Since the beginning of this year, the extreme structured market trend has become the main theme in the A-share market.

On one hand, technology themed funds, dividend index funds, and various broad-based ETFs (exchange traded open-end index funds) are being sought after by funds, with their scale reaching new highs repeatedly; On the other hand, the performance of active equity funds is being tested in a differentiated market. Faced with the style drift and drastic fluctuations in net asset value of some active equity funds, the industry pain point of "funds making money, investors not making money" has once again been brought into the spotlight.

With fund companies disclosing the core indicator of "investor profit ratio" in their financial reports, the public offering industry is undergoing a transformation from heavy initial public offering scale to heavy holding experience.

During this National Day holiday, we asked fund investors about their wealth records since the beginning of this year and found that facing the dilemma of "difficult to choose funds and even harder to hold", "sadness" is no longer the main theme. Some investors are actively adjusting their expectations and optimizing their strategies to cope with their "wealth defense war".

The story of Chen Feng and Zhao Xiaoxue is a microcosm of millions of fund investors seeking certainty in an uncertain market.

Say goodbye to 'celebrity dependency'

Chen Feng, 35, is the department head of an Internet factory, with nearly seven years of fund investment experience. Three years ago, his fund holdings list was dominated by products managed by the then popular "billion dollar star fund manager".

At that time, buying funds was like chasing stars. I would buy products managed by fund managers who had a great reputation and strong past performance, "Chen Feng recalled. However, the market in the past two years has taught him a profound lesson. He once had high hopes for a fund manager specializing in large consumer investments and bought the products he managed. However, as the net asset value of this fund continued to decline, the fund manager did not stick to his ability circle and instead shifted his holdings significantly to the new energy and AI (artificial intelligence) sectors, which he was not good at. This style drift not only failed to save the net asset value of the fund, but also caused the fund's performance to be hit on both sides during sector rotation, with Chen Feng losing nearly 30% on this fund.

I entrusted money to a fund manager for management out of trust in a specific field, only for him to chase after the rise and kill the fall. This' blind box 'experience is really bad. It's really difficult to choose a fund, and even harder to hold. "Chen Feng admitted that the investment of active equity funds is opaque and may be subject to human emotional intervention, which made him feel tired of the market at one point.

At the beginning of this year, Chen Feng decided to take back the initiative of his investment. After a detailed review of the market's capital flow and macro environment, he decisively cleared his holdings of active funds with large losses and vague styles, and switched to ETF products with transparent rules, lower fees, and no style drift.

My current investment strategy is what institutions often refer to as the 'dumbbell strategy', "Chen Feng showed his account to the Economic Observer reporter. The yield curve of the account was stable and slightly red, which was particularly eye-catching before the National Day holiday. One end of the dumbbell is the dividend low wave ETF, which accounts for 60% of the position. In the current low interest rate environment, high dividend assets are like ballast stones, not pursuing a surge, but a stable annual dividend rate can provide a strong safety cushion. On the other end of the dumbbell, I have allocated 30% of technology themed ETFs and semiconductor ETFs. ”

For technology ETFs with high volatility attributes, Chen Feng no longer "carries on stubbornly", but instead combines the grid trading function of the brokerage app to set an automatic trading range of 5% up and down. Chen Feng said, "The technology track fluctuates greatly, and grid trading can force me to sell high and buy low, overcoming greed and fear

In the volatile A-share market this year, through the combination of bottom position interest collection and elastic grid, Chen Feng's account not only did not shrink further, but also achieved a positive return of 6.5%. Now I check the accumulated income of my account every day and occasionally 'harvest' the grid profits of the technology sector. I sleep soundly at night. Ultimately, investing is not about defeating others, but about not being 'eliminated' by the market, "Chen Feng said with a smile.

The word 'Xiao Que Xing' with stability as the top priority

Unlike Chen Feng, who has strong investment research abilities, 28 year old designer Zhao Xiaoxue represents another group of young fund investors who have overcome market anxiety.

After experiencing the ups and downs of following the trend and speculating on new energy themed funds and pharmaceutical themed funds in the past two years, Zhao Xiaoxue found that her emotions had been severely "hijacked" by the net asset value of the funds - she had to monitor the A-share market before closing at 3 pm every day; When encountering a sharp drop in the stock market, one's mood drops to the bottom, and even the idea of drawing and designing is lost, seriously affecting work and life.

Xiaoxue's anxiety is the bitter fruit of the public fund industry's one-sided pursuit of relative returns in the past few years. In order to rank higher in the annual rankings, some fund managers have opened up their investments in positions and industry concentration, shifting the high volatility risk of net worth to ordinary fund investors who do not match their risk tolerance.

The transfer occurred in May of this year. Zhao Xiaoxue first saw the data of "investor profit proportion" while reading an article about fund investor education. She suddenly realized that many products with attractive annualized returns, due to their high volatility, were causing most fund investors like her who liked to chase after gains and sell losses.

I suddenly felt relieved. I admit that I cannot earn money beyond my knowledge, nor can I withstand such a large fluctuation in net worth. "On the advice of her financial manager, Xiaoxue conducted a comprehensive" downgrade "of her wealth.

She redeemed all high volatility track funds and used 80% of her funds to buy "fixed income+" products and interbank deposit index funds that focus on absolute returns. At that time, the financial manager told me that after experiencing the lessons of drawdown in the past few years, many fund managers of 'fixed income+' products have put 'controlling drawdown' as their top priority this year and are very restrained in their stock positions

With the remaining 20% of funds, Zhao Xiaoxue has set weekly fixed investment targets for the CSI 300 and CSI A500 broad-based indices. Completely ignore the current situation and treat it as mandatory savings, "she said.

This Buddhist style strategy of 80% "fixed income+" and 20% wide base fixed investment has brought unexpected changes to Zhao Xiaoxue's life. As of the end of September, her "fixed income+" fund had silently accumulated nearly 4% of returns. Although I only make a profit of a few tens or hundreds of yuan when I open my account every day, the smooth upward curve of 'Xiao Que Xing' has healed my inner turmoil. "On the eve of National Day, Zhao Xiaoxue used the thousands of yuan earned from her account to book a flight to Dali for herself.

The investment story of Chen Feng and Zhao Xiaoxue is not an isolated case. Against the backdrop of structural differentiation and rising risk aversion in the A-share equity market this year, the investment preferences of fund investors are undergoing significant changes.

This bottom-up demand change is also forcing the public fund industry to reflect deeply. From the regulatory authorities clearly proposing to reduce fees and offer discounts, to fund companies actively restricting style drift, large-scale layout of ETFs and low dividend products, to the increasing inclusion of the "investor profit ratio" indicator in the assessment system, the entire industry is struggling but firmly transitioning from a seller oriented sales direction to a buyer oriented investment advisory direction.

Choosing a foundation is certainly difficult, but holding it is also a practice. But in the ups and downs of the market cycle, more and more investors are no longer relying on vague "myths", but like Chen Feng and Zhao Xiaoxue, they have learned to examine their own risk preferences, use discipline to confront human nature, and use the certainty of asset allocation to smooth out the market's storms. In this protracted battle to defend wealth, being able to find the most suitable investment position for oneself is itself a victory.

(Chen Feng and Zhao Xiaoxue are pseudonyms in the article)

(Author Hong Xiaotang)