JEFF PRESTRIDGE: I love looking fund managers in the eye - and so should you

Although it's not every investor's cup of tea, meeting those who manage investment funds that you hold in your Isa or pension can be both enlightening and reassuring.
Some investment companies, such as Guinness Global Investors, go out of their way to engage with customers. Others are not interested – more fool them.
Guinness holds regular events where investors in its funds get the chance to meet the managers, learn how things are going and the investment outlook.
I went to one of these 18 months ago, held at the posh Fortnum & Mason store in London.
Managers of its Global Equity Income fund 'sang' for their proverbial supper (tea and finger sandwiches) before taking questions from investors.
For those present, it was a far more enjoyable – and informative – experience than reading though a fund factsheet, that's for sure.
Some stock market-listed investment trusts also do their bit by turning annual general meetings (AGMs) into investor-friendly events.
Just over a week ago I had the privilege of attending the AGM of trust India Capital Growth as an observer. While the meeting was held in a bland office near St Pancras International station in central London, the slating rain outside gave the occasion a monsoon-like feel, as becoming a fund investing in Indian equities (I arrived looking like a drowned rat).
A super buffet of Indian cuisine was served up afterwards, though I was only able to snatch a vegetable samosa before heading off to meet a deadline on the winter fuel payment U-turn. I would have died for a bowl of the red lentil dhal with chilli and coriander that I could still smell as I searched outside for a Santander cycle to jump on and take me west.
As with all AGMs, there were some tedious but necessary procedures to get through. Yet the 30 shareholders present heard a decent presentation from manager Gaurav Narain on the £150 million fund.
Over the past five years the trust has managed to make bagfuls of cash for shareholders – returns of 244 per cent – though over the past year gains have been modest at 2.9 per cent. To his credit, Narain did not sugar-coat anything, laying out both the positives (the world's fourth largest economy with massive ongoing investment into infrastructure) and negatives (a highly valued stock market).
He also answered a raft of intelligent questions from shareholders on everything from the portfolio's liquidity (the fund invests in a tight number of mid and small cap Indian stocks), the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Indian trade with the United States, and India's controversial – and continued – purchase of oil from Russia.
I also asked a question about whether the trust would at some stage be able to issue new shares, grow and drive down the annual charges – a rather expensive 1.6 per cent.
Elisabeth Scott, the trust's chair, said that was the board's goal – though given the fund's shares currently stand at a near 7 per cent discount, it will not be happening soon. A question also came in from someone watching the AGM online.
If you hold shares in an investment trust, I do encourage you to attend its AGM.
You will learn a lot about the people attempting to make money on your behalf.
One final point. A big thank-you to the shareholder who congratulated me on the quality of my Wealth journalism as I was leaving the AGM.
If it was you, please drop me an email as I would be delighted to send you a bottle of bubbles. In journalism, criticism is received in abundance (I'm not moaning) but praise is such a rare commodity these days.
Artemis proves itself yet again
UK equity income fund Artemis Income has just celebrated its 25th anniversary – and what a fine job it has done for investors.
Since launching in June 2000 it has turned £1,000 into £8,788, a 779 per cent increase. To put this into perspective, an equivalent investment in the FTSE All Share would have delivered a 264 per cent gain.
The £5 billion fund invests in UK businesses that generate strong cashflows that the market undervalues.
Artemis says the fund is a 'poster child for active management' with a 'disciplined, robust and repeatable investment process'.
In other words, it does what an index tracking fund can't do – and that is outperform the market.
Last month I included Artemis Income among the top 20 funds I have analysed for this section's fund focus slot over the years. I said it 'represents a Steady Eddie play on the UK stock market'.
Artemis is an outstanding investment house where fund managers put their money where their mouth is – investing in the funds they run.
Artemis Income is one of its shiniest fund lights.
More bank branches close
Another week, another round of bank closures. This time it's NatWest's turn to wield the axe on 52 branches and three 'mobile' branches – with most shutting in the autumn.
These come on top of 53 closures the bank is currently in the middle of carrying out.
Despite a passionate debate ten days ago in the Commons on the wreckage that closures cause to communities, it seems nobody in government or the regulatory world gives a fig.
Personal banking services are disappearing from our high streets at a rapid rate of knots as the banks shove us towards faceless mobile banking.
For those not prepared to go down that impersonal route, it leaves us with limited options: using a Post Office, a building society offering banking services (Nationwide springs to mind), a banking hub (if one exists) or travelling further afield to find a bank branch still open. Terribly depressing.
Look, Rachel... a great idea!
Between now and the Budget I will be spending a big chunk of my working hours writing about the likely tax hikes coming our way to pay for the Chancellor's £2.2 trillion spending binge.
Hopefully I will help you mitigate some of them. But Rachel from Accounts needs to do her bit too by discouraging people from making decisions that harm their long-term finances.
In particular, she needs to come clean soonest on whether she intends to clamp down on the right of people to take 25 per cent tax-free cash from their pension – subject to a maximum of £268,275.
Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at platform AJ Bell, urges her to announce a 'pensions tax lock' that rules out changes to tax-free cash and pension tax relief for the rest of this Parliament.
It's the soundest 'tax' idea I have heard since Rachel from Accounts took residence at Number 11 Downing Street. Khalaf for Chancellor, I say.

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