THE final countdown to the end of the tax year always brings a flurry of recommendations from financial experts on how you should use your £7,000 Isa allowance. But the real question we would all like answered is: what are the investment gurus doing with their own money?

Times Money asked seven experts how they are using their Isa allowance.

Justin Modray, of Bestinvest, is dividing his money two ways, with the bulk, £5,000, going into Artemis Global Growth, managed by Peter Saacke. Mr Modray says: “I like the manager’s stock selection process, which uses an analytical tool known as Smart Garp. The fund is still quite small and has a lot of potential.”

His other £2,000 is going into New Star Select Opportunities. “It has performed badly for two years but I have confidence that Patrick Evershed, the manager, will do well over the long term,” he says.

Philippa Gee, of Torquil Clark, is plunging her £7,000 into one fund: the Neptune Green Planet fund. “This is my way of combining principles with profits,” she says. “The fund is run by a very talented bunch of people at Neptune. Chris Taylor is the manager but he also has the backing of the very experienced Robin Geffen. Unlike a standard ethical fund, this one concentrates exclusively on themes to do with climate and the environment, but it has quite a tough stock-filtering process.”

Darius McDermott, of Chelsea Financial Services, is going for three funds. His first, Baring German Growth, is designed to tap into the often overlooked potential of Europe in general and Germany in particular. His other choices are more defensive. He is putting some money into Neil Woodford’s Invesco Perpetual High Income fund and some into Guy de Blonay’s New Star Global Financials fund. “Both should do well in all types of investment climate,” he says.

Alan Steel, of Alan Steel Asset Management, has put his £7,000 into the Skandia Global Best Ideas fund. This is a multi-manager fund featuring some of the biggest names in the industry, such as Hugh Young, of Aberdeen, Angus Tulloch, of First State, Roger Whiteoak, of AXA Framlington, and Gartmore’s Ashley Willing and Simon King.

Mr Steel says: “It is growth-orientated and my research shows that growth funds tend to perform better than value funds in the second half of each decade.”

Brian Dennehy, of Dennehy Weller & Co, is going for two very different funds. His first choice is M&G Japan Smaller Companies. “While most asset classes have bounced back from the falls of May and June last year, Japanese smaller companies have stayed down and out. I think they could be the surprise package of 2007 and I have put half my Isa money into the M&G fund.”

The other half is going into the Artemis Strategic Bond fund and Mr Dennehy says: “James Foster, the manager, is an experienced hand on the tiller. He has adjusted the portfolio away from riskier bonds towards safer, higher-quality bonds.”

Dennis Hall, of Yellowtail Financial Planning, is spreading his money with four separate choices. The bulk of his allowance, £4,000, is going into Invesco Perpetual High Income. He says: “My belief is that UK inflation will rise over the next five to ten years, so the idea of a rising income stream is attractive to me.”

Mr Hall is putting £1,000 each into Neptune Japan Opportunities, Fidelity Global Property and HgCapital Trust. He says: “Japan has been undervalued for so long but the feeling I get from friends and family over there is that things are probably on the move. The property fund is brand new and Fidelity has the muscle to make an impact in this area. UK property may be overheated but globally the sector has some value. Hg is a private equity investment trust that has produced extremely good returns.”

Mick Gilligan, of Killik & Co, wins the prize for the most esoteric way of investing his Isa money. He is putting his £7,000 into CQS Rig Finance. “This is basically a high-yielding bond fund to finance the building of oil-rig infra-structure,” he says. “The bonds offer a high estimated yield of about 8 per cent and the interest will be tax-free within the Isa — and there may be a bit of capital appreciation as well.”

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