Funds - the more risky type - Advice pls.

jamesd

phsycy, jep49, it might help you to know that as part of some bed and breakfasting to realise capital gains and use my CGT allowance for this year I recently made these changes from higher to lower volatility funds for some of my holdings. The destination funds are still highly volatile, just a bit less so.

Fidelity SE Asia to First State Asia Pacific Leaders
JPM Natural Resources to M&G Global Basics
Allianz RCM BRIC Stars to Aberdeen Emerging Markets

These are all fine funds, just pick whichever covers areas that interest you and has a good match to your views about the area. If any of them do.

StevieJ

Linton wrote: »

Which really gets back to my main point. If you wanted performance perhaps you wouldnt have majored in UK wide-spectrum funds anyway. The major decision is the sector. The less important decision is the fund. By emphasising trackers you are putting the cart before the horse.
.

How do you know I have done that? In fact quite a large portion of my funds are EM and Asia (not trackers), in addition UK large cap funds have quite a substantial non UK bias (around 70%). BTW Income funds can be accumulation as well as income.

The less important decision is the fund. By emphasising trackers you are putting the cart before the horse.

Is not contradictory?

Linton

StevieJ wrote: »

How do you know I have done that? In fact 60% of my funds are EM and Asia (not trackers), in addition UK large cap funds have quite a substantial non UK bias (around 70%).

Sorry, I was using the generic "you" as in "one", not you personally.

It seems like we share a general approach to growth investing, something like - if growth is what you want, go for it.

My proportion in EM and Asia is not quite so high - I also hold specialist small companies, raw materials, and special situations/recovery funds to get as much diversification as possible.

jep49

Linton wrote: »

Suggest you dont try to time the market with funds. No-one really knows whether we are at the top, bottom, or somewhere in the middle: if lots of people knew the prices would move to the point where they didnt.

On average you will lose because of transaction costs. If you aim to hold your funds for a long period (5+ years) you should not worry too much about temporary movements.

If you sell up completely how will you know when to get back into the market? The only reason I can see for turning the lot into cash is if you need the cash.

You are better off having a wide range of different investments and accepting that over time some will do badly for a while and others will do well. If you have diversified effectively you should be able to make minor tweaks at regular but infrequent intervals to take profits from the well performing funds and buy into other funds that are hopefully temporarily cheap.

Yes i understand . It seems to be standard advice. MY problem is i have a large sum to invest. Its been in property for many years and i dont see it ever going in again in my useful lifetime. So i am getting it into anything i think will protect it. Funds in various markets are the main one as is gold. But this is a very dodgy time to put in big lumps and possibly have a double dip next month. Every week seems to show signs of that and many clever pundits , and moneyweek say its coming. As for gold, i have some sovs and always on the lookout for more, but selling/buying costs are large. Got some mining funds, maybe i should add to these. What to do next?

jep49

StevieJ wrote: »

Or crystallising a capital gain as he states in his post while the market is at the top end, sounds reasonable. In fact I will be doing that myself.

Well its a gain for now, but as Linton says , i dont know where the market is. Suppose ill find out soon enough. Its only a real gain if they drop afterwards. Otherwise its enough to !!!! me off.

jep49

Linton wrote: »

Sure, if you KNOW the market is at the top you should clearly sell. And then when you KNOW that the market is at the bottom you buy. Making money is easy really - why doesnt every one do it?.

You have to take it out as a capital gain at some stage if its not in an ISA. Maybe best route is reinvest it straight away in a similar fund the next day.

jep49

jamesd wrote: »

phsycy, jep49, it might help you to know that as part of some bed and breakfasting to realise capital gains and use my CGT allowance for this year I recently made these changes from higher to lower volatility funds for some of my holdings. The destination funds are still highly volatile, just a bit less so.

Fidelity SE Asia to First State Asia Pacific Leaders
JPM Natural Resources to M&G Global Basics
Allianz RCM BRIC Stars to Aberdeen Emerging Markets

These are all fine funds, just pick whichever covers areas that interest you and has a good match to your views about the area. If any of them do.

phsycy. you must be on my h&l account. Done almost exactly the same thing with the same funds. Today sold fid american in the morning. Tonight i see the american market recovered. I realise its hard but i have the time to try and buy on dips, if i can recognise them. I am using my stock and share account as a plaything really, to maximise capital gains, and trying to get a steady increase in the ISA.

StevieJ

jep49 wrote: »

Yes i understand . It seems to be standard advice. MY problem is i have a large sum to invest. Its been in property for many years and i dont see it ever going in again in my useful lifetime. So i am getting it into anything i think will protect it. Funds in various markets are the main one as is gold. But this is a very dodgy time to put in big lumps and possibly have a double dip next month. Every week seems to show signs of that and many clever pundits , and moneyweek say its coming. As for gold, i have some sovs and always on the lookout for more, but selling/buying costs are large. Got some mining funds, maybe i should add to these. What to do next?

I am a glad you split clever pundits and Moneyweek :eek:

jep49

StevieJ wrote: »

I am a glad you split clever pundits and Moneyweek :eek:

Is there a difference?

psychy

DiggerUK wrote: »

phsycy,
You make no mention of gold portfolios, paper gold in ETF's, or mining companies. Huge area to overlook.
Considering the track record of all things close to gold, along with the ammount of funny money inflating currencies, I would advise these areas as amongst the safest plays for S&S ISA's.

Best of fortune.

Thanks Digger.
Not thought really thought about gold.

But just looking into it and BlackRock Gold & General Accumulation Units is on Mark Dampier's Wealth 150.
What do you guys think of this?

So far I'm looking at:

1) Aberdeen Asia Pacific Acc or First State Investment Asia Pacific Leaders Acc

2) Aberdeen Emerging Markets Acc or First State Global Emerging Market Leader Acc

3) Deutsche Bank's Vietnam Index ETF

4) The above Blackrock Gold UT

How does this sound? I'll be looking at diversifying a little more next month when my new ISA allowance comes through.


Many thansk again all.