Going against the grain
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Retail investors are a funny breed. At the start of last year the prediction was that it would be a slow year for fund sales because the weak state of the economy would lead to increased risk aversion.
It was retail investors who remained calm and “fairly robust”
Instead 2009 proved a record-breaking year for fund sales, with net retail sales hitting £25.8 billion according to year-end statistics released today by the Investment Management Association (IMA). Ok, so the most popular peer group throughout the year may have been the corporate bond sector, but taking second place were absolute return funds, while a resurgence in interest in property in the latter half of the year saw property funds come in as the fourth most popular sector. Both could hardly be seen as risk averse.
Indeed in terms of property, last year’s sales represent a wholesale turnaround in sentiment from 2008, when throughout the course of the year the sector saw a £466m outflow of funds. (article continues below)
Last week Edward Bonham Carter, chief executive officer of Jupiter (who hands his reins as chief investment officer to John Chatfeild-Roberts tomorrow) said while large institutions–the so-called sophisticated investors–demonstrated a propensity to panic during last year’s volatility, it was retail investors who remained calm and “fairly robust”.
On the evidence of today’s numbers Bonham Carter seems to have a case.
