Can you avoid a New Year's credit hangover? Consider these eleven ways to keep holiday purchases under control.
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2SDVsPq
الأربعاء، 12 ديسمبر 2018
9 Easy Ways To Save At Christmas: Tips for Keeping Christmas Affordable Yet Beautiful
Does your Christmas season lead to the January blues due to excessive holiday spending? Learn nine tips to celebrate while staying fiscally responsible.
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2QqSscG
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2QqSscG
More Americans buy groceries at dollar stores than Whole Foods, report says
More Americans buy their groceries from dollar stores than from Whole Foods Market, according to a newly published report.In its report, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance says the number of dollar stores — mom-and-pop shops as well as big national chains such as Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar — jumped from 20,000 to 30,000 between 2011 and 2018.In [...]
Source Business - poconorecord.com https://ift.tt/2PAjHfJ
Source Business - poconorecord.com https://ift.tt/2PAjHfJ
PV guard's quick thinking saves life of hall monitor
It was late in the morning on Saturday, Dec. 1 when Pleasant Valley School District monitor Kathleen Piccolo felt that something was wrong.While patrolling the hallways of the high school, she was having trouble breathing, and it was quickly getting worse.But thanks to the presence and quick action of security guard Luis Fuentes and his fellow co-workers, Piccolo was able to survive a medical [...]
Source Business - poconorecord.com https://ift.tt/2zSBxFt
Source Business - poconorecord.com https://ift.tt/2zSBxFt
Pocono airport receives grant
MOUNT POCONO — Gov. Tom Wolf’s office recently announced that the Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport would be getting a boost through the form of a $30,000 grant.The airport is one of 26 across the Commonwealth that will be receiving more than $6 million in total for infrastructure and equipment upgrades.“With more than 400 airports across the state, this support from my administration helps keep aviation a viable transportation alternative and adds to [...]
Source Business - poconorecord.com https://ift.tt/2PAjBVp
Source Business - poconorecord.com https://ift.tt/2PAjBVp
My money lessons: Coin enthusiast turns to cryptocurrency collecting
Jon Bannister (pictured below) was challenged by friends to collect a complete set of 54 rare 50p coins. But when coins became harder to collect, he switched to cryptocurrency. Here, he shares his experiences as a collector
When I was originally challenged to collect a whole set of 54 rare 50p coins, I managed to complete the challenge within two months.
I have now collected four whole sets of every coin including rare coins, such as the Kew Gardens 50p, the London 2012 Olympic 50p series and the 2005 50p commemorating the 250th anniversary of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary.
At the time I completed the first collection, the value for all 54 coins was nearly double its face value. Recently, I have seen some Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary coins on eBay for up to £3,000 and I’ve actually got 50 of them in my collection.
But now that I have four complete sets of the 54 rare 50p pieces, I’ve stopped collecting. Each set is worth between £500 and £600, and I think I’ve withdrawn around 18,000 to 20,000 50p coins while collecting.
I’ve found getting valuable 50p coins by withdrawing from the bank to be harder and harder. When I first started, I was probably getting around 200 or so good coins, but more recently I would withdraw £1,000, and would only get around 15 to 20 valuable coins.
My feeling is that over time more people have started to collect, so it has become more difficult to find rare coins. I ended up wasting three to four hours, only to find around £10 to £15 of rare coins. It wasn’t worth the hours I spent.
I’ve given sets of rare 50p coins to my wife, son and daughter, and kept one for myself, so we have a collection each to hold on to and decide if we want to sell one day.
Now I’ve moved on to digital currency, as I think it is more financially rewarding. For instance, the Kew Gardens 50p is valued at between £180 and £200 and I have five of them, but the value of a cryptocurrency coin can go much higher. Bitcoin peaked at $19,000 (£14,850) in January 2018.
I had a few friends who were buying and selling digital currency. I’d heard of Bitcoin a while back and ended up dipping my toe in the water.
As a result, I’m now working for a number of different initial coin offerings (ICOs). They’re trying to raise funds to launch their own cryptocurrencies, with some quite large and high-profile companies raising up to $19 million (£14,853 million) each.
I’m also thinking about starting a business offering hints and tips on buying cryptocurrency.
I was quite sceptical at first. I have an IT degree and I’ve done a lot of computer development. I understand computers but it was hard for me to get my head around crypto – that you can’t physically hold it in your hand or put it in a bank.
I use a Trezor hardware wallet [a special type of bitcoin wallet that stores the user’s private keys in a secure device] to store my crypto coins. Right now, I have around five million coins in my portfolio.
I’m aware that I need to do my own research on each company and each coin before investing. I need to see the team behind it too. I want to know if the coin solves a problem and I try to find innovative companies. For example, I’m working with a company called AirWire. It is developing a way to send cryptocurrencies via email, text message or social media.
I try to keep my portfolio at around 40 to 50 different tokens, so I have a diverse spread.
If some go off really well, then fantastic. But you have to be careful about what you are investing in. Find out more about how it works. Some currencies I bought for less than 1 cent are now worth around $5.
Those who got into Bitcoin at the right time could have bought it for around 3 cents. It was valued at $19,000 at one point. I kick myself that I didn’t get involved four or five years ago.
Unfortunately, though, I’ve been scammed a number of times. I’ve lost some money on certain companies as well. That’s something you have to be alert to.
You need to know what you’re buying and selling, and the apps you use, or you could end up losing a lot of money.
It’s also easy to lose your money if you lose the password to your digital currency wallet or your hardware wallet. Your currency could be gone for ever. That’s a big risk.
The hacking of an exchange and theft of your cryptocurrency is a risk too. It’s not regulated, and there’s no financial protection.
I think the age of physical coins is coming to an end and digital currency will be the future of money. That’s why I’m collecting cryptocurrency now, in case some become big winners in the future, like some of my 50p coins.
Do you have a lesson you’ve learnt about money you’d like to share? Please email editor@moneywise.co.uk
Section
Free Tag
Workflow
Published
Source Moneywise https://ift.tt/2UDk64L
12 Tips for Taking Better Marketing Photos for Your Social Media Campaigns
Every business needs to be active on social media to be relevant in today’s digital world.
So if your company is on social media, it’s a safe bet that you’re uploading photos to your profile on a regular basis. Pictures and other visual elements will improve your marketing strategy.
But it can be challenging to find the right pictures to post.
Let’s say you want to upload at least one new picture to a social platform each day. That’s 365 images per year.
Lots of businesses don’t have a library of that many original photos. So they just take a random picture and post it to their profiles last minute without putting too much thought or effort into it.
This is going to be a major problem for your business if you’re using a similar strategy.
Everything you share with your followers on social media must have a purpose. In order to get the best results from your campaigns, everything needs to be high quality.
Fortunately for you, technology has advanced to the point where you have a professional quality camera in your hand or pocket in nearly all waking hours.
You don’t need fancy equipment to take great marketing photos. All you need are some basic photography skills and inspiration for your subject matters.
Every day, 300 million pictures are uploaded to Facebook. Instagram has an average of 95 million photos uploaded daily.
If the photos you add to social media don’t look professional, it’s going to hurt your brand image. That’s why I identified these 12 tips to improve your social media marketing photos.
1. Create balance with grid lines
The rule of thirds is one of the most basic photography skills that you should get familiar with.
This technique will improve the composition of your photos and create balance, which is more visually appealing to anyone who sees the picture.
Your smartphone allows you to enable grid lines when you’re taking a photo.
This feature makes it easier for you to follow the rule of thirds.
The grid is very simple. It’s just two vertical lines and two horizontal lines that are all spaced apart equally.
You should position your subject matter and anything important in your photo where those lines intersect.
An amateur photographer just centers everything on the screen. But that’s not as appealing.
By using the rule of thirds, the image has more room to breathe.
Just look at all of the open space in the skyline above. This puts more emphasis on your subject matter.
Plus, people are used to this tactic being applied in professional photography, whether they realize it or not. So when someone sees a photo without the rule of thirds applied, it will automatically not seem as attractive to them.
2. Find symmetry
Symmetry is another visual element that we are just naturally drawn to.
So if you have the opportunity to capture symmetry in an image, you should definitely do so.
Here’s a great example of a photograph with symmetry.
It’s simple, but it works.
Now, take a moment and imagine what this photo would look like if it weren’t taken from this angle.
If the camera was positioned slightly to the left or right, the symmetry would be lost.
Sure, it may still seem like a nice picture of a walkway going out into a clear ocean on a beautiful day. But capturing the symmetry elevates the image and brings it to a more professional level.
Your pictures need to stand out to draw attention from your followers.
If it looks like an amateur is taking all the photos, it will reflect poorly on your brand. We both know you don’t want that to happen.
3. Crop instead of zooming
Another rookie mistake that I see people make all of the time is using the zoom feature.
Manually zooming in on a subject is a big no, unless you’re using a professional camera to take pictures.
But like I said before, that type of equipment is unnecessary. Your smartphone will capture pictures that are good enough to post.
However, once you start zooming, it damages the quality of the photo.
Instead of zooming, just get closer to your subject. If that’s not possible, don’t worry about it. Take the picture from where you are and use the rule of thirds to improve the composition.
After the photo is taken, you can just crop the image to your liking.
Here’s an example of how to do this in Adobe Photoshop.
For the most part, you shouldn’t need to do this on your computer. You can crop photos directly from your smartphone.
Notice how even though this picture is being cropped, the rule of thirds is still being applied.
The reflection in the water is also a nice touch, but we’ll talk more about that shortly.
4. Embrace natural frames
Framing your image is another basic photography skill. No, I’m not referring to developing your photo and putting it into a wooden box.
Sometimes subject matters are perfectly positioned to be captured within a natural frame surrounding it.
Any time you have the chance to use a natural frame, you should take advantage of it.
Here’s a simple photo of an airplane wing that has a natural frame.
This image is perfect for so many reasons.
First, if you try and get too close to the window to take the picture, you’ll end up getting a glare. Second, the wing by itself is just too boring.
By adding the window to the picture, it elevates the quality of the picture to the next level. You get the see the lighting changes and the shadows as the natural light from the sun comes into the plane.
Here’s the thing, if you’re not happy with the natural frame you can always just edit it out by cropping the image, as we previously discussed.
When you’re taking a photo, keep an eye out for natural frames such as trees, fences, bridges, archways, or anything else that creates a similar framing effect.
5. Look for reflections
I briefly mentioned this before when we were talking about cropping. Taking photos of reflections can add a really unique perspective to your photo.
Check out this example from Todo Bien Tours.
Todo Bien gives private coastal bus tours in southern California.
So obviously they want to show their social media followers what their bus looks like. But rather than just showing a boring picture of the bus, they use a reflection to capture the water and coastline during a sunset.
It’s a creative way to show off your photography skills.
Taking a picture of just the bus or just the sunset would be average and pretty basic. But by capturing both in the window reflection, it elevates this campaign to new heights.
6. Shoot repeating patterns
Just like symmetry, patterns are another great way to capture the attention of your followers.
Sometimes finding the right pattern is all about shooting from the right angle and perspective. Just look at this photo of bike wheels to show you what I’m talking about.
This pattern isn’t necessarily present from every angle.
If you step back and photograph these bikes from above, or head on, the pattern wouldn’t be the same. It would just look like a row of bikes.
Yes, the subject matter may still be relevant enough and usable for your marketing campaign, but it can be improved by using this strategy.
7. Get a tripod and mount for your mobile device
Earlier I briefly mentioned how you don’t need a professional camera or expensive equipment to take high quality photos for your social media campaigns.
But with that said, it can’t hurt to invest in something small, like a tripod and mount for your smartphone.
The tripod will allow you to go hands-free when taking a picture. Plus, it helps ensure that the image is level.
You can also use this type of equipment to extend your range and make it a little bit more comfortable to hold your phone securely.
Joby has a bunch of great products for this purpose.
You can check out their website to browse for what you need.
Otherwise, there are thousands of other similar products available online from other retailers as well.
Most of these are pretty inexpensive. You can find a quality stand and mount for under $50. It’s worth having, even if you don’t use all of the time.
8. Create a new perspective
You don’t want your social media marketing photos to look like everything else out there.
It’s important for your brand to come up with new perspectives to separate yourself from the crowd.
I really like this example from Tropicfeel on their Instagram page.
The picture itself is beautiful. The houses, ocean, and coastline grabs the attention of an audience right away.
But something about this photo is a little bit different than you normally expect.
It’s not typical for people to put their legs and feet in this type of shot. Usually, you’d expect this to be a selfie or just a landscape shot.
But Tropicfeel uses this unique perspective to showcase their product, which is the shoes in the photo.
Look at the caption.
They created a new hashtag of #tropicselfeet to encourage other people to take this type of photo as well. This is a great way to write instagram captions that drive engagement.
So find a perspective that’s unique to your brand.
For example, let’s say your company sells skateboards. Rather than just taking a picture of a guy on a skateboard, you could mount a camera to the nose of the board.
9. Take candids
You don’t always want to just take pictures of your products.
People are a great subject matter for your social media campaigns. In fact, photos with faces get 38% more likes and 32% more comments than photos without them.
But your subjects don’t always need to be posing.
Candid shots add a human element to your brand. They show people in action, as opposed to just putting on a show for the camera.
Take a look at these photos that were uploaded to the Thule Facebook page.
None of the people in these pictures are posing.
All of the shots are candid.
The reason why this works is because it shows an audience how people behave naturally when they are doing something.
This is an opportunity for you to showcase how your products and services can be used on social media.
I also like the idea of taking candid photos of your employees. By showing your staff in photos, it creates a more authentic interaction with your audience. Your followers will realize that there are real people behind the scenes of your brand.
10. Get abstract
Think outside of the box.
You need to realize how many pictures are flooding the timelines of your followers on a daily basis. If your marketing photos don’t jump off the page at them, they’ll just simply keep on scrolling.
Abstract images are a great way to capture attention, like this one from the Allbirds Instagram page.
Allbirds has a line of shoes called tree runners. So lots of their posts encompass nature and different photos of trees.
This one is definitely one of the most unique photos that you’ll see on their profile.
It’s art painted onto a fallen tree trunk. The image on this unconventional canvas is a nature scene, which also includes trees.
At first glance, a social media user might not even realize what they’re looking at.
But it’s definitely enough to stop them in their tracks for further examination.
11. Be funny
Stop taking yourself so seriously.
OK, there are certain businesses that need to more serious than others. If your company specializes in things financial investments or funerals, you probably shouldn’t be cracking jokes on social media.
But those types of brands are just a small percent of the population.
If your company sells products or services to a target audience that can appreciate some humor, don’t be afraid to take a funny photo for your social media campaigns.
36% of consumers are prompted to make a purchase after seeing a funny post from a brand on social media.
So taking a humorous photo can do much more for you than just drive engagement. This strategy can directly lead to sales.
Just make sure you stay away from controversial subjects.
I definitely don’t recommend making jokes about subjects like politics or religion. Photos like that can really damage your brand.
So keep it light, but stay professional.
12. Don’t be conventional
How can you make your marketing photos jump off the page to social media users?
You want your posts to make people say, “Wow!”
Leave them in awe. Here’s an example from the Vuori Instagram page.
This post is advertising their men’s swimwear.
A conventional idea would be just to photograph a picture of the swim trunks. That’s boring.
Another idea could be showing a model wearing the bathing suit, or even swimming in it. But again, that’s boring as well.
It’s conventional, and audiences expect those types of posts from brands.
You know what’s not conventional? A guy jumping off a cliff into the ocean wearing those shorts.
This photo is awesome. It’s definitely the type of post that will grab the attention of users on social media.
Conclusion
If you want to run successful social media campaigns, you need to focus more attention on the quality of your marketing photos.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to buy expensive equipment or hire someone to do this for you. It’s easy to take and edit photos without hiring a professional.
All you need is some basic photography skills to get you started in the right direction.
After that, it’s just all about deciding what types of photos will speak to your target audience on these platforms.
Use this guide as a reference and inspiration for your future marketing photos.
What types of photos does your brand share with people on social media?
Source Quick Sprout https://ift.tt/2BdrVFg
The Difference Between What You Should Be Doing and What You Are Doing
Several times during the course of writing an article, I feel a bit stuck for what I should write next. How exactly do I say what’s on my mind? I know the general topic of a paragraph or a section of an article, but actually converting it into words for a first draft eludes me in that moment.
The solution, of course, is to do something else.
The problem, of course, is that I often choose something less than useful with that “do something else” option.
What I should be doing is something directly useful to my life goals. I should spend that time doing a household chore. I should spend that time meditating. I should spend that time reading a section of a challenging book. I should spend that time making a homemade batch of some food item. I should spend that time exercising or going on a walk. You get the idea.
What I often do is play a game or chat with one of the guys I know who also work from home. I’m in a group of several people who work from home and hang out in a Slack chatroom and we often agree to play some quick multiplayer computer game together for fifteen minutes.
It’s not the worst thing I could be doing. I am at least building camaraderie with my local professional peers. However, it’s far from the best thing I could be doing.
That gap between the best thing I could be doing and what I’m actually doing seems like a little deal in the moment, but it adds up over time. Let’s say that twice during a given day, I choose to play a game for fifteen minutes instead of doing household chores. That means in the evening I have thirty minutes of undone chores to do… but this evening my son wants me to help him with his homework and there are a bunch of other things going on. Eventually those undone chores end up eating into something else I really value, something I genuinely regret missing out on, and it’s because I spent that time playing Fortnite or something instead of doing that household task.
Often, it’s because I’ve accumulated lots of those little decisions, where I’ve made a relatively poor choice in how to use my time here and then another poor choice there and then it adds up to a ton of things left undone and I feel overwhelmed.
It’s that difference between what I should be doing and what I actually am doing. It really adds up.
The same exact thing is true with money. We all sometimes use our money in ways that are less than optimal. We spend it on something unnecessary when we could put it to better use buying something else. We buy something frivolous when we could use the money to invest in our future.
Most of the time, those expenses are small. We buy a bottle of Gatorade at the convenience store. We buy a pack of gum in the checkout aisle. We pick up a latte at Starbucks. We keep paying the cable bill even though we don’t watch it much these days. Those little expenses are easily forgotten, too.
Sure, sometimes those expenses are big ones, too. We buy a bigger house than we probably should. We go on a really expensive trip. We decide to go for the car with the upgrades rather than the base model.
All of those things add up, little by little, until one day you find yourself in what feels like an insurmountable financial hole. Is it even possible to save much for retirement at this point? Can you even help your kids much with college? is it all hopeless? Will you be working until you fall down on the job?
With money, with time, with everything, it’s the difference between what you actually do and what you should be doing, added up over thousands upon thousands of choices, that ends up putting us in a place that we don’t like, wondering where it all went wrong, completely overwhelmed by the challenge before us.
The solution to this problem isn’t to become perfect. The solution, rather, is to be conscious of how those little choices add up and tweak things so that just a little more often, we make the better choice. A few times a day, we choose to do what we should be doing rather than our impulsive desire in the moment.
Maybe once or twice a week, I’ll go take care of a task instead of chatting with the other stay at home workers I know. A little decision that’s much closer to what I should be doing.
Maybe today, instead of going inside the gas station to pay and talking myself into a Gatorade, I’ll just pay at the pump and get home and find something in the fridge there. A little decision that’s much closer to what I should be doing.
Maybe instead of buying a new board game, I’ll find one on the shelves that I’ve not yet played. A little decision that’s much closer to what I should be doing.
Over time, those little decisions add up to something bigger, something that amounts to genuine life change.
The challenge, of course, is to be mindful of all of those little choices throughout the day. Saving the difference between what you should be doing and what you’re tempted to do comes down to making a better choice on the many decisions we’re faced with each day, and doing that consistently comes down to habit.
For me, the most successful way I know of to nudge that kind of everyday behavior in a better direction is to just remind myself regularly. Just set up a reminder on your smartphone to remind you once a day or so to try to do what you should be doing instead of what you are doing. Let that thought burrow deep in your head and act on it every so often.
Perfection isn’t what you’re aiming for. Rather, you’re aiming to just reduce that overall gap between your perfect behavior and what you’re actually doing by just a little bit, by making a few of your choices a little better without making other ones worse.
Do that consistently over a long period and it begins to feel natural.
Do that consistently over a long period and the trajectory of things in your life begin to change.
Good luck.
The post The Difference Between What You Should Be Doing and What You Are Doing appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Source The Simple Dollar https://ift.tt/2BdxF1H
Fund briefing: are the biggest funds the best to invest in?
We look at the biggest funds across different sectors, why they’re so popular, whether it’s justified and if they’re better investments than smaller rivals
They are the giants of the fund management industry, with billions of pounds under management and an enthusiastic following of investors.
Their status as major shareholders in companies also means they often wield enormous power inside boardrooms.
They can influence business decisions, ratify or block managerial appointments, and campaign for cultural changes within organisations.
But is that enough to make the largest UK funds attractive? Should you be putting your faith and money into these portfolios or opting for smaller alternatives?
Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. Funds grow for a variety of reasons – and these will determine whether or not they should warrant your attention.
In many cases, the size – and popularity – of a fund will be driven by past performance figures, according to Patrick Connolly, a chartered financial planner with Chase de Vere.
“Many investors will jump into top-performing funds, hoping and expecting that the strong performances will be maintained,” he explains.
However, there are no guarantees – which is why there are constant warnings that past performance is never a reliable indicator of future success.
A fund’s rapid growth may also be due to a strong, well-resourced sales and marketing operation behind it that is constantly reaching out to investors.
Past performance often drives the size and popularity of a fund
Such investment houses will plough millions of pounds into high-profile advertising campaigns on social media, as well as paying for billboards at railway stations.
Funds can also benefit from being in fashionable asset classes, despite the fact their soaring popularity can easily nosedive should investors get seduced by the next trend.
Having a well-respected manager making the investment decisions can also attract investor interest, as can having particularly low charges.
The situation is further complicated by the fact these large funds don’t all concentrate on the same areas. In fact, they may buy into totally different asset classes.
Some of these portfolios will be focused on equities, some on fixed income. Then there are multi-asset products that embrace equities, bonds and alternative investments.
Quick guide: Is this approach right for me?
Consider investing in larger funds if…
- You want to be in funds that are popular with other investors.
- You want to be with a manager who has power in boardrooms.
- You like the fund’s aims and objectives and they align with yours.
They can also differ in the way they manage money.
For example, active funds are run by managers who enjoy a greater degree of flexibility when it comes to buying and selling stocks.
Passive products, meanwhile, have far less scope as their role is to replicate and track particular indices.
An examination of the largest funds in the UK illustrates the point, with those focused on generating income sitting alongside multi-asset portfolios pursuing absolute returns.
This list also includes a number of UK stock-market trackers and even a portfolio that invests in large and medium-sized equities across the Asia Pacific region.
Passive funds can usually compete in terms of charges because they replicate particular indices, rather than being actively managed, so there are less costs involved.
In many cases, these can track a popular index, such as the FTSE 100, which gives people broad access to the largest UK companies, points out Mr Connolly.
“As the popularity of passive investments has grown, with more investors deciding it isn’t good value to pay the extra costs of active management, some passive funds have also grown large,” he explains.
Distribution channels can also play a vital role in influencing the size of an investment portfolio – especially in the current environment.
“If a fund is too big, it makes it hard to invest in small caps”
“All funds with aspirations to be larger need to be available on the main investment platforms,” adds Mr Connolly.
Many of them can boost inflows substantially by appearing on the ‘best buy lists’ of industry players, such as Hargreaves Lansdown.
Of course, there is always the possibility that a well-performing fund may continue to deliver, points out Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services.
“However, funds can get too big, which means the manager has to change or tweak their strategy to deal with the extra assets – and then it doesn’t perform so well,” he says.
He cites the example of a multi-cap manager investing in the UK.
“If they get to a certain size, it makes it difficult to invest in small caps at that point as you would own too much of individual companies,” he explains.
Of course, the same golden rules apply with any investment.
Whether or not a fund is suitable will also depend on your goals, the length of time you’re willing to lock away money, and your attitude to risk.
Therefore, the best advice is to monitor a fund to ensure it still meets your needs and there haven’t been significant changes to its size, objectives or management.
“Keep an eye on performance and that the fund is still investing in the same style and strategy as it was when it was growing,” adds Mr McDermott.
Fund to watch: M&G Optimal Income
This hugely popular fund, which aims to deliver income and capital growth, has more than £23 billion of assets under management.
Richard Woolnough has been at the helm of the portfolio since its launch back in December 2006 and is one of the most respected names in the industry.
A graduate of the London School of Economics, he boasts more than 20 years of experience in fixed-interest investing and has been with M&G since 2004.
The Optimal Income fund invests in a broad range of fixed income securities, governed by where he sees the greatest opportunities.
It may also hold up to 20% of the portfolio in company shares when he believes they offer better value than bonds.
Exposure to these assets is gained through physical holdings and the use of derivatives, with an in-house team of credit analysts on hand to help select individual bond issues.
Currently, the fund is 48.6% invested in investment-grade corporate bonds, with 26.3% in government bonds and 12.3% in high-yield corporate bonds.
As far as credit ratings are concerned, it has 38.1% in those rated BBB, with 23.7% in AA, 12% in AAA and 10.8% in BB.
Meanwhile, the largest issuers in the fund – excluding government bonds – are Verizon Communications (4%), Microsoft (3.1%), AT&T (2.8%) and Bank of America (2.1%).
Value of £100 invested in the fund over five years
| Year | *Year to date | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund percentage movement in year (%) | -1.52 | 5.77 | 8.14 | -0.86 | 5.16 | 7.67 |
| Value of £100** (£) | 126.46 | 128.4 | 121.4 | 112.26 | 113.23 | 107.67 |
* To 22 October 2018 **The £100 was invested on January 1, 2013
| Manager | Richard Woolnough |
| Launch date | 8 December 2006 |
| Total fund size | £23.2 billion |
| Minimum investment | £500 |
| Initial charge | 0% |
| Ongoing charge | 1.41% (including AMC) |
| Annual management charge | 1.25% |
| Performance fee | None |
| Contact details for retail investors | Mandg.co.uk |
Rob Griffin writes for the Independent, Sunday Telegraph and Daily Express
Section
Free Tag
Workflow
Published
Source Moneywise https://ift.tt/2Lb5hSH
الاشتراك في:
الرسائل (Atom)