The wounds felt by investors during the financial crisis of 2008/09 are clearly taking a long time to heal.

As asset classes across the board tumbled and fund portfolio values were dramatically cut, investors were left scrabbling around for somewhere to put their money that would provide decent returns but also some level of certainty.

Even as values have recovered over the last couple of years, volatility has continued. Many people are still very nervous and this is reflected in an apparent increase in short-term investing when it comes to fund portfolios.

Although there are suggestions that this is part of a long running trend, anecdotal evidence suggest that they appear more prepared to sell out of investments if fund ­managers deliver less than immediately expected.

There also appears to be a loss of trust in longstanding and historically successful managers after only a few months of underperformance.

It has been common to blame overseas investors for this phenomenon in the past.

They are seen as more likely to move their money around the globe as they chase short-term gains. But the effect of the recent crisis may be increasing the trend among domestic, private investors.

Lipper’s latest analysis of fund buying and selling indicates that the top-performing 25 per cent of global equity funds have achieved average quarterly net sales totalling £282 million.

Third and fourth-quartile funds have suffered overall outflows of £7 million and £29 million respectively.

It may seem logical for investors to put their money into funds with the best recent performance.

The problem here is that this year’s star performer is often next year’s dog fund.

This problem becomes magnified when you start switching between asset classes as well as fund managers to chase higher short-term returns.

There is absolutely no guarantee that the investment you switch into will outperform the one you have discarded as a dud.

Market sentiment can often turn against a manager’s stock holdings over a period of a few months without reference to the stocks underlying long-term value. Fundamental valuations tend to re-assert themselves over sentiment over longer periods.