To view the full Affluence Investment Fund Update – November 2016 in pdf format, click here.
November was somewhat of an abnormal month for Australian and global markets, with the ASX 200 trading in a range of almost 10% during the month from top to bottom. There was a very sharp drop early in November as investors realised that Trump would be the next president of the USA. However, within a day, markets decided this was actually a positive development and started moving upwards strongly. The ASX 200 Accumulation Index ended the month up 3.0%. The Affluence Investment Fund increased by 0.2% over this period, once again weathering the ups and downs with relative calm.
Swift movements back and forth in markets such as we saw in November can quite often have a negative impact on performance. And so it was a tough month for many of our underlying managers. Large cap financial and resources stocks dominated the gains, with small and midcap equities not fairing so well. The range of monthly returns for the Funds underlying investments ranged from negative 10% to positive 4%. With the large disparity of investment returns, the overall result of positive 0.2% for the month was acceptable given the tough conditions. This reinforces that one of the key elements of investing is genuine diversification; by asset class, investment strategy and risk exposure.
In November, we took advantage of market volatility and added to some existing investments. These included the Phoenix Opportunities Fund, Baker Steel Gold Fund, Smallco Broadcap Fund and Smallco Investment Fund, and the Affluence LIC Fund. We sold the investment in the Insync Global Titans Fund. We also met with quite a few potential new managers. We expect to initiate new investments with some of these over the coming few months.
At the end of November, the Affluence Investment Fund held investments in 23 unlisted funds representing 58% of the total portfolio. The Affluence LIC Fund accounted for 19% of the total portfolio, and provided exposure to 21 LIC’s. We held investments in 5 other listed entities which represented 6% of the total portfolio, with the remaining 17% held in cash.
This month marks two years since the Funds inception. We are pleased with the returns, and even more so given the Funds very low volatility in challenging market conditions.t
If you’d like further details of the Affluence Fund portfolio at any time, just email us and we’ll provide it to you.
If you would like to invest with us and get access to over 30 of Australia’s best fund managers, we encourage you to utilise our online application facility. Just follow the link on our website. If you’d like to add to your existing investment, you can either complete the one-page form available on our website, or use the online facility. A reminder, the cut-off for this month’s investment intake is December 23rd.
If you know anyone that may be interested in the Fund, feel free to let them know.
