The new pooled investment vehicle - which some believe will eventually replace unittrusts altogether - is the Oeic.

From the consumer's point of view, the main difference between an Oeic and a unittrust is that Oiecs are bought and sold at a single price. Unit trusts have a bid-offerspread, which means there is a difference of about 5 per cent between the price atwhich the fund manager will sell you units and the price at which it will buy themback.

Oeics, unlike unit trusts, are prohibited from investing in funds-of-funds, cashfunds and derivatives-based funds.