Ryan Hughes is AJ Bell's Managing Director of AJ Bell Investments. He joined AJ Bell in 2016 as Head of Fund Selection before moving on to become Head of Investment Partnerships and later, Investments Director.
Ryan started his career in 1999 working as a Financial Adviser before moving into investment research. He spent eight years as a Senior Fund Manager at Skandia Investment Group, where he was a member of their Investment Committee and Global Asset Allocation Committee. Before coming to AJ Bell, he was working as a Fund Manager and Discretionary Portfolio Manager for a leading global investment management firm, Apollo Multi Asset Management.
He's responsible for all elements across AJ Bell Investments solutions including the fund range, managed portfolio service (MPS) solutions and bespoke managed portfolio services for advisers. Ryan is also responsible for the oversight of the investment research process.
Ryan is regularly asked to judge industry awards and provide commentary on key industry events as an expert voice. He has appeared on TV, radio and national newspapers for more than 20 years. He has a degree in Business Studies from The University of the West of England and wrote his university dissertation on the topic of ethical investments in the 1990s - long before it was fashionable like it is today!
15 December 2020
Fund & Investment Trust options for 20212020 has been a rollercoaster year for DIY investors and the market crash in March, combined with the nationwide lockdown that followed saw new investors flock to investment platforms in record numbers. Ryan Hughes, Head of Active Portfolios at AJ Bell, takes a look at the funds and investment trusts investors might consider as they position their...
30 September 2020
Woodford investors left hanging until mid to late 2021The latest update from Link does little to ease the pain for embattled investors stuck in the Woodford Equity Income fund with the news that the winding up of the fund could still be happening in another 12 months, meaning that over 2 years would have passed since the fund originally suspended. This is of course dependent on Link being able to...
13 August 2020
AJ Bell Favourite funds list – Artemis Corporate Bond fund addedWhat is the AJ Bell Favourite funds list?
The AJ Bell Favourite funds list is designed to lighten your research load. There are thousands of funds out there – so we’ve narrowed the field by selecting a high-quality shortlist of funds we believe can deliver their objectives over the long term. To make the list, each fund needs to pass our robust...
9 July 2020
Investors back America and Tech during market turmoilWhile some regular names crop up on our most-purchased list such as Fundsmith Equity and the Vanguard LifeStrategy range, there are some funds that have shot up the list thanks to the market turmoil we’ve seen over the past six months.
The Polar Capital Global Technology fund has seen its assets soar during the crisis, and as a result has now soft...
22 May 2020
M&G property fund remains suspended as property market stallsWith lockdown life continuing in the UK and the property market having all but ground to a halt, investors won’t be surprised that all physical commercial property funds remain closed. With potential buyers unable to view properties or survey them the commercial property market isn’t going anywhere, which means the valuers of the underlying assets...
15 May 2020
Mark Barnett leaves Invesco“News that Mark Barnett has left Invesco will perhaps come as little surprise after the last couple years with performance suffering and questions being asked over the positions taken in the portfolios, particularly around illiquid small caps and unquoted companies," says Ryan Hughes, Head of Active Portfolios at AJ Bell.
"While Invesco would have...
6 April 2020
Barnett removed from Perpetual Income and Growth Trust"News that Mark Barnett and Invesco have been served notice on their management of the Perpetual Income & Growth Investment Trust does not come as too much of a surprise given the scale of the underperformance of the trust against the FTSE All Share over the past few years, however it will be a blow to Invesco having also lost the Edinburgh...
1 April 2020
Changes to the AJ Bell Favourite funds and Ready-made portfoliosPart of my role as Head of Active Portfolios here at AJ Bell is to ensure that funds on the Favourite fund list are kept under constant review, and to make any changes we deem necessary. Below are the recent changes we’ve made.
Funds removed
On Friday, Nick Clay, manager of the BNY Global Income fund, announced he was leaving BNY, along with the...
12 February 2020
Revamped Woodford fund to re-open tomorrowThe new ASI Income Focus fund (previously Woodford Income Focus) reopens tomorrow with investors able to place trades from mid-day today. Read the announcement here.
Yesterday, the new managers updated investors on the approach they are taking with the fund and provided details of the new portfolio, so investors now have a decision to make as to...
6 February 2020
The funds hit hardest by CoronavirusRyan Hughes, AJ Bell's Head of Active Portfolios, looks at the worst performing funds from Asia, China, Emerging Markets and Global sectors so far this year.
Fund IA Sector Performance from 01/01/20 – 04/02/20 Schroder Global Energy Global -11.52% Guinness Global Energy Global -10.59% Meridian Global Energy Global -6.56% AB Asia Ex Japan Equity...
