The third stage is portfolio construction – which brings together the first two stages – the final portfolio will consist of between 60 to 80 equities and 15 to 20 bonds.
Ruffer describes their own investment style as being like “riding a tractor on the motorway, plodding in the slow lane”. This fund will lag if markets are performing strongly, but it will perform when markets become more volatile or uncertain.
One facet I particularly like is the business takes risk management a step further by constantly looking for the Achilles heel of the portfolio. For example, the team will look at the previous 100 years of financial data and will run the portfolio against that historical data to see what environment would have resulted in a loss of money.
This fund has already demonstrated its resilience by returning 6 per cent since launching in September 2021 – by contrast global markets have fallen 6 per cent. Ongoing charges stand at 1.13 per cent.
Sitting in the much-maligned Investment Association Targeted Absolute Return sector, this fund stands out as an ideal solution for risk-averse investors. The wider Ruffer strategy has delivered precisely what it has promised in the past three decades and there is no reason why this fund cannot do exactly the same.
Darius McDermott is managing director of FundCalibre
