74 per cent - The percentage of young Isa investors aged between 18-24 are more likely to invest in funds.
69 per cent - The amount of the total Isa allocation investors aged over 55 utilise.
40 per cent - Younger investors use less than half of the total allocation amount in an Isa.
Top picks funds for your isa
Lower risk
Standard Life UK Equity Income Unconstrained fund
The Standard Life UK Equity Income Unconstrained fund differs from the traditional UK equity income fund, as it looks outside the core UK blue chip income stocks and offers real portfolio diversification. While there will be a number of familiar top holdings, just more than 50 per cent of the fund is from the mid-cap arena. This flexibility ensures the portfolio does not merely follow the herd and this can be seen by the current top 10 holdings – which include Cineworld Group, Hiscox, Easyjet and Close Brothers.
The manager, Thomas Moore, is a rising star within the investment world and the portfolio has certainly benefited since he took to the helm in January 2009. For both three and one-year performance on a cumulative basis, the fund is ranked first quartile and this strength has continued into 2013.
Medium risk
BlackRock European Dynamic fund
The BlackRock European Dynamic fund provides diversification that a portfolio invested solely in UK companies cannot. For example, Demark is a world leader in alternative energy solutions and Germany has world- class engineering companies and car manufacturers.
Compared with other developed markets, European companies are potentially more attractive due to the extent to which the woes of Europe have driven down company share valuations, as stocks have been marked down almost for association with the region. However, companies are now better financed than they were pre-crisis and many remain the strong global brands they were before. If the eurozone does show real signs of recovery in 2013 and beyond, these could perform really well.
The fund’s sector preferences are consumer products, financials, industrials and healthcare.
Higher risk
Invesco Perpetual Global Smaller Companies fund
The Invesco Perpetual Global Smaller Companies fund is suitable for investors looking to diversify their portfolio through geographical representation as well as company size.
This fund tends to have a large number of holdings, providing investors with the comfort that given the often volatile nature of such companies, risk and diversification is spread across not only a vast number of companies, but more importantly across geographical regions as well.
The fund is managed on a team basis by Invesco Perpetual, with individuals responsible for identifying investment opportunities from within their geographical area of expertise. The fund is exposed to a significant number of different countries and the largest holding only accounts for 0.95 per cent of the fund. The top four sectors are financials, industrials, consumer discretionary and technology.”
