The fund manager shielding your nest egg from inflation

WHAT DOES IT DO? Unlike other funds that aggressively try to grow savers’ cash by lumping all of their money into shares, Ruffer’s main aim is to make sure their nest egg is safe and doesn’t lose money, especially when markets fall.

At the same time, manager Hamish Baillie aims to provide savers with returns of at least twice the Bank of England base rate, which is 0.5pc.

WHAT DOES THE MANAGER INVEST IN? 40pc of investments are in various types of bonds, which are perceived as safer than shares. The rest is invested in shares in the UK, Asia, North America and Europe. It also has money in gold and cash.

WHAT DO THE EXPERTS SAY? Pascal Dowling of investment firm Kepler Partners says Ruffer views ‘inflation as a real threat to investors’ capital’. He adds: ‘The managers aren’t totally bearish, though, and realise people want to see returns while they’re waiting for that inflation scenario to take off, so around half the portfolio is invested in equities.’

WHAT DO THEY LIKE? Dowling adds: ‘The trust has delivered annualised returns in excess of 7pc over the last ten years, losing money in only two calendar years, so if you want to be protected from the worst of the stock market’s downside – whilst getting better returns than you’d get on cash – this is a solid choice.’ AND ARE THERE ANY DOWNSIDES? It’s not the best choice when markets are rising. If you had put your money in this fund three years ago, your returns would be 10pc versus the 25pc delivered by the FTSE 100.