so this is why you got the free book... or because you got them so many more clients via EF.

I know I read one of your posts many years ago and got in after some education - best investment decision I made - thanks!

Also came across this. Not too different from the ASM but still worth 40 mins of your day. Sound has an echo only for the initial 3-4 mins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HRgxqpYD0E

Fundsmith seems to have gone a bit flat over recent weeks. I've been invested in the fund for about 4 years and it's done well -- no complaints. But I started drip-feeding monthly sums into Fundsmith in July this year for a new account and it's hardly budged since. I'm sure it's just a blip. You mentioned Baillie Gifford, but for the record, my parallel investments in BG Global Discovery and China funds are up 15 to 20% over the same period compared with FS.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the trend will continue but just at the moment China, Japan and Asia generally are doing very well (with the usual short-term volatility). They've emerged better than Europe/US from Covid and have avoided a second serious wave. On top of that, a big pan-Asia trade deal was agreed just last week and it seems to be adding some additional momentum.

There have been plenty of stories recently about a Brexit trade deal being close to agreement. It has to be done in the next week to allow enough time for all the translations + a vote by the end of December in both Brussels and Westminster. IF the deal does happen I'd expect a rare fillip for the UK and European markets, with a knock-on effect in the US, especially if the US election transition proceeds. If I recall right, Fundsmith is mainly US-invested so let's hope we see a bounce over the next month.

In good times when people will buy any shit Fundsmith will definitely underperform, Terry Smith has been saying this for 10 years. The fund fell in the first 6 months I had made large investments, this was hugely beneficial as I was able to add further funds. It's up 350% since. Performance does not come month by month, more like ketchup coming out of a bottle.

You are looking at macro issues which nobody can second guess, far better to ignore them as Terry Smith does & just buys companies that will outperform over many years. Compound returns over your lifetime is whats important. If you look at the first 2 months of FS (2010) it underperformed the index, but then it was not attempting to track the index, just beat it over the long term.

I'm in a situation where I'm not entirely sure whether I'll continue to be living in CH or not for the foreseeable future. For the moment, I know that I'll be working here for the next 5 years and that I'd like to stay here in the future as well. I come from a EU country, what would be the wise thing to do here? Invest in the EUR I or CHF I class Luxembourg fund?

If I would invest in the CHF fund and after some years were to move to a EU country, my only option would be to withdraw my investments and re-invest them in the EUR Luxembourg fund?

Also, what justifies the different ongoing charges between the R, T & I classes?

I class is for Institutional investors Min 6 Million investment.
R class is for people with a 'free advisor' the gets paid 0.5% back commission a year.

Realistically you can only invest in the T class in Euros in Luxembourg.

Thanks for the reply fatmanfilms.

And to invest in SSON trust my only option as a non UK resident would be through an international broker?

Yes as it's only traded on the L.S.E.

brilliant analogy!

I hold it in Degiro. Weirdly I seem to be able to buy some (but not all) of the Bailie Gifford trusts there - no BG US Growth Trust for instance.

Nothing stopping T class in GBP surely? That's what i'd do in their situation.

No not at all.

FMF, just curious as to why there is also really a need for separate Fundsmith Sustainable Fund - apart from the obvious pandering to ESG thematics and if you had ever considered it as an investment given that it is also much smaller and more nimble than the main fund?

The sustainable was set up for Comic Relief & the majority of the fund belongs to that charity. There were the following investment restrictions
• Aerospace and Defence
• Brewers, Distillers and Vintners
• Casinos and Gaming
• Gas and Electric Utilities
• Metals and Mining
• Oil, Gas and Consumable Fuels
• Pornography
• Tobacco

FS has invested in Tabaco & Drinks companies so the charity could not invest in the normal fund.

I am only aware it being available to ISA investors, has it been opened up to everybody? There was a min £5 million investment.

Not sure if it’s on HL - I just got my SIPP opened on there and I just logged into my account to check now and it is available...thanks for your detailed reply

You can't buy directly from the FS website,

It's essentially a FS tracker fund which has cumulative performance within 1% over 3 years.

I can see it's biggest use is for UK taxpayers wanting to use their annual CGT allowance transferring into an almost identical fund, you need to wait 30 days before reinvesting in the same fund.

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Think I'd be tempted to invest in the sustainable rather than the main fund - really not that sure about Phillip Morris.

Philip Morris International does no business in the USA, it's basically 3rd world play with India, Indonesia & Russia being the biggest markets which are all growing.

I have just had a look at the differences between the 2 funds, 26 stocks Sustainable v 30 stocks Fundsmith,


Fundsmith Only
Facebook
Philip Morris
Nike
Inter Continental
Diageo
Brown-Forman
New holding

Sustainable only
Colgate Palmolive
Mariot Hotels

Edit, since adding Brown Forman I seem to have an extra stock!

Am I wrong or FS used to have both Colgate and Marriott in its portfolio?

Just Colgate I believe.