Absolute return a "potential minefield" for investors - AJ Bell

"A massive spread in returns (and losses)"

Over the course of ten years, cash would have returned investors just 1.45%, a figure well below inflation, but three absolute return funds still failed to beat these returns, according to research from AJ Bell.

The research reveals that out of 38 funds in the sector, only Janus Henderson UK Absolute Return has beaten cash returns in every year of the past decade, while another three, BlackRock European Absolute Alpha, Veritas Global Real Return and Premier Multi-Asset Absolute Return, managed positive returns in nine out of ten years. In contrast, Insight Absolute Insight Currency, GAM Star Global Rates and Jupiter Absolute Return failed to beat cash over the last decade. The latter two have lost a respective -8.1% and -4.1% over the time frame in question, while the Insight fund has broadly fl...