Friends Provident - Shamed For Consistent Under Performance

Friends Provident Multi Manager Fund underperformed on 88% of occasions by an average of 2.54% p.a. 

Friends Provident Balanced Managed fund is used for comparison and drawn from the Balanced Managed Sector; as this is usually a fair representation of a firm’s investment abilities across a range of asset types.

The Trend Graphs that follow show how  Friends Provident Balanced Managed fund has underperformed other funds within the Balanced Managed Sector over a series of 48, 1 year investment periods, taken at one-month intervals.

• Historical performance is to the left and current performance to the right of the graph.     

• White bars are periods of negative and green positive returns. 

So, how can we tell  Friends Provident fund  management is ineffective? 

This fund is in the Balanced Managed Sector:  Sectors are collections of funds which have been grouped together by the ABI (Association of British Insurers), with the aim of assisting comparison with other funds sharing a common purpose.    

Sector Return  - The movement of assets within a Sector will heavily influence the return of a fund,    regardless of whether the fund manager is adding value. 

By looking at the investment return of the Balanced Managed Sector below; when viewed over the same period as  Friends Provident's fund, we can see a very similar performance profile; with the fund providing positive returns at the same time as the Sector.

Then by subtracting the Sector Return from the Fund's Return we can see the value added by the Fund Manager.   

This shows the fund significantly and consistently underperforming other funds in the same Sector. 

The story gets worse!  By comparing the fund with the Sector; we are effectively comparing this fund with a very average fund. 

Fraser Financial Services  use the same fund analysis techniques to identify the best fund managers … those performing most consistently - adding the greatest value for investors. 

Fraser Financial Services  offer a pension review service. If you have a pension with Friends Provident, w  ith your permission we can obtain details of your pension from them and carry out a FREE NO OBLIGATION analysis to see whether it might be in your interest to: 

• Move your pension to another fund within Friends Provident.  

• Transfer your pension fund to a low cost provider with better fund performance. 

• Transfer your pension fund to a Fraser Financial Services SIPP; where you have access to a carefully selected & monitored range of the best funds. 

Fund Performance Analysis is performed by Figaro for 48 periods ending 31st December 2009, on data supplied by Morningstar. Whilst Figaro take great care in compiling the figures and information shown, no liability can be accepted for any error or omission.

Past Performance  is not necessarily a guide to future performance.