Mark Dampier in The Independent

Jupiter Income

Sat 06 March
I have highlighted several UK equity income funds in my column over recent months. It is a sector I have always liked, partly because it is home to some very experienced managers and partly because it has served investors well over the longer term.

Standard Life UK Equity Unconstrained

Sat 27 February
I have often berated insurance companies and banks for the dismal performance of their unit trusts, but as ever there are exceptions to the rule. Standard Life Investments is one, and their range of UK equity funds has been particularly impressive.

PSigma Income

Sat 13 February
PSigma Income run by Bill Mott is a fund I have highlighted in this column before. Mr Mott is one of the most experienced fund managers in the industry today.

Prospects for the New Year

Tue 19 January
At this time of the year newspapers are filled with predictions for the months ahead. The one prediction I can make with confidence is they are mostly going to be wrong.

A review of 2009 and outlook for 2010

Sat 19 December
What an extraordinary year 2009 has been. In January I mentioned to a neighbour I would like to fast-forward to 2010 because I thought it was going to be so awful. Instead we have seen asset prices rise just about everywhere.

Melchior Asian Opportunities

Sat 12 December
Even the best and most experienced fund managers occasionally go through a bad period. For Henrietta Luk, manager of the Melchior Asian Opportunities Fund, a particularly torrid time started in November 2007 and lasted for approximately a year.

Old Mutual UK Select Smaller Companies

Wed 02 December
I wonder whether, like me, you find yourself constantly battling against information overload? The internet in particular has brought a deluge of information, some of which is really valuable, but much of it is contradictory.

Miton Strategic Portfolio

Fri 27 November
When selecting funds investors have several clear choices to make. Index tracking or active management? Developed or emerging markets?

Artemis Strategic Bond

Sat 14 November
While the controversy around bankers’ bonuses is dominating the financial news, a far more important question is in danger of being overlooked.

Rensburg UK Mid Cap Growth

Sat 07 November
As I write this, stock markets have recently fallen back. Is this just a brief correction and the chance to buy cheaply that many people have been waiting for? Or the start of a more prolonged slump?

INSYNERGY Odey

Tue 10 November
One theme I return to time and time again in my column is the quality of fund managers. Whilst there are thousands of funds available to investors, I’m afraid many are average and simply make up the numbers.

Sarasin AgriSar Accumulation

Sat 17 October
Do you fancy a Chicken Maharaja Mac? Well they do in India. Sales growth for MacDonald’s Indian enterprises is 35% per annum with 157 restaurants open now.

Invesco Perpetual equity income funds

Sat 10 October
The stock market rally since March has been dramatic, with the FTSE 100 increasing by 47%.

Threadneedle UK Property

Sat 03 October
Back in March I started to detect signs of optimism amongst commercial property fund managers after a torrid couple of years.

Royal London Sterling Extra Yield Bond

Sat 19 September
Regular readers of my column will know how keen I have been on corporate bonds over the last year or more. I admit that I was little bit too early with some of my suggestions; however the rally that we have seen since March in corporate bonds...

Bonds

Sat 29 August
I thought this week I would return to the bond market, which continues to be a hot topic of conversation in investment circles. I have recently had two very interesting conversations with Stewart Cowley, who is head of fixed interest at Old Mutual...

Junior Oils Trust

Sat 22 August
It was in July 2007 that I first mentioned the Junior Oils Trust in this column. It is managed by Angelos Damaskos who is the son in law of the legendary investor Jim Slater. The objective of the fund was to buy into small oil companies...

Invesco Perpetual Monthly Income Plus

Sat 15 August
In January I highlighted the Invesco Perpetual Corporate Bond Fund in these pages. At the time interest rates stood at 1.5% and I was convinced they would head lower. This indeed proved to be the case and, together with a marked improvement...

Jupiter European

Sat 08 August
In my experience one major investment area attracts little attention from private investors: Europe. It remains deeply unfashionable, unloved and unwanted which to me is usually a buying signal..

Jupiter China

Sat 25 July
It wasn't perhaps until Great Britain handed Hong Kong back to the Chinese in 1997 that we started to take China more seriously. Before then Hong Kong had been seen as a safe haven proxy for China. Since then China has gone on from strength...

JO Hambro UK Equity Income

Sat 18 July
A key issue for many investors remains the boosting of their income. For many this has been at least partly satisfied by holding corporate bond funds, which after a very poor 2008 have come back quite strongly. Another traditional...

Three funds in the spotlight

Sat 11 July
This week I thought I would talk about three funds rather than the usual one. All three are centred on the UK market and two I have already featured this year - namely the Standard Life UK Equity Recovery Fund...

Lazard Emerging Markets

Sat 06 June
This week I'm going to start by beating you over the head with some facts. Emerging markets represent approximately 75% of the global land mass and over 80% of its population. One in every five people in the world...

Trojan Income

Sat 16 May
I always find it interesting to meet promising fund management houses that probably aren't on the radar of the average investor. A good recent example is Troy Asset Management, which has quietly been building a good...

Artemis Strategic Assets

Sat 02 May
These days I doubt many investors will recognise the name of William Littlewood, but in the UK he was the star fund manager of the 1990s. He's also probably the best fund manager I have ever met. To give you...

Standard Life UK Equity High Income

Sat 25 April
Equity income funds have traditionally been among the most popular areas for UK investors. The best known managers such as Neil Woodford at Invesco Perpetual and Adrian Frost at Artemis tend to hog all the press coverage...

SVM UK Absolute Alpha

Sat 11 April
I hardly need to say what a dire decade this has been for the UK stock market. We have now had two falls of 50% in the stock markets and many investors have become disillusioned. That said, the further the...