Less than half of absolute return funds beat inflation

Absolute return funds do not promise to beat inflation, but aim to make money for investors in rising and falling markets. According to data from FE Analytics, however, of the 56 funds with a one-year performance history, just 24 outperformed both CPI and RPI inflation, meaning 52% of the funds lost money in real terms. CPI stood at 4.2% in June, while RPI was 5%. The IFDS IM Octopus Absolute European fund was the biggest serial underperformer, losing 8.3%. Two offerings from Schroders completed the bottom three.The Schroder ISF Asian Bond Absolute Return fund posted a 7.04% los...