The best investment trusts to buy for 2021

Sectors ranging from emerging markets to student accommodation look poised to do well this year, says David Stevenson, as he picks the best investment trusts to buy for the year ahead.

Vietnamese drummers
Vietnam has had a good pandemic and will profit from the regional recovery
(Image credit: © Paul Quayle/Alamy Stock Photo)

Last year was another excellent one for investment trusts. JPMorgan notes that 2020 saw the largest-ever outperformance of the FTSE All-Share by investment companies. And this century the FTSE Equity Investment Instruments index has generated a total return of 300.2% versus 131.7% from the FTSE All-Share.

This is a reminder that exchange-traded funds and unit trusts have their place. But if you are looking for real active fund management and the opportunity to invest in more specialised strategies, there is still nothing better than listed closed-end funds.

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David C. Stevenson
Contributor

David Stevenson has been writing the Financial Times Adventurous Investor column for nearly 15 years and is also a regular columnist for Citywire. He writes his own widely read Adventurous Investor SubStack newsletter at davidstevenson.substack.com

David has also had a successful career as a media entrepreneur setting up the big European fintech news and event outfit www.altfi.com as well as www.etfstream.com in the asset management space. 

Before that, he was a founding partner in the Rocket Science Group, a successful corporate comms business. 

David has also written a number of books on investing, funds, ETFs, and stock picking and is currently a non-executive director on a number of stockmarket-listed funds including Gresham House Energy Storage and the Aurora Investment Trust. 

In what remains of his spare time he is a presiding justice on the Southampton magistrates bench.