Former fund manager Neil Woodford has launched an investment strategy service called W4.0 aimed at “thoughtful, independent and long-term” investors.
It comes six years after the collapse of Woodford’s boutique firm Woodford Investment Management, which was forced to close after investors rushed to withdraw their money from the funds, which had large holdings in hard-to-trade shares, triggering one of the UK’s biggest investment scandals.
The Woodford Equity Income Fund was suspended, resulting in about 300,000 people losing money, and a compensation scheme being set up. It also led to thousands of investors suing Hargreaves Lansdown over claims it continued promoting the fund even though it was aware of problems.
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Once respected as a star fund manager, Woodford has come back following the scandal with “a new type of information and investment strategy research platform that gives direct access to [his] investment strategies”.
Woodford made his name at Invesco as one of the UK’s best-known retail fund managers before he set up his eponymous firm.
We look at how the new platform will work - and how much it will cost.
What is Neil Woodford’s new investment service?
Launched on 6 June, W4.0 offers four investment strategies created by Neil Woodford.
It is not a fund, brokerage or financial adviser. Instead, the service offers stockpicking ideas and market insights - for a fee. If investors want to build their own portfolio based on one of the investment strategies, they will need to buy the holdings through their own broker or investment platform.
Charges range between £50 and £67 a month depending on the plan selected. The more expensive option includes all four W4.0 strategies (rather than just two) as well as access to group Q&A sessions with Woodford. These prices take into account a 33% launch discount.
If paid for annually, the equivalent monthly fees fall to £40 and £54 respectively.
W4.0 is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, as it is not providing financial services and therefore not conducting regulated activity.
The platform appears to be run by a UAE-based company, as emails from W4.0 contain a Dubai PO Box address.
What are the four strategies?
The four strategies at launch are:
- All Rounder - A balanced income-and-growth strategy focused on undervalued, dividend-paying companies — primarily in the UK — with long-term capital appreciation potential
- Income Booster - A high-income equity strategy targeting a 6% dividend income from a carefully selected group of resilient businesses in developed markets
- Unstoppable Trends - A thematic strategy capturing Neil's best ideas for growth across long-term global shifts
- Neil’s Top 40 - A selection of Neil's current favourite stocks from across the other strategies highlighted on W4.0
Subscribers can see the full list of companies in each strategy, monitor performance over time, and receive regular commentary explaining the rationale behind changes.
Further strategies will hopefully be added in future.
According to the website, “W4.0 gives you full transparency into long-term, research-led strategies — showing you exactly what’s in the strategy, why it’s there, and how it performs.
“These are strategies ready to implement, designed so you can build conviction-driven strategies yourself, without paying fund manager fees or losing control.”
W4.0 also includes full access to Woodford Views — an editorial channel covering markets, macroeconomics, and individual companies — as well as educational content and market, sector and company updates “designed to help investors think more clearly”.
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