How to read a fund factsheet
What to focus on when you’re looking at a fund factsheet, even if you’ve only got 5 minutes.
Key points
- A fund factsheet provides essential details about an investment fund, including objectives, performance, and risk level.
- Check the fund’s aims to understand whether it focuses on growth, income, or a mix of both.
- Review charges and fees listed on the factsheet, as these affect your overall returns over time.
- Look at past performance and risk indicators, but remember they don’t guarantee future results.
If you’re new to investing, trying to decipher all the information on a fund factsheet can be a little overwhelming. At first glance, it might seem like a lot of figures and nonsensical terms. But once you know what to look for, there’s lots you can discover from reading the factsheet, even if you’ve only got five minutes to spare.
What is a fund factsheet?
The clue’s in the name. A fund factsheet is a summary document that tells you all the key information about the fund you’ve invested your money in. It’s important because it will help you understand exactly what you’ve put your money into.
It will usually tell you things like the launch date of the fund, who's managing the fund you’re invested in, how much you’re being charged for being invested in the fund, and how it’s been performing over the past few years.
You can find a fund factsheet by putting the fund name into a search engine, by accessing it through the investment platform you hold the fund with, or by contacting your investment provider directly for help.
If your funds are held with Aviva you can search the full range here to find the fund factsheet.
What are the fund costs?
When it comes to your investments a couple of important things to know are – what am I buying and how much is it costing me?
On an Aviva fund factsheet like this one, you’ll find the name of the fund at the top of the factsheet. It might not always mean much – Aviva Life Artemis Income, anyone? – but it can be important to know the name of the fund you've invested your money in.
Next, look for the fee information. On an Aviva fund factsheet, there’s a section outlining the charges, along with performance figures shown after those charges have been deducted. For example, if the fee is 0.26%, it means that if you invested £1,000, you’d pay £2.60 a year in fees.
Other providers may use different terminology. If you're unsure where to find this information, you can contact your investment provider directly for help.
Who is managing my money?
The names of the fund managers – the person or people who manage your money on your behalf – are often on a fund factsheet, usually alongside the date they started managing your fund. That’s important to know for two reasons:
- On the investment fund’s website you should be able to find out more about your fund manager’s prior experience and areas of interest, which could impact how they manage the fund.
- It’s good to know how long a fund manager has been looking after a fund, and what the performance has been while they've been managing the fund. A factsheet could help you get an idea of this.
If you need further information, you can contact your investment provider directly for help.
Which leads us nicely to…
What about a fund's risk?
Attitude to risk is a personal choice and depends on your financial goals and life stage. A fund factsheet will give you an idea of how risky the fund is.
Aviva gives a fund risk rating ranging from 1 (lowest volatility) to 7 (highest volatility). These ratings reflect the potential for a fund to go up and down in value over time. You'll find it under the Risk rating section on an Aviva fund factsheet.
The fund's risks - such as investment risk and currency risk – will also be detailed on the factsheet.
Remember that investment involves risk; the value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in. Whether a fund has a low risk rating or a high risk rating, your money is still at risk.
Download our guide to fund factsheets for help getting a more detailed understanding of Aviva fund factsheets.
What have I invested in, exactly?
You want to know what you’re putting your money into, right? A fund factsheet will tell you just that. On an Aviva fund factsheet, it’s under the Sector breakdown section. You’ll also see the Top 10 holdings, which tells you what kind of sector, industry or company your money is invested in. You can also see the types of assets that the fund invests in, for example company shares, bonds or property, in the Asset allocation section.
Knowing what you’re invested in is important because you can get an idea of how your money is distributed across investments and diversified.
How is my fund performing?
You can use your fund factsheet to see how your fund is doing by looking at its past performance. Although this won’t tell you what returns you’ll get in the future, it can give you an idea of how consistently the fund has performed over time, and whether it stands up against the benchmark, which is usually the FTSE All Share Index for a UK Equity fund.
To check your fund's performance on an Aviva fund factsheet, there's a section detailing performance where you'll see two charts. The first one shows the annual performance, which is the fund compared to its benchmark index and similar funds in calendar years. The second chart shows the performance of the fund over a number of years, such as one, three and five years, to the end of the previous month.
If your money isn’t invested with Aviva, you can usually find a fund factsheet on the fund manager’s website, through the investment platform you hold the fund with or by contacting your investment provider directly for help.
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