comments on my CRAZY portfolio please

bendix

There is a point to my cynical but tongue-in-cheek dismissal of such threads. i seriously don't undertand the point of them. Without getting into the psyche of the investor, knowing his investment parameters, attitudes to risk (both stated and actual - often different things) they remain meaningless attempts to garner approval from a bunch of strangers who don't really give a damn because they have no vested interest in the 'advice' or support they give.

Ipso facto, they are more about the individual's craving for approval than anything else. Isn't that what mothers exist for?

I'll get my coat.

Rollinghome

bendix wrote: »

Ipso facto, they are more about the individual's craving for approval than anything else. Isn't that what mothers exist for?

Or is about trying to generate ideas, and possibly obtain some reassurance that if our strategy turns out to have been daft there were others equally clueless. You can do that with your wife if she cares and the dog if she doesn't. For those without a wife or a dog then forums like these may be the next best thing. It's just the normal crowd behaviour of our species.

jamesd

riskyb, I'm glad that you found it inspiring. I'll hope that it works out well for both of us!

Do take the volatility seriously, though. One of the funds I used was in Latin America. Started out at 100% of initial price, rose to 132% of price in the summer of 2008, fell to 56% in later 2008 and early 2009 and is now at 167% of initial price. It can be a bumpy ride and not for the faint of heart! I bought more gradually while the price was below 100% and rising.

You might find it interesting to compare the performance of Allianz RCM BRIC Stars with Aberdeen Emerging Markets. I started switching about three quarters of my ISA holding of the former to the latter today.

bendix

Rollinghome wrote: »

Or is about trying to generate ideas, and possibly obtain some reassurance that if our strategy turns out to have been daft there were others equally clueless. You can do that with your wife if she cares and the dog if she doesn't. For those without a wife or a dog then forums like these may be the next best thing. It's just the normal crowd behaviour of our species.

Nahhhhhh, i prefer my original theory that people are idiots.

blinko

jamesd wrote: »

riskyb, I'm glad that you found it inspiring. I'll hope that it works out well for both of us!

Do take the volatility seriously, though. One of the funds I used was in Latin America. Started out at 100% of initial price, rose to 132% of price in the summer of 2008, fell to 56% in later 2008 and early 2009 and is now at 167% of initial price. It can be a bumpy ride and not for the faint of heart! I bought more gradually while the price was below 100% and rising.

You might find it interesting to compare the performance of Allianz RCM BRIC Stars with Aberdeen Emerging Markets. I started switching about three quarters of my ISA holding of the former to the latter today.

why didnt you trade out of your fund when you saw it diving ?

jamesd

blinko, when was the price going to stop dropping?

The worst value drop I saw was under 40%. In a very volatile fund that's not enough to worry me when it was around £400.

blinko

jamesd wrote: »

blinko, when was the price going to stop dropping?

The worst value drop I saw was under 40%. In a very volatile fund that's not enough to worry me when it was around £400.

haha very true of course, but surely alarm bells were riungin at a straight 20% drop... ok £400 is an amount one can afford to lose but imaing eit was £4000 or 40k assuming 10k and 100k inivestments

bendix

blinko wrote: »

why didnt you trade out of your fund when you saw it diving ?

Why would you trade out of it when you saw it diving?

Surely you trade into it when the price falls.

blinko

yeah but 40% drop is alot surely the data you are reading would suggest after 10% etc that it was a correction of some sort and not just a small dip i feel at the moment we are headinginto a correction of approx 5 - 10%