JP MORGAN INVESTMENT TRUSTS

[bonrepos]

Having spent my initial years on Motley Fool and later Lemon Fool following the HYP approach to investing
I have evolved over the years to mainly Investment Trusts with a few remaining historical individual UK shares.

I now have about 50 investment trusts which have over the years taken my fancy after what I hope is efficient research.

I am now wondering if I should simplify the number of my investments so that my wife and then my family will be able to
manage my current portfolio.

I have examined ETFs and in fact hold a couple.

For those like me who are retired and want an income from investments which are about the 3 to 4% yield region, I have been
looking at the various JP Morgan Investment trusts a number of which run a growth strategy with a 4% yield derived from capital
and income. I have monitored these as an alternative to the equivalent ETFs and they appear to be able to hold their own on capital
appreciation as well as income.

I wonder if anyone else has taken this or a similar approach to equity income and what their thoughts are.

Merry Christmas to you all!

[taken2often]

I have over 60 ITs. They seem to a bit better at smoothing out dividends over the ups and downs of the market. They can also borrow to buy stock if the markets are down. May be good or bad idea but it is flexible.

With regards to leaving your fund on death the Doris system should work fine with 50 ITs. If in a ISA then this can be transferred to a spouse. I am with H-L and with my Taxable Portfolio I instructed them to pay the monthly income to my bank account and this has worked fine for a good number of years now. If you can live with the ups and downs of the income then you would not need to look at the fund, just let run. I still have my ISA growing and have no need to switch it on.

Any funds I need I take from the Taxable Portfolio, if that runs out then I switch on the ISA. The SIPP I will never touch

Bob

[nmdhqbc]

JP Morgan Investment trusts a number of which run a growth strategy with a 4% yield derived from capital
and income

I have over 60 ITs. They seem to a bit better at smoothing out dividends over the ups and downs of the market.

This is what puts me off the 4% of NAV dividend trusts. the dividend will fluctuate with the NAV. For me that's not what I want for retirement. I prefer to get the smooth dividend from a dividend focussed set of IT's and get the growth element from growth focussed IT's (and Fundsmith OEIC). It gives me more control over my dividend income. If at some point the growth portion get much bigger as a % then i can re-balance and get a nice boost to income. If growth has a bad time I can decide for myself to sacrifice a bit of income to re-balance a bit to growth. But if my income went down due to factors out of my control (NAV of a trust going down) I'd be unhappy.

[Dod101]

WIth 50 or 60 investment trusts, these investors will have exposure to at least 5/6,000 individual holdings. They would be much better off simply buying a tracker. Apart from anything else it would save lots in costs. Fancy trying to keep tabs on 60 ITs and their dividends!

To answer the Op's question, I would never buy ITs from just one investment house but simplifying his investments seems his first priority. He could for instance classify each of his 50 ITs into income or growth to start with, then into geographical exposure, or investment house or whatever. That should identify overlapping ITs. Pick the best from the overlapping ones. That will surely reduce the number a bit. Then keep whittling it down until he has maybe 12/15 ITs, each one of which doing a specific job. Then an overall check on the expected income and a spread of investment houses/managers and take it from these.

Dod

[Avantegarde]

In your shoes I would simplify the portfolio to hold just 20 trusts, each holding on average 5% of the total funds. Of your current crop I would drop all the trusts whose total return has failed to exceed that of a global tracker index fund over the last 5-10 years.

[taken2often]

15/20 Investments seems to be the consenus if you want to work them and be right up todate and I think a more growth orientated individual.

In total I have 127 items 98% providing income so I tend to ignore market trends other than buying more when the market is down. I do sell some when I have too much profit in any one share as I see capital gain as capital at risk. I like to trim out and buy more income. This gives me a problem of what to do with the income. That is why I am now up to 62 IT's. An Index fund is fine but they do swing with the market which is the whole point. This means that if you need funds you may be forced to sell units at the worst time. Once their gone their gone. Income ITS can roll on for ever, hopefully..

You also tend to get growth , but reduced due to the dividend. There is also a theory that non dividend paying Shares may be more subject to mismanagement and reckless growth and little regard to shareholders who only expect success. and can depart from a company enmass causing a crash

Bob

[SKYSHIP]

Totally agree with the last two posters - reduce your holdings to 15/20 trusts - UK & Global.

I would make just one recommendation - include a Private Equity trust, perhaps two. PE trusts out-perform
the general IT sector.

Definitely include NBPE which also provides a 3.5% yield, whilst currently trading at a 21% NAV discount.

[88V8]

I am now wondering if I should simplify the number of my investments so that my wife and then my family will be able to manage my current portfolio.

Fifty ITs... caramba. Luni used to call that Sweetshop Syndrome.

I hold several ITs for income.
They all have good records of rising or at least uncut divis.
Some were bought with better yields than currently.
I only top up for a yield of 4% or more so some of them are presently disqualified.

As of now I have no intention of adding any new ITs as we have more than enough income.
I also hold various shares and Fixed Income and a couple of growth ITs.

I must just raise a red flag for ITs such as HFEL which pay a stonking divi but more recently on a declining SP, so overall one can find that they are paying you taxable divis out of your capital.

All that said, I hold for income the following fourteen ITs:

AXI Axiom
ASEI Aberdeen Standard
BERI Blackrock Resources
BIPS Invesco Bond
CTY City of London
HFEL Henderson Far East
JCH JP Morgan Claverhouse
JETI JP Morgan Income
LWDB Law Deb
MCT Middlefield Canadian
MRCH Merchants
MUT Murray Income
NCYF CQS High Yield
SHRS Shires.

V8

[absolutezero]

I now have about 50 investment trusts which have over the years taken my fancy after what I hope is efficient research.

So you own a global tracker fund that charges you a fortune in management fees. All those 1%s add up.

Plus, the overlap will be horrendous.
How many of them own (for example) Apple, Microsoft, GSK etc?

I would sell the lot and stick with a few - no more than about 5.
Or I would just buy a cheap tracker. Or a few if you want to tweak your geographical exposure.