In retrospect, it seems clear the tipping point for AI (artificial intelligence) was the release in November 2022 of OpenAI?s free-to use ChatGPT system.Until that point, most AI products were being developed privately and weren?t widely available to the public, added to which most were fairly clunky whereas ChatGPT was able to interact in a conversational way, answering questions, challenging inc

It has been a difficult year for investment trusts as a whole. Discounts have widened across various sectors and there have been a series of failed continuation votes and mergers. Yet some trusts have still done extremely well - relative both to the wider market and their peer group. In this article we shine a light on the biggest outperformers in some of the Association of Investment Companies' m

Many fund managers insist that investors should judge their performance on a relative basis, rather than absolute. The argument is that fund managers are being paid to outperform an index rather than explicitly deliver positive returns every single year.To abide by this rule one has to be sure that the relative benchmark is appropriate. For example, if the fund invests solely in UK equities then i

Political and economic turmoil continues to grip the UK. Many investors have been sent running for safer places to stash their cash. Bond markets have soared, gold is close to record highs and money continues to flood out of UK equity funds.UK investors have been struggling to get much bang for their buck ever since the FTSE 100 first cracked the 7,000 ceiling in December 2016. In the near three y

Is it worth putting money into investment trusts with high fees? Historical performance data would suggest higher-cost trusts are worth exploring although you cannot draw any firm conclusions from the data.Three of the most expensive trusts in the UK All Companies sector, as measured by ongoing charges, delivered some of the best returns on a five-year total return basis. These were Fidelity Speci

Should fund managers really need any extra incentive to deliver for investors given they are already being paid a fee to do their job? Until recently it was commonplace for the managers of investment trusts to receive a performance fee on top of their management fee if they exceeded a specified level of return.Increasingly, this structure is being abandoned by trusts, though around a third of equi

Some of the best performing investment trusts in 2017 have been aided by favourable market conditions as global markets continue to grow.Top of the pile is Independent Investment Trust (IIT), which delivered a total return of 71.6% which is the share price gain and dividend income. Its portfolio has this year included various high-flying tech stocks, beverage companies and housebuilders, all of wh