For UK investors the 6th of April has more of a New Year feel than the 1st of January, marking the start of a new tax year, and prompting reflections on taxes to pay, ISA and SIPP accounts to review and augment.
In my last post in January I described myself as “troubled” by what the near and far future might hold. Just three months later Donald Trump’s ill-considered ventures in Iran have dented both my portfolio performance and whatever sense of well-being last year’s strong showing created.
That said,
taking a longer view, my ‘2042’ SIPP portfolio is still ahead of realistic
expectations, with value-tilted funds such as Kopernik Global All-Cap, and
Overstone Global Smaller Companies still significantly ahead of last year’s
purchase prices. Likewise, I am still up on purchases made last year of Mkango
Resources and East Star Resources, maintaining my belief that an overweight to
commodities is justified in the more fraught geo-political context of the late
2020s.
Fresh
Prospects
For my annual
spring/summer SIPP allocation over the next few weeks and months, I am tending
towards the following funds:
1. Fidelity Nordic
Fidelity Nordic is a small/mid cap value inflected fund I once held briefly in my general investment account some years ago. With the benefit of hindsight I should have held onto it, as under the same fund manager for over a decade it has been a consistent performer, with the Y ACC SEK class returning over 14% p.a. over the last ten years.
With
significant weightings to Nordic nations such as Norway and Sweden which seem
to be better managed politically and economically than many of their Southern
European counterparts, with the additional bonus of exposure to Norway’s oil industry,
this fund is a strong candidate for a long-term investment.
2. Matthews China Discovery
Another regret
from an earlier stage of my investment career is not investing in a Chinese
smaller companies fund then managed by Tiffany Hsiao for Matthews Asia.
Just as her
performance from 2018-2020 peaked she left Matthews for Artisan, investing in
private equity, and thus became unavailable to UK retail investors.
In late 2025
she returned to Matthews, and is now running the renamed Matthews China Discovery Fund.
I realise any
investment in China is high-risk - Chinese smaller companies particularly so - indeed this fund fell by over 10% in March 2026.
However, with
a time horizon stretching to the early 2040s, and daily evidence that political
risk is at least as prevalent in the West as the East, a small allocation is in
order. If you’re going to take risks, at least make sure some of them are
uncorrelated, and a Chinese smaller companies fund is unlikely to be highly
correlated with most Western economy investments.
3. This year’s
‘pure’ value fund: Redwheel?
I like to invest at least a third of my annual SIPP allocation in the most value-like fund available at the time. I might simply top up one of my existing SIPP holdings, the aforementioned Kopernik or Overstone funds. I already hold Ranmore Global and De Lisle America in my general investment account.
Having had a good run with Temple Bar investment trust in my ISA, I may turn to the same managers' global value fund: Redwheel Global Intrinsic Value, although the 20% weighting to the UK in this fund may mean some overlap with Temple Bar.
A reminder about political risks in the UK
Whatever my (and your) political views, it gives me a little pleasure as an investor to note that in spring 2026 the likeliest outcomes in UK politics over the coming months, years, possibly decades is a more left-wing replacement for Keir Starmer, and thereafter a semi-permanent radical centre-left coalition government.
This has been pre-figured in previous blog posts, notably
- November 2025: More tax rises to come -
- June 2024: This could 'HIRT' - Higher Intervention Regulation Taxation
- April 2022: 2024 as 1974 revisited
It could well be 2028/9 rather than 2024 that turns out to be 1974 revisited, and as I wrote in April 2022:
"I'm not saying 2024-2028 will be an action replay from 1974-1978, but in both sport and political economy the possibilities of outcomes deemed unlikely but hugely consequential should be contemplated before not after they happen."
