Should I sell or stick with my one underperforming fund?

To win the Telegraph’s Fantasy Fund Manager competition, a little bit of luck and some educated gambles might be necessary, writes Jonathan Jones. That is how James Gunnion, a 35-year-old employment solicitor from Birmingham, won the weekly £100 prize last week. His fund shot up from £88,230 at the start of the week to £103,082 by the close of play on Friday, a rise of almost 17pc.

“My original portfolio was all stocks I owned in my real portfolio, such as [betting firms] William Hill and Playtech,” he said.

After a poor start to the competition, the stocks in his portfolio rebounded last week as both companies announced their financial results. “I looked at my portfolio for the first time on the Thursday evening and noticed I was on the leaderboard for the week, although I was still a fair way behind,” Mr Gunnion said.

Drawing inspiration from his gambling stocks, he took a punt and rearranged his portfolio into firms that were due to release results on the Friday. He added Rightmove, the property website, which rose by 9pc, and Hargreaves Lansdown, the fund shop, which gained 2pc. This pushed his portfolio to the top spot, although he admits it could have backfired. Taking advantage of the game’s free and unlimited trading, Mr Gunnion has since changed every share in the portfolio again on the basis of forthcoming results. This strategy is far from how he invests his money normally. He said he typically owned “boring” stocks such as Unilever and Amazon, as well as funds such as Fundsmith Equity. “I realised this was a bit of fun so I thought I would have a punt. Ironically, I don’t think this game really suits me: I am more of a buy-and-hold investor,” he said. So this win hasn’t inspired him to do the same in real life. Mr Gunnion said he would probably put his winnings in the Fundsmith fund “and let a professional deal with it”.