Building your own fund portfolio

Investing doesn’t need to be left to the experts – with a little common sense most people can make their own decisions.

"Investment is simple, but it isn't easy," as Warren Buffett puts it. There is no shortage of advisers, salesmen and brokers urging individuals to entrust their investment decisions to "experts" but there is no reason why any regular reader, armed with a little common sense, shouldn't save some money and do it himself. Unfortunately, common sense is the least common of the senses, as the old adage goes but that may be a greater problem for the professionals than for the amateur investor.

The first piece of common sense as we approach the end of the tax year is that the best time to invest your 2016/2017 Isa allowance was at the start of the tax year, not now. With interest rates negligible and investment returns high in the last year, those who invested early have seen considerable gains, while those who have waited have little to show for it. If you have the cash and intend to invest, go early.

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Max King
Investment Writer

Max has an Economics degree from the University of Cambridge and is a chartered accountant. He worked at Investec Asset Management for 12 years, managing multi-asset funds investing in internally and externally managed funds, including investment trusts. This included a fund of investment trusts which grew to £120m+. Max has managed ten investment trusts (winning many awards) and sat on the boards of three trusts – two directorships are still active.

After 39 years in financial services, including 30 as a professional fund manager, Max took semi-retirement in 2017. Max has been a MoneyWeek columnist since 2016 writing about investment funds and more generally on markets online, plus occasional opinion pieces. He also writes for the Investment Trust Handbook each year and has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and other publications. See here for details of current investments held by Max.