Suggestions: make up of a savings / investment portfolio?

Lokolo

Aegis wrote: »

Plus you can cheat. Find a low-volatility fund with no initial charge, put a lump sum of £1000 or more into it, then switch out of that fund into the others you want to invest in. HL has no minimum amount for switches into funds, so you can put as much as you like in as many funds as you want.

I am about to cancel my regular contribution into one fund and it only has £100 in it....

Car Savings > Investments at the moment. I am worried the poor thing isn't going to make it through the next year :rotfl:

orangeshoes

Aegis wrote: »

Plus you can cheat. Find a low-volatility fund with no initial charge, put a lump sum of £1000 or more into it, then switch out of that fund into the others you want to invest in. HL has no minimum amount for switches into funds, so you can put as much as you like in as many funds as you want.

What a great tip, thanks very much.

orangeshoes

I'll strap my helmet on and ask for opinions on the following. We've decided to put £1,000 in to each of the 14 funds below in a £14k lump, then add around £70 a month to each from this point forward (so around £1,000 a month added).

We'll have cash savings of around £50k in a 6% bond and will plan to add £300 a month to some other cash fund (£1k a month to invest seems enough for us at the moment!) on an ongoing basis.

If anyone has comments / recommendations / criticisms on any of the funds below I'd be happy to hear them.

Bonds
Jupiter Strategic Bond Income
Investec Sterling Bond Fund Income Class
M & G European Corporate Bond Class X Income
AXA Sterling Corporate Bond Class R Accumulation

UK Equities
Liontrust Top 100 Income Units
Schroder UK Mid 250 Retail A Income Units
BlackRock UK Smaller Companies Income Units
BlackRock UK Income Income Units

Foreign Stuff
Neptune India Accumulation
Aberdeen Asia Pacific A Income

Mix of Other Stuff
BlackRock UK Absolute Alpha Class P Acc
Aviva Inv Property Investment Fund Income Units
Lazard Emerging Markets Retail Income Units
First State Global Listed Infrastructure Income

fg22

Compared to a balanced portfolio it appears to be heavy in emerging markets with little European, American or Japanese equity.
I'd add a European, an American and probably a Japanese fund too and either reduce the proportion in bonds or the amount in emerging markets/asia depending on if a higher or lower risk profile was wanted.

orangeshoes

Thanks for the useful advice FG. Anyone else with opinions?

bendix

The UK stock component looks too heavily geared to small caps to me. I'd would lose one of the bond funds and replace with a defensive UK share fund which focuses on pharmas, tobacco etc. Something like Invesco Perp Income.

if yuo wanted to take a punt on things like currencies, physical metals etc, Artemis Strategic Assets might be a bit of fun.

Jonbvn

As the OP is finding, investing is so much more fun than saving!

orangeshoes

Bendix - thanks for the advice.

I'm gathering that I might be a bit bond heavy, so I'll take your advice.

Jon - much more fun. Why doesn't everyone do it with a least little bit of cash?!

nrsql

By doing the £14k lump sum you are saying that you thiunk the market is at a low point (or at least is rising).
starting with a monthly £150 - in 1 year that will give you a similar investment and save you losing out if we are shorthly heading for a dip.

Still gives the excitement of monitor the investment but without the downside.
Of course - best would be to choose the best time to invest but without a crystal ball.....

As to the funds - I'm guessing it is biased towards the sectors you think are going to do well? For me it's too much bonds and UK - but then I'm very anti UK at the moment and pro emerging market / resources. But who knows?

orangeshoes

nrsql wrote: »

By doing the £14k lump sum you are saying that you thiunk the market is at a low point (or at least is rising).
starting with a monthly £150 - in 1 year that will give you a similar investment and save you losing out if we are shorthly heading for a dip.

I do think the market is at a low point in some regards. Not a completely confident assessment, just a gut feeling. Most of our cash is tied up at 6% and I want to do something different with the rest.