What funds can be classed as low risk ?

learjet

Perhaps that should be 'risk averse' rather than 'very risk averse' then. I'm ok with low risk but my current funds and equities are worth way less than a few years ago and much less than I originally put in.

I have lots of 'no risk' savings in cash ISAs (fixed and variable) plus other term accounts and regular savings so I am looking for something other than more cash savings. Something which, for a lowish risk, is likely to keep ahead of inflation better than 6-7% savings accounts.

LJ

LongTermLurker

earlgrey wrote: »

I notice Blackrock Absolute Alpha has uncharacteristicaly lost value every day since the beginning of this month, now 2% down. Better than the FTSE All share's 3.5% but interesting.

Glad I didn't go for it a few weeks ago then - it makes the point about "low risk" though; whether they use judgement to decide if stocks will go up or use the same judgement to decide if stocks will go down, it's still going to have a degree of uncertainty.

Maybe they'be been downgrading the wrong companies then

dunstonh

Perhaps that should be 'risk averse' rather than 'very risk averse' then.

Does that refer to investment risk, shortfall risk, or inflation risk?

sdooley

"There are no investments (to my knowledge) where capital is protected "

There are also structured notes which have the advantage over GEBs that you can sell them mid-term without penalty (but also without the benefit of the guarantee).

wriggly

Investing in developed world government-issued bonds is probably the lowest risk investment around. As an example (not a recommendation), you could invest in an M&G ISA splitting your contributions between the Gilt & Fixed Interest Income Fund and the Real Yield Fund. A bit more risk (and possibly return) could be added with the High Interest Fund.

M&G have made their website stupidly difficult to navigate, but if you can find the Key Features document for the ISA, it contains all the funds available.

earlgrey_3

LongTermLurker wrote: »

Glad I didn't go for it a few weeks ago then - it makes the point about "low risk" though; whether they use judgement to decide if stocks will go up or use the same judgement to decide if stocks will go down, it's still going to have a degree of uncertainty.

Maybe they'be been downgrading the wrong companies then

Down yet again today.

Be interested to know how they've managed it after being so consistent. Plenty to choose from; my dog could have made money shorting stock over the last 3 weeks. Will see what happens from here.

LongTermLurker

earlgrey wrote: »

Down yet again today.

Be interested to know how they've managed it after being so consistent. Plenty to choose from; my dog could have made money shorting stock over the last 3 weeks. Will see what happens from here.

Is your dog authorised?

baby_boomer

Anyone can be authorised to lose your money.

It's not difficult. The trick is being able to explain the losses convincingly .

The best way forward is to educate yourself financially.

earlgrey_3

LongTermLurker wrote: »

Is your dog authorised?

Apparently not, but he does have all the necessary qualifications.

learjet

dunstonh wrote: »

Does that refer to investment risk, shortfall risk, or inflation risk?

All to some degree I suppose. High investment risk presumably goes hand in hand with a risk of a shortfall. At least inflation risk is just about a known quantity. It's the unexpected and unwelcome risks I don't enjoy.

To be more specific I (meaning my wife and I) still have the £14,400 ISA allowance to use this year. I could as usual put half that in cash ISAs but we have a lot of cash accounts so I thought I might, this year, put more in funds.

If, in 2-3 years time say, the funds were still worth £14k I'd be ok with that. If they grew by 5% or more I'd be happy. If they dropped to 10k I'd be disappointed but not suicidal. I know 2-3 years is very short term but it's the length of time I'd put cash in a fixed ISA for comparison. I was thinking of putting £2k in per month over the next 7 months into a selection of funds but not sure which. Do you think my profile is 'balanced managed' or 'cautious managed' ?

In terms of profile(s) we have about £150k in cash accounts (ISA and term), £30k in direct equities and £14k in funds (previous ISAs). We also put £1000 away into the Halifax reg saver per month. Own home, no mortgage, final salary scheme, probably retire in 3-4 years. So we have no problem with short term or medium term access to cash but I would like to grow some of the cash we have at a better rate than the current BS offers (and inflation of course).

Any guidance would be really appreciated.

Thanks

LJ