Take Your Adviser to Lunch

Especially if they Recommend
the Global Innovators Fund

Now in its 26th year, The Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators Fund is the grandfather of all innovation funds. But only select advisers were smart enough to recommend it to their clients. Given its track record, that’s a shame.

If you happen to have an adviser that recommended the Global Innovators Fund, tell them lunch is on you…and offer a hearty thank you.

 

What Makes the Global Innovators Fund Different?

We believe that innovative companies outperform in the marketplace, meaning their innovation culture provides them with a competitive advantage. This advantage often manifests itself in higher profit margins, lower costs or more attractive products.

We also recognize that innovative companies can attract a lot of buzz or otherwise fall victim to a hype-cycle, which can lead to inflated stock prices. And while we don’t mind paying a bit of a premium for a company with a competitive edge, we are very concerned about paying too much of a premium. For us, valuation matters a lot.

In practice this often means we miss out on some of the biggest highflyers. But it also helps us avoid some very costly mistakes. You’ll see our Morningstar Ratings below. And if you read the fine print regarding Morningstar’s methodology, you’ll see that their star rating methodology is based on risk adjusted returns. Risk adjusted returns can be a bit boring, but in the end, we believe it is what is most important to investors.

Another key difference you’ll see between our Global Innovators Fund and many other funds is that we believe in equal weight holdings. The Global Innovators Fund typically holds 30 positions and they are roughly equally weighted. (For a variety of reasons, they’re never perfectly equal.) The result is that our performance is portfolio based and not driven by one or two big positions that happened to work out. While this can be limiting to the upside, it also helps manage risk.

The Global Innovators Fund was launched in 1998. We’re not new to this innovation investing theme. We have a process, we have the experience, and you can see the performance for yourself.

To continue your research, you can:

If you have additional questions or wish for more personal help, please email us at [email protected]

 

Global Innovators Fund Morningstar Ratings

Category: Global Large-Stock Growth

Morningstar Ratings as of 12/31/2023 Overall 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year
Global Innovators Fund, Investor Class ★★★★★
(331 Funds)		 ★★★★
(331 Funds)		 ★★★★★
(280 Funds)		 ★★★★★
(191 Funds)

Ratings based on Morningstar’s Risk Adjusted Return

Global Innovators Fund Performance

Quarterly Performance as of 12/31/23

  YTD 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Global Innovators Fund, Investor Class (IWIRX) 39.34% 39.34% 5.99%  17.31% 11.52%
Global Innovators Fund, Institutional Class (GINNX) 39.70%  39.70%  6.26%  17.60%  11.75% 

MSCI World NR

  23.79% 23.79%  7.27%  12.80%  8.60% 

Performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance of the Funds may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. Total returns reflect a fee waiver in effect and in the absence of this waiver, the total returns would be lower.

IWIRX Expense Ratio: 1.24% (net) | 1.27% (gross)
GINNX Expense Ratio: 0.99% (net) | 1.10% (gross)

Performance data shown for Global Innovators, Institutional Class (GINNX), prior to its launch date on 12/31/15, uses performance data from the Global Innovators, Investor Class (IWIRX).  

The Advisor has contractually agreed to reimburse expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, interest, taxes, dividends on short positions and extraordinary expenses) in order to limit the Fund’s total Annual Operating Expenses through June 30, 2026. 

Fund Details

Symbol IWIRX GINNX
Class Investor Institutional
Inception Date  12/15/1998  12/31/2015
Minimum Investment $5,000
$1,000 IRA
$250 Subsequent
 $100,000
$100,000 IRA
$5,000 subsequent
CUSIP # 402031 30 6 402031 884
Expense Ratio 1.27% (gross)
1.24% (net)		 1.10% (gross)
0.99% (net)
Benchmark MSCI World Index NR MSCI World Index NR
Redemption Fee None None
Load None   No Load
Morningstar Category Global Large-Stock Growth Global Large-Stock Growth

Morningstar RatingTM

The Morningstar RatingTM for funds, or “star rating”, is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product’s monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.

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