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Fund of funds managers may well adopt the DJ role in order to compile a chart-topping range of funds and find the latest hits, but another often underrated key driver is asset allocation

Fund of funds managers are often seen as Smashie and Nicey-type characters - not so much 'pop pickers' as 'fund pickers'. Advisers might not go quite so far as to imagine them sitting at their desks wearing toothy grins, spangled jackets and boasting about supporting 'charidee', but often the perception is that the job entails simply putting together a medley of chart-topping funds, along with some up-and-coming hits, and marketing them in one product that is kept refreshed and updated regularly. There is no doubt fund picking is an important element of the job - one of the reasons for ...