2009 wow what a year! - Killian Nolan Investment Manager RaboDirect

Wow what a year!

Submitted by Killian Nolan | RaboDirect Investment Manager on Wednesday, 16 December 2009 | Category: Investments

Killian Nolan, Investment Manager, Rabodirect

Killian Nolan, Investment Manager, Rabodirect

The pessimists have had an absolute ball. Doom and gloom galore. And is it just me, or have we become a nation of debators - happy to grumble, complain and delay taking the hard decisions required to get us on the road to a sustainable recovery?

Countries like Germany and the US made the hard calls early on and are already enjoying small but positive signs of recovery. In fact, many of the regional funds we offer have performed extremely well over the last year. The Blackrock Latin American Fund is up an impressive 103% and Robeco Chinese and Blackrock India Funds up 67.04% and 66.06% respectively*. Not bad considering the year we’ve just come through.

If you’re reading this, I’m probably preaching to the converted but just in case, I wanted to let you know that we’ve no intention of resting on our laurels as we march on into the new year. Quite the opposite. We want to add one or two new fund managers and add to our comprehensive list of 51 funds. We’ve a few ideas up our sleeve on where to go next but as ever, we’d love to hear what you think. So if you have any suggestions we would be delighted to hear them.

I also want to thank everyone who took time out to reply to our recent investments barometer. It’s great to get an insight to what you’re feeling out there in the market and where you’re planning to invest next. This time around 33% of respondents said they’d put their money in Emerging Markets if they were going to invest, another 28% had an eye for Asia, 26% looked to Europe and 13% said they were interested in the US. With that in mind we’re looking at our exposure in these regions to see if we can enhance our offering for you even more. It really is worth sharing what you think because it does make a difference!

Now...all that remains to be said is that I hope you and yours have a great Christmas and a very prosperous New Year.

Best wishes.

Killian

*performance figures are over one year up to the 15th Dec 2009

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6 Comments

Comment by Johno on 29-12-2009 11:24 | Quote

I really need to get back into investing, but, I got a bit burned during 2008 thanks to Bank of Ireland. Can you imagine these bozos advised me to purchase BOI shares at the beginning of 2008, needless to say I was not that stupid, it was an investment product that caught me out. Anyway I am scared of loseing more money and need to be certain you guys will work for me (the customer) and not yourselves like the BOI muppets.

Comment by Killian Nolan | RaboDirect Investment on 05-01-2010 03:28 | Quote

Hi Johno,

At RaboDirect we believe the best person to take control of your finances is you. Many investors like yourself are now questioning some of the advice they received in the past and on reflection you might ask yourself ‘was my best interest at heart’.

Here at RaboDirect we offer one of the most diversified range of funds on the market with a very competitive charging structure and this can be done online 24/7. With the portfolio tools and the information we provide on each fund we believe investors with a little bit of homework will be able to make well informed decisions and take control of their personal finances because as I said the only person who really cares about your finances is you.

Happy New Year.

Killian

Comment by jonesy on 11-01-2010 06:08 | Quote

I was lucky I kept my money in cash until now. Its time to invest in emerging market and sustainable energy. The Irish, British and American ecomonies will go downhill for the next decade because of DEBT. Asia have a different view on debt ...they don't borrow.Funds like rabo direct allow ordinary people to invest in these markets ...good for them.

Comment by G on 11-01-2010 06:45 | Quote

Hi Killian,

I note that you say Blackrock's India fund was up 66% during 2009 (Dec 15 2008 - Dec 15 2009). I have been continually disappointed by this funds performance over the last year. Its under-performing hugely compared to other India-based funds and even under-performing compared to the BSE Sensex which was up 71.6% in the same period.

It's consistently failing to beat the index, which makes me wonder why I'm paying a fund manager in the first place?! Would I be better to simply switch to an index tracker? Can you shed any light on this for me please as I can't see any obvious reason for this under-performance.

Thanks, G

Comment by Killian Nolan | RaboDirect Investment Manager on 15-01-2010 04:43 | Quote

Hi Gordon,

In order to explain the performance of the BGF India Fund for 2009, we have taken a look at the Fund performance on a quarterly basis.

The Fund has been in Quartile 2 in Quarters 1, 3 and 4. Only in Quarter 2 (Q2) was the Fund in Quartile 4. Therefore, the underperformance for the year 2009 can be attributed to the Fund underperformance in Q2.

There are a couple reasons for this underperformance in Q2:

1. The Fund was defensively positioned during Quarters 1 and 2 (with a high cash component and an overweight position in consumer staples). Therefore, during the initial phase of the market turnaround (March/April 2009) the Fund has underperformed.

2. Even during the first-half of Quarter 2 (April/mid-May 2009) once the markets had started to turn the Fund Manager was cautious and did not immediately re-adjust the portfolio due to the impending election results in India. Once the results were declared, and there was more clarity and certainty about the Government at the Centre, the portfolio was re-adjusted.

Post the underperformance due the reasons above, the Fund has made up for lost-ground which is reflected in the performance during Quarters 3 and 4. For each of these quarters the Fund has had a positive gap with the peer group and with the Index (S&P/IFC Emerging Markets India).

Please note that, though being defensive positioned, the fund still showed a 82.63% performance in 2009.

If you have any additional questions please let me know.

Rgds, Killian

Comment by Andrew Finn on 16-01-2010 01:58 | Quote

Just want to congratulate Killian and the RABO team on the fantastic choice of investments available on this website and more importantly without the greedy charges most other investment companies charge investors...not to mention broker commission charges/fee's...don't get me started on those!!!!! I have previously invested in a couple of New Ireland Funds and after the turmoil of 2008 it will be years before i just break even on these funds, I discovered your fantastic website last September, and decided on investing in Latin America, China and India Funds as these economies were quick out of recession and all 3 of my funds are performing extremly well. The best thing about investing with RABO for me is the indendence of being not tied down to a broker and I am able to sell out whenever I feel the time is right and pocket the gains (the 0.75% exit charge is a pittance unlike the scam by other companies of holding the investment with them for 4-5yrs) I am completely won over by investing with RABO and keep up the great work Killian!! PS. Are there any Australian Investment Funds likely to appear in the RABO Fund Range for 2010 as the Australian economy is fairly bullet proof?