Popular investment vehicle Alliance Trust (ATST) has announced a modest but meaningful shake-up of its portfolio.The FTSE 250 constituent invests in global equities across a range of industries and sectors through a ?manager of managers? approach. Following an overhaul in 2017, the trust gives investors relatively low-cost exposure (with an ongoing charge of 0.62%) to 10 leading fund managers sele

Unlike investment funds, trusts can trade at a discount or premium to the underlying assets which can be to the advantage of potential buyers but a thorn in the side for existing shareholders and trust boards alike.Poor performance is often a key factor driving the share price below NAV (net asset value). Scottish Mortgage Trust (SMT) and multi-manager Witan Investment Trust (WTAN) sit on double-d

We are weeks away from the end of the tax year and inevitably there is plenty of focus on ISAs ? whether that relates opening an account or using up existing allowances.In all the hoo-hah it?s easy to lose sight of just what a compelling vehicle this is for investors. Whatever you are investing for, whether it?s the cost of the kids? education, to supplement your income in retirement or to fund ho

Investors are increasingly turning to passive investment products such as tracker funds and exchange-traded funds as they seek a low-cost, uncomplicated way to get exposure to the markets.There are numerous reasons why trackers and ETFs are filling more portfolios. Underperformance by active managers is one of them ? just 36% of active manages beat the average passive alternative in 2023 across se

There is no question the dominant theme in stock markets last year was AI (artificial intelligence), in particular generative AI.In an interview with Time magazine last June, Sam Altman ? the former chief executive of OpenAI, whose ChatGPT product has been at the forefront of the AI trend ? said he believes the technology will ?transform the way people work and the way people learn. It?s going to

In this third part of our investor survey, we asked some of the UK?s leading fund managers which sectors or stocks they thought were the most promising for 2024.The responses were as varied as they were thought-provoking, with only a couple of managers singling out technology stocks.As before we would like to thank all those who took part for sharing their views, and we hope readers enjoy them. WH

It has been a difficult year for investment trusts as a whole. Discounts have widened across various sectors and there have been a series of failed continuation votes and mergers. Yet some trusts have still done extremely well - relative both to the wider market and their peer group. In this article we shine a light on the biggest outperformers in some of the Association of Investment Companies' m

For the second part of our annual survey, we asked fund managers if they had changed their view on any stocks this year, for better or for worse, and what lay behind their decisions.As with the winners and losers survey last week, the answers were often frank and once again we would like to thank everyone who took part.Thomas Moore - Aberdeen Equity Income Trust (AEI)THE STOCK THAT I CHANGED MY MI

After a decent showing in 2022, the UK stock market has failed to fire in 2023. The good news for investors is shares in other parts of the world have done much better and it has never been easier to have a globally diversified portfolio.There is an excellent range of products and instruments which allow you to participate in the returns from markets across the globe and, in this article, we provi

UK investment trusts are trading at the widest discount seen since the 2007/8 financial crisis, according to recent research from Numis and Winterflood. Against a backdrop of weak investor sentiment, the sector weighted average discount widened from 2.3% at the start of 2022 to 16.4% by the end of March 2023.For example, the Global sector is currently trading on a 9.27% discount to NAV versus a fi

Given some of the most successful fund managers go to the trouble of calculating the average age of companies in their portfolios it is fair to conclude it is an important characteristic of how they invest.In this article we look at why longevity in companies matters and identify some of the oldest firms across the UK, Europe, and US. Later in the article we look at some of the oldest investment c

It's been a tricky 2022 for global stock markets and that's made life hard for ordinary and professional investors alike. In this feature several leading fund managers explain what worked out for them over the course of the year and what went wrong.James Harries - Securities Trust of Scotland (STS)What worked?At Troy (Securities Trust of Scotland's investment manager) we seek companies that genera

As 2022 draws to a close amid continuing market volatility Shares has canvassed leading fund managers to find out where they have been finding the best opportunities.Jamie Ross - Henderson Eurotrust (Hne)LOOKING OUT FOR BOMBED-OUT GROWTH STOCKSWe have spent the last 12 months trying to find opportunities within the growthier area of the market - our favoured part of the market and the part of the

We're often told that patience is a virtue, which let's be honest can be fairly annoying - we understand, obviously, but it's not always easy to put this doubtless good advice into practice.This maxim is just as frequently applied to investing as it is to other areas of everyday life, and will probably prove no less of an annoyance to anyone sitting on significant losses in 2022.However, there is

During volatile market conditions and high inflation, investors are looking for ways to protect their income. Investment trusts have an income advantage which is particularly important for seekers of rising payouts.This is because they are able to hold back up to 15% of the income they receive from their investments in their revenue reserves. They can use these reserves to boost dividends during l

Funds and investment trusts that put money to work outside the UK are popular with investors because they offer diversification away from the domestic market at a stroke.Nevertheless, investors need to familiarise themselves with the different underlying assets of global funds as there are significant variations in terms of investment styles, underlying assets and levels of risk, even among the st

Alliance Trust (ATST) 964pLoss to date: 7.5%Original entry point: Buy at £10.42, 4 November 2021A stroke of bad luck meant that Alliance Trust's (ATST) winning streak in 2021 came to a disappointing end. A weak fourth quarter saw the global equity investment trust lag the broader market and ultimately underperform for the year.The target for Alliance Trust is to beat the MSCI All Country World in

There are many advantages to running a concentrated portfolio over a diversified portfolio, but sometimes investors may have too much concentration in their holdings if they aren't aware of what is in the different funds they own.A screening of the top holdings in some of the most popular global equity funds and investment trusts keeps throwing up the same three names again and again. Unsurprising

Investors face great uncertainty given growing inflationary pressures and with many central banks accelerating interest rate tightening plans.One way to settle the nerves is to put money to work with a highly-diversified fund offering a real return (adjusted for inflation) through a combination of capital growth and a rising dividend.We think global equity fund Alliance Trust (ATST) is an excellen

Widely-held global fund Alliance Trust (ATST) has reset its dividend at a higher level and now expects to pay a 19.054p total dividend for 2021, a bumper 32.5% increase on 2020's shareholder reward.Having concluded a review of the level and funding of its payout, Alliance Trust's board believes that an increased, yet still sustainable, level of dividend will benefit existing shareholders and enhan