Tricky past five years for retail investors

Retail investors appear to have mis-timed the market on its way up and down, according to IMA data o...

Retail investors appear to have mis-timed the market on its way up and down, according to IMA data on retail purchases between 1998 and 2003. From 1998 to 2001, funds in the UK All Companies sector were the most popular retail purchases. In 1999, technology funds were sought after, with a lot of new money flowing into the Specialist sector and IFAs providing the main driving force behind this. Still, funds in the UK All Companies sector and UK Corporate Bonds took the top spots as the best-selling retail sectors that year. At the start of the bear market in 2000, Europe ex-UK portfolios...