Just how accessible are your investments?

In Monday 22^nd July’s edition of The Press and Journal, Investment Director, Barry O’Neill, highlights the need to explore how accessible your investment funds are.

The article is a timely reminder in light of the recent issues experienced by investors in funds managed by Neil Woodford. Following a stampede for the exit door, Woodford Equity Income Fund investors have been unable to access their money. The primary reason for this is due to the illiquid nature of some of the underlying investments; more than 20% of the fund was invested in small, illiquid, unlisted stocks, so there simply weren’t enough readily saleable assets to satisfy the large number of redemption requests.

Barry’s advice is to look under the bonnet of any investment fund you’re considering buying to make sure you know exactly what it contains. This should help you to establish how easy it will be to get your money back when you want it.

As Barry concludes, the fact that the Woodford fund was part of so many “best buy” lists is further evidence that such lists are not constructed for your benefit and it’s the most high-profile example yet of the cult of the star manager coming apart at the seams.

You can read the whole article by clicking here, and if you want further investment advice or help to understand the inextricable link between risk and reward, email us at enquiries@carbonfinancial.co.uk or get in touch on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.