Move over Brics, 'Civets' have arrived

Having been to Vietnam a couple of times, I have seen the potential and it is certainly worth a small %age of anyones investment portfolio.

Bear in mind however,that it is still a communist country.

I have been invested in Thailand since the beginning of the year but cannot understand why its stock market has climbed nearly 25% when it has apparently severe political/social problems.

Are there any funds that specialise in either Civets or Next 11 countries as yet?

My daughter has £5000 to invest, is it to risky for a long term investment in CIVETS or better off in the other "BRICs" emerging markets.

Egypt and S. Africa gtowth countries? Are you joking or trying to be politically correct? They have worse corrption than Zimbabwe

Good advice !

The BRIC's have saved my portfolio. ..they bounced back quickly enough and are doing well for me. Not too sure about CIVETS.. I personally would do more research on that.

Where are the unit trust managers!! Ive been tracking Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, through ETF's for a couple of years Turkey has been the outperformer the others a poor showing even Barings Korean fund which almost mirrored the ftse in the last two years. The Frontier ETF, XSFR has been a dissapointment.

So while I am a believer in the future prospects of the Civets and the next 11, I would rather pay a fund manager and invest in a Unit Trust if one existed. But given what I consider to be the slowness of the unit trust industry in that they wont get in on the act until all the easy gains have been made, it may have to be an I.T. does anyone know of one specialising in the Civets?

mannyZ, your question about investing £5000 is a very hard one to give a good answer to. It depends on circumstances, attitude to risk, and how long the investment is likely to be held for. I don't know how well informed you or your daughter are about investing. Also I don't know the law about giving investment advice and I expect it's easy for a well intentioned amateur to fall foul of the law.

I'll just mention how I might proceed if I had any sense instead of betting half my money on risky tech stocks and small-caps.

I would go to:

http://www.trustnet.com/Managers/AlphaManagers.aspx

and find a list of fund managers (of unit trust aka OEICs) rated highly by trustnet, with long term performance.

I would pick some of those, whether or not I also invested in a risky civet or a BRIC.

I would research currency risk, ISAs, funds supermarkets, and fees and terms & conditions (including performance fees) of any fund before investing.

Even the world's most successful investor has had bad years and made mistakes, so investing through good managers would not guarantee me success, especially over a short period.

Although I would talk too much about it I would not claim that approach suited anyone else or was the best way to go about investing.

mannyZ, your question about investing £5000 is a very hard one to give a good answer to. It depends on circumstances, attitude to risk, and how long the investment is likely to be held for. I don't know how well informed you or your daughter are about investing. Also I don't know the law about giving investment advice and I expect it's easy for a well intentioned amateur to fall foul of the law.

I'll just mention how I might proceed if I had any sense instead of betting half my money on risky tech stocks and small-caps.

I would go to:

http://www.trustnet.com/Managers/AlphaManagers.aspx

and find a list of fund managers (of unit trust aka OEICs) rated highly by trustnet, with long term performance.

I would pick some of those, whether or not I also invested in a risky civet or a BRIC.

I would research currency risk, ISAs, funds supermarkets, and fees and terms & conditions (including performance fees) of any fund before investing.

Even the world's most successful investor has had bad years and made mistakes, so investing through good managers would not guarantee me success, especially over a short period.

Although I would talk too much about it I would not claim that approach suited anyone else or was the best way to go about investing.

None of the above constitutes investment advice.

I tend to agree with Victor here Manny. The markets are still volatile and although there seem to be some potential good buys in stocks, maybe a balanced investment strategy would benefit you and protect (as much as possible) the capital you are looking to invest. Bear in mind, that the returns may/will be lower, on some products such as Bonds, ISA's and other less risky investments, but you need to work out what your attitude is to risk before you proceed and of course how long you want to tie the money away for. Always remember this simple statement. No one, even the most skillful fund managers know what may happen to shares, or other investment products in 5, 10 0r 15 years time, let alone next year, so invest in rsiky shares ONLY if you can afford to lose the money.

Good luck to you.

PS. I have just invested £4k for my daughter but for the medium/long term (6 years)

Oh! and like Victor, none of my comments constitutes financial advice.

MannyZ - think about drip feeding the £5000, rather than invest in it one go. That way it benefits from pound cost averaging, wherever you decide to invest

Colombia could come v.good. Also look at Peru.. Both commodity driven.

Thanks for all your comments, much appreciated, easier to read suggestions for other people than risking your own daughters money, short term would be a good idea and I agree with HUFC to drip feed a fund rather than a lump sum. thanks Victor I will be looking into all your good advice, will have to make a good decision,