Assured Fund Returning Three Times Base Rate
20/11/2008
A steady return of between 9 and 11 per cent by Assured Fund is currently outperforming any other investment vehicle in today's market conditions, according to fund manager Policy Selection Ltd (PSL).
Returning at least three times the Bank of England base rate, the open-ended fund which invests in US senior citizen life policies has delivered its steady performance despite unprecedented levels of volatility over the last year.
"Investors face tremendous difficulties right now, with Bank of England base rates at their lowest level in half a century," said PSL's finance director Andrew Walters.
"With equities unlikely to stage any meaningful recovery until 2010 while markets rebuild their confidence, traded life settlement policies are the only game in town.
"While the Sterling corporate bond market is enjoying a modest revival, currently yielding nearly 9 per cent, the market remains vulnerable to massive volatility, and this is frankly an asset class that can just as easily head dramatically south," said Walters.
Assured Fund, which has a medium to long term investment horizon of between three and five years, is being increasingly bought by higher net worth investors wanting solidly performing alternatives to troubled equities - and those who have already seen their corporate bond investments decimated given the problems in that sector over the past half a decade.
"The buzz word right now is stability. We are entirely uncorrelated to traditional asset classes, and in a climate where shares prices are tumbling and hedge funds and other traditional investments suffering as a result, we are in a positively low risk category," he added.
"The fund only buys traditional life settlements - a proven model - and our model has established that risk associated with life expectancy is best mitigated by using more than one independent underwriter to assess when each policy will mature and to hold a diverse portfolio of policies.
"The predictability of returns, whether the economy is booming or in recession, is a primary attraction of the Assured Fund, and continuing growth in the second hand market for life insurance policies will of course benefit our existing investors," said Walters.
Assured Fund is comprised principally of institutional investors, primarily pension funds, hedge funds, private banks and life offices.
But private investors represent half of the fund's total holdings. Private investors can access the Sterling share class, and are drawn from all over the globe.
Returning at least three times the Bank of England base rate, the open-ended fund which invests in US senior citizen life policies has delivered its steady performance despite unprecedented levels of volatility over the last year.
"Investors face tremendous difficulties right now, with Bank of England base rates at their lowest level in half a century," said PSL's finance director Andrew Walters.
"With equities unlikely to stage any meaningful recovery until 2010 while markets rebuild their confidence, traded life settlement policies are the only game in town.
"While the Sterling corporate bond market is enjoying a modest revival, currently yielding nearly 9 per cent, the market remains vulnerable to massive volatility, and this is frankly an asset class that can just as easily head dramatically south," said Walters.
Assured Fund, which has a medium to long term investment horizon of between three and five years, is being increasingly bought by higher net worth investors wanting solidly performing alternatives to troubled equities - and those who have already seen their corporate bond investments decimated given the problems in that sector over the past half a decade.
"The buzz word right now is stability. We are entirely uncorrelated to traditional asset classes, and in a climate where shares prices are tumbling and hedge funds and other traditional investments suffering as a result, we are in a positively low risk category," he added.
"The fund only buys traditional life settlements - a proven model - and our model has established that risk associated with life expectancy is best mitigated by using more than one independent underwriter to assess when each policy will mature and to hold a diverse portfolio of policies.
"The predictability of returns, whether the economy is booming or in recession, is a primary attraction of the Assured Fund, and continuing growth in the second hand market for life insurance policies will of course benefit our existing investors," said Walters.
Assured Fund is comprised principally of institutional investors, primarily pension funds, hedge funds, private banks and life offices.
But private investors represent half of the fund's total holdings. Private investors can access the Sterling share class, and are drawn from all over the globe.
