MRM’s five investment crackers for Christmas – and beyond: John Husselbee

It’s that time of the year again; time to search for presents for loved ones, which in my house means buying untold amounts of plastic crap for a four-year-old while recycling her gifts from years gone by for her little sister (sounds harsh but honestly, its ok, the littlest one is still in the “put every toy in my mouth to see if its food” phase)

Presents are clearly awesome and I would never not buy said plastic crap for the kids, but, for those thinking more long-term, us here at MRM HQ thought there might be some better stuff to buy for the kids (and adults too) by thinking about the exciting world of investments.

Now, I’m not for a minute suggesting anyone cancels the bike they were going to buy as a gift for little Tommy and opts for a share certificate instead. Tommy, for one, would probably not be too happy about that. But rather than spend every hard-earned penny buying eighteen tons of Lego, we have put together some potential investments for junior ISAs, or just plain ISAs, which might make a decent return over the longer term.

Investment expert and inveterate gambler that I am, the decision was made to cast the net a bit wider than myself when it came to the actual investments which show promise for the coming year (plus I basically just own a load of uber high-risk tech stocks). So over the course of the next five days, a series of experts who are far more learned than me will be giving their tips for “alternative” Christmas presents.

Day 2:

John Husselbee, head of multi asset, Liontrust – Value stocks

Equities remain more attractive than bonds and cash but we need to be wary of complacency after a year in which global markets are up close to 20% in dollar terms. While no one is ever keen for a downturn, we have long been surprised not to see the kind of 5% to 10% correction that has traditionally been a function of healthy markets and would not be overly concerned if such a recalibration does materialise.

We continue to look to buy favoured areas when they are cheap and are currently eyeing an opportunity in value stocks, where performance remains far removed from the growth companies that have made hay amid Trumpflation. We felt this could be a theme for 2017 but value has remained depressed and we believe now may be a good time to increase exposure to this cheaper end of the market via funds such as Fidelity Special Situations. We see this as a broad trend, most obvious in the US, but also prevalent across Europe, Japan and emerging markets.

Click here for more Christmas crackers.