Pudawocky I understand your thoughts, and I'd say that for most older people (I'm 69) depending solely on your own investments brings a great deal of extra stress at a time when you really shouldn't be over-stressed. But strangely I actually enjoy the task, and it's become as much a part of my life as my other interests.
I'd be far more stressed relying on others to preserve my savings, but if I was forced to do so then I'd split it into at least 4 or 5 fund managers, plus cash in bank (yes, even at 0% interest rates!).
The fact that the markets are currently facing a number of potential major hurdles, such as Evergrande, US tapering, transitioning to less carbon intensive practises etc makes investing an even more critically-important activity. There are fund managers that are yet to prove themselves during a bear market, and whilst their recent past returns might be attractive, the future returns might not be as good.
The first issue before deciding on the advisor is what do you want to achieve with your pool of investable funds.
personally I wouldn’t select just one, otherwise you might drown upon their preferred investment strategy. I would divide the pool into quarters and allocate accordingly.
pool1 Deep value - hard to beat Collins Street Value and Michael Goldberg.
Pool 2: Investment Agnostic - hard to beat Simon Shield of Monash
Pool 3 - High growth - plenty of contenders on .Strawmam. In times past I might have nominated Alex Waislitz, but his Thorney Investments has proved a crock and with massive fees for under performance.
Pool 4: High income + franking credits- I am undecided here but Don Hamson of Plato is a possible
Interesting topic, but there in nothing hypothetical about the follow,
Like many on Strawman I started my investing journey with Motley Fool, I liked their educational offering and related to several of their advisors who comunicated their advice well.
Our very own Strawman being one of them.
When TMF offered their PRO service under Joe Magyer's leadership I joined. Joe did a wonderful job as PRO PM and everyone was very disappointed when he left the service to head up Lakehouse Funds Management a fund wholly owned Motley Fool Austarlia.
Fortunately Joe was replaced by his righthand man Matt Joass, who did an equally impressive job running the service. When Matt left PRO I was equally dissapointed. Matt went on to establish Maven Funds Management which has been operating now for slightly more than a year.
I have been following these guy's advice from day one and I have grown as a successful investor and as a person - there is more to be learned in investing than how to make money, so it made sense to continue investing with them via their funds. They are both wicked investors and I add to my Lakehouse and Maven Investments on a regular basis.
I'm not one of those investors that likes to do all the research myself. I don't have the skills nor the time or inclination but I do take my hat of to those that can. I prefer to ride on the shoulders of proven performers like Joe and Matt knowing their experience, knowledge, record and access to management is far superior to anything I could conjure up. I have built a significant portion of my Portfolio around these guys. If anyone is looking to diversify into Funds Management then these two funds are well worth looking at.
Diversifying my portfolio into managed funds is a deliberate strategy on my part as I want to have more time to myself in my latter years knowing my money is being well managed. That's not to say it's a set and forget investment but instead of following my companies closely, reading reports, articles, listening to CEO interviews and the like, I can leave that in the capable hands of people I have long followed and benefited from and go play Golf!
In the meantime I'm enjoying being a Strawman Premium member and feel privileged to be able to share the knowledge of some very talented investors.
FYI: https://www.mavenfunds.com.au/
https://www.lakehousecapital.com.au/