Fund of the week: a consistent outperformer

Despite an umpromising start to his financial career, fund manager Dan Nickols (left) has been picked by Citywire as the UK's most successful fund manager for three years running. What's his secret.

Fund manager Dan Nickols's financial career didn't get off to a promising start. He took a degree in modern and medieval languages at Cambridge University, then failed in his first career as a chartered accountant. So potential investors may well ask, as Mike Collins does on Yourmoney.com: "Would you trust your money with this man?" But anyone who has done so in recent years won't have regretted it.

Nickols has just been picked out as the UK's most successful fund manager over the past three years by Citywire. His fund, Old Mutual UK Select Smaller Companies, returned 159.4% over that time, compared to 93.4% for his benchmark. As one city analyst puts it, when it comes to fund managers, "it doesn't really matter what their background is as long as [they] can do the job consistently well".

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
MoneyWeek

MoneyWeek is written by a team of experienced and award-winning journalists, plus expert columnists. As well as daily digital news and features, MoneyWeek also publishes a weekly magazine, covering investing and personal finance. From share tips, pensions, gold to practical investment tips - we provide a round-up to help you make money and keep it.