Why Long Term Investors Should Not Give Up on UK Equities

ASK THE EXPERT: How have investors reacted to Brexit? Morningstar's Jonathan Miller takes a look at fund flows and cautions investors against making hasty decisions

Emma Wall 28 June, 2016 | 11:06AM
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Emma Wall: Hello, and welcome to the Morningstar series, "Ask the Expert." I'm Emma wall and I'm joined today by Morningstar's Jonathan Miller, Head of Manager Research for U.K.

Hi, Jonathan.

Jonathan Miller: Hello.

Wall: So, Brexit has actually happened – or will do rather; we've voted for it and we've seen pretty instantaneously how markets have reacted. What about how retail investors have reacted?

Miller: Sure. We can look at fund flows as a way of seeing how investors, what they've been doing with their money and if we look at what's happened year-to-date – we're not at the end of June yet – this is from start of the year till the end of May. Investors have been leaving U.K. equities especially and European equities.

Now, if we take a look back though, how did the year start, we had a lot of negative news, bad first few months, bad six weeks. But actually, by the end of Q1, markets were back to where they were on 31st of December. So, if we take how people are emotional and react, you can probably imagine the June numbers seeing people heading for the doors. We don't necessarily think that's the best thing to be doing there.

Wall: Of course, this is a very emotive reaction to negative sentiment and that is often what drives investors but it's not always the correct strategy, is it? People should be encouraging – or should be encouraged to take a longer-term view?

Miller: Definitely. When we look at the news this weekend – I was absorbing all the news and you see things like financial Armageddon panic in markets and that doesn't help investors nor does the fact – just this lunch time I was looking at probably the most well-read website here in the U.K. for news and it recapped what happened on Friday. It said markets opened 8% down and finished the day 3.2% down. It should have carried on saying that the FTSE 100 is also up 2.4% for the week. That sort of thing gets ignored. So, investors should think about their long-term plans and here at Morningstar this is what we believe is important to achieve the long-term goals.

Wall: So, for example, if I wanted to take exposure to U.K. equities and I had long-term conviction in that sector, I shouldn't just give up on it in my pension portfolio because of a couple of bad months?

Miller: Of course not. And we look at a Gold-rated fund by Morningstar, a fund with a Morningstar Gold analyst rating, that's the Lindsell Train UK Equity Fund and their manager said things like Greece happening in the last couple of years, China devaluing their currencies. These are things to ignore. When you look at the long-term graphs, these are just minor blips. So, people saving on a monthly basis, that's the best way to erode – or the compounding effect is important to be able to smooth out these volatile periods and actually, when you invest like that you should embrace these volatile periods. You can get more for your money at lower prices for the funds and that sets you on a good journey for the long term.

Wall: Jonathan, thank you very much.

Miller: Thank you.

Wall: This is Emma Wall for Morningstar. Thank you for watching.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar
Rating
LF Lindsell Train UK Equity Acc514.04 GBP0.14Rating

About Author

Emma Wall  is former Senior International Editor for Morningstar

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