Whether former fund manager Neil Woodford deserves forgiveness is a matter for theology.
Whether he deserves your money is a more earthly concern.
Six years after the collapse of his £10 billion (€11.7 billion) flagship fund, Woodford has launched W4.0, a venture allowing investors follow model portfolios he’s designed and implement the trades via their own brokers.
It’s pitched as a modern alternative to traditional funds, “not bound by the constraints of fund launches or minimum sizes” – a freedom Woodford once exercised with such flair it helped sink a £10 billion fund.
It’s essentially a form of copy trading.
Woodford’s selling point is his long-term mindset and contrarian eye. But the pitch, as ever, is personal: follow me.
That may tempt those who remember Woodford’s early glory years at Invesco, where he prospered as a value investor, more than his disastrous 2019 implosion.
Yet his downfall wasn’t about poor returns – it was overconfidence, opacity and a disastrous misjudgement of liquidity risk.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) derided Woodford’s “defective understanding” of his responsibilities.
W4.0 may well attract a curious crowd, especially at the right price. But the star manager era has moved on. And so, perhaps, should its stars.
