If you invested $1 million in Roytrin's Income and Growth mutual fund 20 years ago, how much would you be worth today? How about $6.57 million? The past two decades have been a period of relentless focus and commitment to service, quality and value for the fund managers at RBC, resulting today in the delivery of a 9.85 per cent average annualised return on capital investment.This, in itself, is a source of good news for serious investors.
Back in 1994, RBC was the first local bank to launch a mutual fund with a cadre of experienced managers to help small investors gain access to professionally managed, diversified portfolios of equities, bonds and other securities.
"There are a lot of investors who would benefit from equity markets to generate returns that can offset rising inflation, but some people end up losing money rather than gaining any substantial reward as they do not stay invested but come in and out in an attempt to 'time' markets," says Natalie Mansoor, head, asset management, RBC Investment Management.
She adds, however, that investors who try to time markets end up selling when markets are down and buying when markets are strong, effectively doing the opposite of what you need to do to build wealth."Roytrin offers investors an opportunity to use the services of an experienced fund manager to invest on their behalf, and when tested relative to inflation, there is a real return on their investment giving them an increase in real purchasing power," Mansoor added.
In fact, comprehensive data produced by the bank has shown that a basket of goods worth $1,000 in 1994 would cost you $3,200 today based on the rise in prices over the last 20 years. This means that an investment of TT$1,000 in Roytrin's Income and Growth mutual fund in 1994 would be worth TT$6,570 today and investors would have not only kept pace with inflation, but also increased their net worth in real terms or net of inflation as they have an additional TT$3,370 worth of purchasing power today.
"A lot of investors make the mistake of abandoning their financial plans at the first sign of bad news, but staying the course, like many of our clients did, is probably one of the most critical aspects of wealth creation."
The Roytrin TTD Income & Growth Fund has created real wealth for RBC clients despite many setbacks such as the most recent global financial crisis and subsequent recession of 2008 /2009, the decline in the local equity market in 2005/2006 when the TTSE Composite Index declined over 21 per cent in the 12 months to June 2006, the dot-com crash in 1999 to 2001 and many other negative events and recessions over the last 20 years.
"This growth, however, would not have been possible without the longstanding support of our clients along the way. And to them, we say thank you for going the many extra miles with us," says Mansoor.As of December 31, 2013, the Income and Growth Fund had $674.58 million under management and it returned 9.7 per cent in 2013. Some 45 per cent of the assets in the fund are in US dollars, while 55 per cent of the fund's assets are in TT dollars.
At the end of last year, its largest holding, at 7.44 per cent was cash, while First Citizens was its second largest holding with 6.59 per cent. The mutual fund also held large blocks of Unilever Caribbean, Neal and Massy Holdings and ANSA McAL.Roytrin mutual funds are open-ended funds specially designed by RBC Royal Bank as investment vehicles, to offer individual and institutional investors the opportunity to invest in professionally managed portfolios.
The Roytrin family of mutual funds consists of a TTD and USD Income and Growth Fund and a TTD and USD Income Fund. RBC also has a TTD and EUR High Yield Fund as well as a TTD and USD Money Market Fund in its family of funds.