The previous Friday's "Markets Now" forum in the East India Club went swimmingly. My sense is that private clients, after the privations of the last decade, are seeking leadership. David Fuller energized the room with crisp advice on strategy. Then my P&C partner Bruce Albrecht told some government of Abu Dhabi asset allocation stories and showed why long term equity investment makes sense. I chanced on an investment theme that has real legs for future occasions: closed-ended investment trusts. Private investors are fed up with the standardized and high cost solutions of fund supermarkets that more closely resemble compensation schemes than investment schemes. Fees of “Two and Twenty” are fine as long as performance is Twenty, but not when it’s Minus Two. I will return to this subject in later weeks. 

David Fuller's view

Here is Iain Little's Fund Manager's Diary.

The next Markets Now session will be on Monday 7^th July, from 5:30 to 7:30pm, at the East India Club, 16 St James Square, London SW1Y 4LH, UK.  A brochure should be available within the next fortnight.  

Please note: I will be away from Friday 23^rd May until Monday 9^th June.