Fund of the week: a punt on inflation and Japan

While all cautious managed funds, this fund's unofficial aim is to make 10% a year. And it's not doing badly.

Like other cautious managed funds, the CF Ruffer Total Return Fund aims not to lose money. However, "unofficially, the aim is to make 10% a year", says the fund's co-manager Steve Russell. So far, that is no idle brag. Up 58% since 2004, the fund has returned 18% since July 2008 against a 16% drop for the FTSE All-Share.

A graduate in PPE from Oxford, Russell and his fellow manager David Ballance are self-confessed inflationists. They have a large exposure to index-linked government bonds in the UK, US and Japan. Another 7% of the fund is in gold: half in major miners such as Barrick Gold and Newcrest Mining and the other half in gold exchange-traded funds. "Governments are printing money to such a degree that there is a real risk of a loss of faith in paper money," he says.

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Inflation Linked Gilt 1.25 22/11/178.7
Japanese gov't inflation-linked bond 1.2 03/10/175.7
Norwegian gov't bond 4.25 05/19/175.5
CG Portfolio Fund Plc4.9
US Treasury index-linked 2 3/8 01/15/254.7
Japanese gov't inflation-linked bond 1.4 06/10/184.3
Gold Bullion Securities3.9
Inflation Linked Gilt3.9
BP Plc3.2
Annaly Capital Management3.0
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