• Print page

• Bookmark this page

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Registration
2. Login and Passwords
3. Browser Errors
4. Fund Information
5. Gameplay
6. Performance Measurement
7. Competitions
8. Other

Registration

Q: What is the Game’s website address?
A: http://www.fandc.co.uk/fantasyportfolio

Q: How do I register?
A: Registration is simple and only takes a short time:

1. On the game home page, click on the ‘Register to play here’ box (if a ‘Register’ link is visible on the left side of the page, you can also use this).
2. You will be re-directed to the ‘Create a Portfolio’ page. On that page, select a name and badge for your portfolio and then fill in your personal details. Don’t forget that you need to read and agree to the Terms and Conditions.
3. Click on the ‘Create Entry’ button and you’re done!

Q: How do I select my funds?
A: After creating your entry, click on the ‘Select Funds’ box. Select your first fund from the drop-down, assign a percentage allocation to this fund (between 5% and 20% inclusive) and click the ‘Add’ button. Continue this process until you have allocated 100% of your portfolio allocation. Please note that your portfolio must also adhere to the following rules:

1. A minimum of 10 funds (and a maximum of 20 funds) must be held in your portfolio at all times;
2. The maximum trading allocation exposure to equity funds in a portfolio is 70%;
3. The maximum trading allocation in any one fund is 20%;
4. The minimum trading allocation in any one fund is 5%.

When you have selected a valid portfolio conforming to all of the above rules, the ‘Save portfolio’ button will become clickable. Click this button to complete the selection process.

Alternatively you can click the ‘Lucky dip’ button to automatically select a valid portfolio in seconds, which you can subsequently amend to your liking before clicking ‘Save portfolio’ to continue as above.

Q: Can I change my selections before the start of the game?
A: It is possible to reselect your portfolio at any time before 23:59 GMT on Friday 9 April 2010 by clicking the ‘Reselect starting funds’ link from your portfolio page.

Q: Do I have to be a F&C investor to enter?
A: No, you don’t have to be a client or purchase any F&C products to take part.

Login and Passwords

Q: How do I log in to see my portfolio?
A: Go to the game home at http://www.fandc.co.uk/fantasyportfolio and use the ’Member game login’ box in the top right corner. Alternatively, you may also see the ‘Login/Forgotten password’ link on the left side of the screen that you can use. Use the email address that you registered with and the password you selected.

Q: I have forgotten my Username and/or password. What do I do?
A: On the game home page, you can use the ‘Forgotten your password?’ link in the ‘Member game login’ box. Alternatively, you may also see the ‘Login/Forgotten password’ link on the left side of the screen that you can use. Just fill in the email address you used for registration and we will re-send your password to that address.

Browser Errors

Q: I am seeing an old version of my portfolio page. How to I update this?
A: More than likely, your browser is displaying a version of the page stored in your browser's memory cache. Firstly, press Ctrl-F5 on your keyboard to refresh the page. Failing that, you may also need to remove your temporary internet items (on Internet Explorer - Tools, Internet Options, Delete Files) and check your cache settings (on Internet Explorer - Tools, Internet Options, Settings, Automatically) and try to access your portfolio again.

Q: I keep getting automatically logged-out. What do I do?
A: Again, this is almost certainly a local browser issue. Please ensure that you have cookies enabled on your browser. If necessary, please refer to http://www.google.com/cookies.html for advice on how to enable cookies.

Fund Information

Q: Are all F&C’s funds included in this game?
A: No. We have selected a sub-set of these funds for inclusion in the game.

Q: Are there transaction costs when I invest in or redeem a holding?
A: There are no transaction costs when you make your initial portfolio selection. Once the game commences and trading is allowed, the default charge for investing in Equity funds will be nil% of the total investment value, with a nil% charge for Fixed Income investments. There also will be no transaction cost for trading Liquidity funds. We may run fund promotions during the course of the game and vary these transaction costs. There are no redemption costs.

Please note that transaction costs in the game do not reflect reality.

Gameplay

Q: Can I trade at any time?

A: Trades can be requested at all times, except during the brief periods in which the system is updating overnight and when you have a pending trade “locked down” in the system (please see below regarding what happens when you trade before/after midday).

Q: How do I trade (change) my funds and fund allocations in my portfolio?

A: The ‘Your Portfolio’ page shows your existing portfolio and you can click on the ‘Perform a trade’ link on the Current Holdings bar. You will see a list of funds in your existing portfolio and their respective trading allocation weights (in percentages).

You can now either:

1. Amend the fund weights by increasing (buying) or decreasing (selling) a fund’s percentage allocation and then clicking on the ‘Update’ next to the box containing the fund’s percentage allocation. (Please note that you have to click ‘Update’ for every fund allocation you alter).
2. Sell all your holdings in a fund by clicking on the ‘Remove’ link next to the fund’s percentage allocation.
3. Buy a new fund - scroll down to the bottom of your portfolio and select the required fund from the drop-down list. Insert the required percentage allocation and click on the 'Add' button. You can repeat this process several times should you require to invest in several different new funds.

When you’re happy with the amended portfolio, click on the ‘Save Portfolio’ button. You will now see the pending trades under your current portfolio waiting for trade execution (on the ‘Your Portfolio’ screen).

Please note that if the ‘Save Portfolio’ button is not visible, your amended portfolio breaks one or more of the construction rules or the total percentages allocation of all your funds doesn’t add up to 100%. You can see which rules are currently being broken as they are highlighted in red at the top of the screen, and must be rectified before it is possible to progress with the trade(s).

After making trades, you should ensure that the total percentage allocation adds up to exactly 100% and that your trading percentage allocations adheres to the following rules:

1. Maximum of 70 percent held in equity funds
2. Minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 funds
3. Maximum of 20 percent held in any single fund
4. Minimum of 5 percent in any single fund

Q: When do pending trades take effect?

A: This depends on the time you submit your trade (see below).

Q: What happens when I trade before midday?

A: If you place your trade before midday on a business day, it will be traded using that day’s closing fund prices. During this time, you will see the pending trades under your current portfolio waiting for trade execution (on the ‘Your Portfolio’ screen). However, the trade will not actually be executed until midnight, however, and so you will be unable to place any further trades between midday (when the trading for the current trading day is ‘locked down’) and midnight on the business day you traded because your trade is pending execution. At midnight, the trade will be executed and you will be able to see your updated portfolio from that time on the ‘Your Portfolio’ page.

Q: What happens if I place a trade at the weekend or on a UK Bank Holiday?

A: Trades placed during the weekend or a Bank Holiday will be considered in the same way as a trade made before midday on the next business day.

Q: Can I cancel trades?

A: Yes, but there are deadlines for doing so:

1. If the trade has been placed before midday on a business day, it can only be cancelled before midday. After that the trade will be “locked down” and executed as described above.
2. Similarly, if a trade has been placed after midday, you can cancel the pending trade up until midday on the following business day.

Q: Can I make multiple trades in a day?

A: No, but you can cancel your trade depending on what time you submitted it (see above). Please also note that:

1. If you have placed a trade in the morning and have not cancelled it before midday, then you cannot make any further trades for the remainder of the day whilst the trade is pending.
2. Alternatively, if the trade has been placed after midday, and has not been cancelled before midday on the following business day, then no further trades can be made during the remainder of the following day whilst the trade is pending.

Q: What is the best time of the day to trade?

A: There is no best time as such, though placing a trade after midday means that you can’t submit another trade the following day because the trade is still pending. You are also reminded that excessive trading generates additional costs which may affect performance.

Q: Where can I view my trading history?

A: You can view your trading history on the ‘Your Portfolio History’ page. This will show the date and time at which the pending trades were submitted, as well as the details of the actual trades. By ticking the ‘View cancelled trades’ box and clicking on the ‘Refresh Page’ button you can view the cancelled changes. You can, for example, see the old and new percentage trading allocations, the percentage rate and GBP amount of the trading cost and the GBP amount either invested or redeemed in the respective funds.

Q: Once I have made my fund allocation selections, do I need to keep re-adjusting my percentage allocations in order to ensure that, as funds out/under-perform, I do not break the Portfolio Restriction rules (e.g. the maximum trading allocation exposure to equity funds in a portfolio is 70%)?

A: No you don't. You are not responsible for such fluctuations that are outside of your control.

In order to ensure simplicity of the game, you are not required to re-balance your portfolio each day. Therefore, the portfolio construction restrictions (such as the 70% equity restriction) only apply to the initial percentage allocations selected, and not the current monetary amount as a percentage of the portfolio value. For example, if you select seven equity funds, each with a 10% weight, then these weightings will stay constant until such time that you choose to trade them, irrespective of the performances of your funds.

Q: What do the percentage values on the ‘Your Portfolio’ page relate to?

A: Working from the left of the ‘Your Portfolio’ screen:

1. ‘%’ corresponds to the allocation weighting (adding up to a total of 100%), which you have assigned to each fund in your portfolio during initial selection or in the course of trading.
2. ‘Day %’ is a fund performance measure and shows the percentage movement in the fund compared to the previous business day.
3. ‘Overall %’ is also a fund performance measure, this time showing the fund’s performance within the game. The percentage is the extent of movement of the fund’s value since its inception (i.e. from when it became available for trading) in the game - this will be in relation to the closing prices on 9 April 2010 for the majority of funds. Please note that this value may not reflect the performance of the fund whilst in your portfolio if the fund was first purchased after the start of the game.

Q: How do the trading percentage allocations shown relate to current monetary valuations?

A: They don’t. The trading allocation percentage is merely the allocation weighting from the initial 100% that you have assigned to each fund in your portfolio, and subsequently only affected by trading.

Performance Measurement

Q: What prices are used to price funds?
A: The daily closing prices will be used to price the SICAV and OEIC funds in the fund universe. The closing mid-price will be used to price the Investment Trusts.

Please note that all the other funds in the game accumulate income within the fund and so are unaffected.

Competitions

Q: Can anyone who plays the game win a portion of the overall game prize pool?
A: No. Only entrants which have registered by 23:59 GMT on 9 April 2010 and are still in the game at the end, 23:59 GMT 30 November 2010, can compete for the overall cash prizes.

Q: How do the other competitions work?
A: We may introduce intra-game mini-competitions during the course of the overall game. The criteria for winning prizes in these mini-competitions and the rules of the mini-competition will be announced when the competition is launched.

Q: What prizes am I eligible for if I join the game after 9 April 2010?
A: If you join after 23:59 GMT on 9 April 2010, you will be classified as a late entrant and the late entrant rules will apply (see Terms & Conditions for the game) which means you will not be eligible for the overall game cash prizes. You may, however, be eligible for monthly, quarterly and occasional prizes however, depending on when you join the game.

Q: How will I know if I’ve won a prize?
A: You will be contacted by F&C by phone and/or email if you win a prize and the prize will be delivered to you within 28 days of such notification.

Q: How does the Overall Leaderboard work?

A: The Overall leaderboard is simply a list of the best performing portfolios within the game, based on the percentage increase in portfolio value (from £100m) since the start of the game.

Q: Why is my Portfolio not shown on the leaderboard?

A: Only the top 100 portfolios are listed. If you are not eligible to take part in the Overall competition, (i.e. your starting portfolio was submitted after 23:59 GMT on 9 April 2010), your portfolio will not be shown within the list of the top 100 portfolios, irrespective of your portfolio’s performance. You may, however, be shown in the leaderboards for other game periods, if you are eligible (i.e. your entry was submitted before the start of that Month) and your portfolio’s performance is within the top 100 portfolios for that period.

Other

Q: How do I contact the support team?
A: Use the ‘Help and Support’ facility of the game website

Q: I need to change my email address (or other details) used in the game - how can I do this?
A: To change your email address and/or personal details, simply click the ‘Player Options’ link in the left navigation. Edit the required fields, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the ‘Update details’ button.