Richard Skelt celebrates 10 years in charge of £1bn WealthBuilder fund

Richard Skelt, Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity’s Investment Strategies Group, this week celebrates ten years at the helm of the OBSR and Standard & Poor’s AA rated Fidelity WealthBuilder Fund.

Analysis shows the Fund has successfully delivered consistently above average returns since launch in 1996. Over ten years, WealthBuilder is ranked in the top quartile of the Global Growth Sector, surpassing 94 per cent of its peers and outperforming its benchmark in eight of the past nine calendar years.

Fidelity’s WealthBuilder Fund invests in-house into a large range of Fidelity funds investing in different markets around the world and follows a three-tier investment approach – asset allocation, fund selection and stock selection. The fund of fund style of investing provides the benefits of a double layer of fund management, but with the pricing of a single fund.

Richard Skelt, CIO of Fidelity’s Investment Strategies Group said: “Certainly a lot has changed during the ten years I have been managing this Fund and things are remarkably different now – for example, in 1996, the Euro didn’t even exist. Less than 10% of consumers had the internet at home and only 17% of households had a mobile phone, which shows how quickly things have moved on in just ten years.

“What remains constant though is the need for effective and skilled fund selection for inclusion in a fund of funds, and my team and I have been able to access the superior analytical skills of our research teams around the globe in order to select the best of Fidelity’s in-house funds for this portfolio.”

Skelt and his team of analysts use qualitative and quantitative analysis on the range of Fidelity funds that suit the asset allocation model to determine which should qualify for inclusion, based on a manager’s individual style and bias. This allows Skelt to blend the uncorrelated styles to balance the various risk exposures of each fund, ensuring that Fidelity’s reputation for performance through strong stock selection skills is adhered to.

Richard Wastcoat, UK Managing Director, Fidelity International said: “With so many factors influencing markets around the world, the in-house fund of funds structure affords us a great deal of flexibility and has contributed to the consistent performance generated by the WealthBuilder Fund. To outperform the benchmark in 8 out of 9 calendar years, and rank top quartile for 10 years, above 94 per cent of the other funds in its sector is quite a feat.

“One of the major strengths of this structure is that it gives the flexibility to reallocate money to different managers, while the investor only pays the pricing of a single fund approach.”