‘I haven’t got to faux to love something’: Fund supervisor David Coombs’ suggestions for unusual traders

The great advantage of being a multi-asset fund manager is one that ordinary investors share, says Rathbones’ David Coombs: ‘I don’t have to pretend to like anything.’

As head of multi-asset investments, David is in charge of the team responsible for managing Rathbones’ free-ranging funds – and this can mean holding shares, bonds, gold or more esoteric investments.

‘You’ve got the ultimate open field of where you can invest – any asset class, any country, any type of company’, David tells This is Money’s Simon Lambert on the Investing Show.

He adds: ‘I never have to buy bad companies just to have a diversified portfolio, because I’ve got so many other levers I can pull.’

David also describes himself as a ‘quick taker of profits’ who would rather cash in some gains when investments are doing well than risk them evaporating.

He joins Simon on the Investing Show and reveals how he took an unusual route from dropping out of his A-levels and getting a job in a bank, to eventually becoming a fund manager – and what he has learnt along the way.

He discusses where he sees investing opportunities now, how the Magnificent Seven have become an asset class, why he is interested in resilient global companies with good exposure to China and doesn’t buy into the argument that the UK stock market is a must-own bargain but is a fan of UK profit machine retailer Next.

David also says that while he has owned some esoteric investments over the years, including wheat, the return to more normal monetary policy has opened the door to revisiting major government bonds.

He says: ‘As interest rates have gone up in the last two years, you haven’t needed to be as esoteric because there’s been more returns available from traditional asset classes.’

David describes his investing style as active and pragmatic and says that as he ‘hates losing money’, he is always looking for what can go wrong with an investment and how to mitigate that.

One tip he has for investors is: ‘Don’t get attached to investments, be willing to sell anything.’

This doesn’t just involve cutting losers but also includes being willing to bank some gains on investments that have done well, says David, who adds: ‘I’m a quick taker of profits.’

He says that he has a maximum position size and when an investment hits this he forces himself to sell – taking the emotion away from the decision.

This doesn’t mean ditching the investment entirely but does involve trimming positions.

David says: ‘Ultimately, that buy and sell completely decision is binary and most people put it off. Whereas, if you just keep taking the profits, you feel good because you banked the profit but you are still in it.’