Take a look. TD Waterhouse has released the ranking of the most popular funds held in its investment ISAs:

* Blackrock AM UK Blackrock Gold & General Acc
* Invesco Perpetual Fund Mgrs Invesco Perp High Income Acc Nav
* Gartmore Fund Managers Gartmore China Opportunities Ret Acc
* Jupiter Unit Trust Mgrs Ltd Jupiter Emerging European Opportunities Acc
* JP Morgan AM UK Ltd JP Morgan Natural Resources A Acc Nav
* Aberdeen Unit Trust Managers Aberdeen Emerging Markets A Acc Nav
* Fidelity (FIL Investment Intl) Fidelity Special Situations
* Jupiter Unit Trust Mgrs Ltd Jupiter Financial Opportunities Inc
* Invesco Perpetual Fund Mgrs Invesco Perp Corporate Bond Acc Nav
* Invesco Perpetual Fund Mgrs Invesco Perp High Income

Here are the performance figures for these funds over 1, 3 and 5 years, according to Morningstar.

The latest investment report from Kevin Gardiner, Barclays Wealth’s head of investment strategy, has just landed on my desk so thought I would share a few of the key topics:

He starts by setting out the case for equities:

Investors should stay overweight equities

Investors are understandably nervous in the wake of revived uncertainty regarding financial regulation, the pace of global monetary tightening and possible spillover effects from the Greek bond market, but we still feel that risk assets, particularly equities, likely offer the best returns in the months ahead. In our view, equities should be both an overweight in balanced portfolios and the first port of call for investors wishing to diversify away from cash.

Why equities?

1. The vigorous V shaped recovery in corporate profits with cost cutting being slowly augmented by resumed modest top line growth
2. Short-term interest rates are unlikely to start rising soon and investor liquidity remains high
3. Even after the rally prospective valuations look undemanding – partly because of the profits rebound but also because equities fell such a long way to begin with

Continue reading: “Investment ideas for February”

As the price of gold reaches an all time high the UK has been experiencing a gold party craze, where guests swap jewellery for cash over a few drinks.We’ve even had the creation of a gold chocolate bar from Cadbury which recently made the “world’s most expensive chocolate bar” – a gold-leaf-covered special edition of its Wispa bar, priced at almost £100.

But now the situation has become slightly macabre.  Ounces2pounds, a company which helps people to host their own gold party, says it has received offers from the public to cash in on their gold teeth. At current prices, a single gold tooth can fetch as much as £500 depending on weight, size and caret.