Each fund selector composed a portfolio of 8 funds, which are equally weighted.
The European fund range of small UK-based asset management boutique Argonaut, which has only €900m in assets under management, is surprisingly well-represented in this year’s competition. Six participants chose one of Argonaut’s three European equity funds.
The overweight to European equities seems to reflect Europe-wide fund selector sentiment. Though European stocks no longer are the most popular asset class in terms of the number of fund buyers increasing their exposure, it is not a wild guess to assume most fund selectors are now overweight European equities. The asset class has been by far the most popular with them for the past twelve months.
Risky bets
The participants in the competition don’t skew risks and are strongly overweight equities in general, while they don’t really seem to care about balancing their portfolios against downside risks. Only some 10% of the selected funds are fixed income funds, and long/short funds were rarely chosen. Moreover, a third of the bond funds picked are relatively risky high yield bond funds.
Please note that the 2014 Expert Investor Europe Fantasy Fund-Picker contest is now closed to new entries. A summary of the competition rules can be viewed here.
