professional manager - especially one who does not invest in the index and is a true active (rather than enhanced index) manager.
Good luck.