What is a SIPP?

Introduced in 1991, a SIPP is a pension contract in your own name which gives you more control over your pension investments.
It can be set up with funds transferred from existing pension arrangements.

Investment Choice.

From April 2006, a SIPP can invest in a much wider range of assets, such as cash deposits, quoted equities, collective investments and commercial propertyInvestment growth is free of UK tax on non- dividend investment income. Rent is received tax-free and bank account interest is paid gross. Also there is no CGT to pay when an investment is sold by the SIPP.

Not irreversible.

By taking out a SIPP you are not making a once and for all decision. If at some point you decide that a SIPP is no longer appropriate you can instruct the provider to sell the assets and transfer your fund as cash to another pension scheme.

Retirement & Death Benefits

The new rules give you more flexibility over how and when you draw your retirement benefits. Notably, you will no longer be required to purchase an annuity at 75. Instead, you can continue to draw your income directly from the fund using Alternatively Secured Income (ASP). A new concept, known as the "family pension" will see pension funds cascading down generations of families

If you have UK pension plans valued in excess of GBP50,000 you should email me to check this out

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The Glanmore Property Fund - 15.1% for 12 months to June 1st, 2006

Glanmore produced a return of 13.31% for 2005 and was expected to slow down throughout 2006. In fact, the 12 month rolling performance to 1st June has increased to 15.10%

The funds has now grown to £768.561mn or over $1.5bn and has an enviable 10 year track record.

UK property returns remain strong and investors continue to demonstrate an almost instiable appetite for all property sectors, buoyed by stable interest rates and willing lenders.

Cardales, the property advisers, feel the outlook for commercial property for the second half of 2006 is good and that in the medium term, the central London office sub-market, good seconary/prime shopping centres & retail warehouse sub-sectors will perform particularly well

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IQS - Urgent Buy Signal

IQS is down 22% in June (as at 22nd), at $316 per share(ps), making it down 29% since mid May's high of $445ps IQS has closed most of its losing positions over the last 2 to 3 weeks. This will makes June 30 a very good entry point for IQS.

IQS trades commodities and will regularly make losses - it is expected. Losses are the cost of trading.

IQS went up +159% from $130ps on February 1st 2005 over the 12 months to the end of January 2006 to reach $336ps IQS then dropped -38% from Feb. 1st 2006 to March 27th to $206ps by which point the 6 main positions that accounted for 90% of the losses had been closed. These are the two main factors that make a good buy point: down 30%+ and closing of losing positions.

IQS went on to recover to $228 at March 31 up +10% in the last days of the month, to reach $328 at April 30 up +44%, and up +38% to $445 at the high point on May 19 (a total of +120% from March 27). May finished at $405 Over the last 11 years we have seen down months of -10% to -25% (normal and expected) and - 30% to -40% over a normal difficult quarter. IQS trades indifferently through these periods.

Historically, down months and down quarters have almost always been very good buy points. AMT believe that the commodity markets will offer good trading opportunities and strong IQS performance this year and possibly for the next few years. Our Investment Manager, Anthony Hodges, provided the June 2006 global economic outlook which supports this view.

Since May 19 until now the loss has been due to Wheat, Cotton & Soybean Oil and the Long Currency positions as the $ strengthened. 80% of these losing positions have been closed. Only the Long British Pounds & Canadian Dollars and a greatly reduced Short Cotton position remain. AMT are comfortable with these, especially the currency positions as the general outlook for the $ is negative.

Given the positive conditions for commodity trading looking forward in 2006/7 and the good buy point now on June 30th, IQS ,in AMT Futures view, will produce a return of +50% to 100% over the next 3 to 9 months. This is in line with the target returns stated at the end of March of a +50% return for the 3 months ending June and a +100% return for the 9 months ending December 31, 2006.

Whenever an investment is made, be prepared to hold IQS for a 12 to 24 month period.

I hope that this has clarified AMT Futures' view on the present IQS drawdown and expectations for a strong recovery

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The Strategic & Volatility Fund (SAV)

With the increasing popularity of IQS & CFL many have enjoyed the exposure to commodities and performance of IQS but prefer less volatility. CFL  has far lower volatility but performance to match

After much discussion with AMT Futures a new fund, SAV, was launched on 1st June 2006

SAV is an absolute return fund using the multiple managers & stategies through a constant 25% IQS fund and 75% CFL fund combination to trade the rising and falling movements of over 135 of the world's commodity markets

The proportional allocations are rebalanced each month to maintain the 25% IQS & 75% CFL mix. Using the above mix the fund would have produced growth of +661% over the last 8 years, equal to +26% pa since 1998.

Please remember you can switch freely between the 3 funds

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