Much of the discussion with the fund manager was around the macro picture, but before we look at that it is worth considering the performance. Although the fund has outperformed over 1, 3 and 5 years and since launch, if you focus on the yearly figures the fund closely tracks the index and since the new manager has come on board it has underperformed the index. This is a challenge with US funds where very few consistently outperform the index; where they do sometimes it is very narrow, which begs the question as to whether it is worth the extra cost.
With this in mind, does it make this a fund to consider or not? George Boyd-Bowman would argue that now is the perfect time to invest in this fund. There are a number of factors which are making US dividends an attractive part of investing, and dividends make up an integral part of the overall returns.