Fantasy Fund Manager is back – with bigger prizes

Fantasy Fund Manager is back for its sixth season – and with eight chances to win from our £ 15,000 prize pot, savvy stockpicking has never been so important.

There is a £1,000 award for the bestperforming fund each week, with £ 7,000 for the overall winner and £2,000 for the runner-up. The game is open to anyone, and players can already begin experimenting with up to two portfolios before the competition kicks off on Feb 14.

A great place to start for inspiration is the winning strategies of former champions. Season four’s winner, Jackson Read, got ahead by targeting companies that he thought would be bid for by American private equity firms. The 25-year- old from Southend- on- Sea, who works for a hedge fund, turned £100,000 into £133,000, nearly 10 times the British stock market return, by buying British aerospace companies that were cheap relative to American peers. When bids were announced, they shot up in value; one firm made a 30pc leap overnight.

Another investor who knew the importance of owning takeover targets was season three winner Colin Riley, 51, from Stratford.

He decided on his strategy at the beginning of the game and did not tinker with it, owning five healthcare companies throughout, choosing the sector because he hoped there would be some consolidation in the industry or a boost linked to coronavirus.

Bids were announced for Vectura Group and UDG Healthcare, sending their shares 33pc and 20pc higher. Because Mr Riley had a concentrated portfolio, this propelled his fund from £107,400 to £118,300, a 10pc return, in just one day in the final week.

Other top players from the previous seasons have gone all- out on hot investment themes, from gold miners to supermarkets and technology stocks. Some traded every day in a bid to outwit other players, while others adopted a rigid “buy-andhold” approach, keeping their portfolios intact.

Season one’s winner, 56- yearold Yorkshire doctor Mike Langton, turned £ 100,000 into £ 165,000 – an impressive 65pc return when the FTSE 350 fell by 3pc.

Mr Langton began by owning gold miners as markets went into panic mode about the health of the global economy, and then switched into beaten-up companies staging a rebound, including airlines and leisure groups.