This is a campaigning paper. I cannot give much in this time of national need, but I can give my time and knowledge. I have launched a campaign to teach 1m people to invest effectively. The website is www.campaignforamillion.com
Why is this needed? Because the rich and powerful should not have a monopoly on knowledge.
Consider these facts, which shocked me to act to do something.The Problem with Fund Manager 'Experts'There is ample data to show consistency in fund manager performance does not exist. In any large data group of course, someone wins. But consistency is rare because they have disadvantages you and I do not. First, they cannot just buy and hold for 12 months. They would be sacked after the day they did that. Second, their employers tell them to only pick from a small universe, for example, UK growth stocks. You can I can select for our ISA/SIPPs from 9,000 plus stocks. Third, they charge you fees and pay brokerage fees on their own purchases. That hits performance. When I won the Financial Times competition over 12 months, Neil Woodford came near the bottom of the pile. It took another 13 years before he apologised for his inadequacies as a fund manager and cost pensioners billions. Richard Branson famously challenged these 'active' fund managers to outperform the market. They refused. On top of that are headlines like this on Bloomberg, where I had an investing TV show, "UBS Rich Clients Get Goldman Strategies With No Extra Fee." The rich and powerful keep their secret knowledge to themselves. That's not fair. As a hedge fund manager, I see this; you do not. I will continue to share it with you. Free. That's my pledge. Anyone can be a fund manager. To prove it, I trained my secretary into one, and now she manages billions. Her name is Naomi Waistell. I can train anyone. But you should be your own fund manager. Here is another worrying fact. Hoarding cash is costing UK savers £38 billion in lost income, according to research by Janus Henderson. £1.5 trillion of money is now stored in saving accounts like ISAs according to the Bank of England, roughly equal to the total value of UK residential mortgages. People do not invest due to lack of knowledge.My pledge: my International Bestselling book on how to invest, Investing Unplugged – will be free to you all. All my 200 Financial Times columns, and the advice and know-how from my 18 books published by the Financial Times, will be converted at my own cost into free and updated online course lectures. Free, forever, for everyone. You can get it all free at www.campaignforamillion.com as I continue my aim to have investment taught in our school curricula.Alpesh Patelwww.alpeshpatel.com
