Investments that haven't seen the light of day for a decade are making a comeback as investors seek superior returns in a low-rate world.
Zero-dividend preference shares, which caused the big mis-selling scandal of the last bear market, are back as wealthy investors look for ways to get round 50% tax.
Regular investment plans, better known as endowments, are making a comeback because they are free from tax if held for 10 years - and these days they don't have to be invested in discredited with-profits funds.
Technology funds are back in vogue, too, while hundreds of thousands of investors in beleaguered New Star UK Property may be surprised to learn that the fund back on advisers' buy lists, as wealthy investors such as Gerald Ronson, the developer, queue up to buy shops and offices again.
Here, we look at comeback investments:
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ZEROS
Zeros, a type of share in split-capital investment trusts, aim to return a target sum to shareholders on a set date.
A mix of heavy borrowing and big cross-holdings saw many splits collapse in the bear market of 2000-03 but regulation has subsequently tried to clean up the sector.
Technically, zeros do not pay income - they offer a predetermined amount when the trust is wound up, provided it achieves a stated minimum return - so all of the gains are subject to capital gains tax (CGT) at 18%. This makes them more attractive to high earners, particularly those on more than £150,000 who will pay the 50% rate of income tax from April.
A handful of funds have issued zeros in the past few months, including Electra Private Equity, Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities and JZ Equity Partners. Electra raised £43m in July, while Ecofin raised £60m - the largest single issuance of zeros the sector had seen for two years.
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Electra's zeros, issued at 100p, aim to return 155.4p to shareholders in seven years - a return of 55.4p, or 7.9p a year on a simple interest basis. Taking into account compounding (interest on interest), that's equivalent to a 6.5% annual yield.
An investment of £100,000 in zeros with an effective yield of 6.5% would make £55,400 over seven years. The CGT allowance (£10,100 this year) would reduce the gain to £45,300, on which tax would be payable at 18%, so £8,154, said Charles Tan, an analyst at Killik, the broker.
This compares with a total tax bill of £25,092 over seven years if you had put £100,000 into a savings account with a rate of 6.5% (a highly unlikely figure in the current environment) and were liable to income tax at 50% Annabel Brodie-Smith at the Association of Investment Companies said: "The split-capital sector has had a mixed history but for investors prepared to do their homework they can be a very useful financial planning tool."
ENDOWMENTS
Endowments, renamed maximum investment plans (Mips) by the industry to distance them from the mortgage scandal of the 1980s and 1990s, are making a comeback ahead of the 50% top rate of tax.
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If a maximum investment plan is set up for a minimum of 10 years, and held for at least 7.5 years, returns will not be subject to higher-rate tax. The underlying investments, managed by life companies, are deemed to have been taxed already at 20%, but higher-rate taxpayers have nothing more to pay.
You could put £100,000 into a Mip when your child is born and start encashing, say, £10,000 a year from the age of seven-and- a-half, with no further tax to pay against the 40% (or 50%) in a bank account.
The schemes are also expected to get more popular with the removal of tax relief on pensions for high earners from 2011.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Investment broker Bradley Goldenberg says interest in commercial property investment has hit its highest in at least two years, and broker Bestinvest is again tipping New Star UK Property - a fund that once managed more than £2 billion of investors' money, but is now worth just £635m after suffering huge outflows and poor performance.
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Investors in commercial property funds have lost more than 23% in the past year, according to Trustnet, the data provider. However, with yields at about 6%, experts say the market is turning the corner.
Standard Life believes investor confidence is returning and is making its UK Property Fund available as a stand-alone investment. Up until now, the fund has only been available through its offshore bond and Irish pension products.
TECH FUNDS
This sector has been under a cloud since the tech bubble burst but analysts are tipping it again.
In recent months, technology indexes in the UK and US have outperformed. The FTSE Techmark 100 is up 23% so far this year while the FTSE All-Share has risen 12.8%. The Nasdaq Composite has climbed 25.8% compared with an 11.1% rally for the S&P Composite 500.
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Oriel Securities tips Polar Capital Technology, which has about two-thirds of its portfolio in the US, and Herald, which focuses on smaller media, communications and IT companies mainly located in the UK, as "buys".