Legal & General Tracker

andmas

dunstonh wrote: »

Board and posters are not allowed to give advice. .

Thanks dunstonh. I understand that for my third question (which I did say was "probably a stupid question") but thought that opinions by posters on my first and second questions (as below) were allowed. Its noted that I stated "advice" when I should have said "opinions"!

My queries were:
1) Which platform would be recommended on the basis that I would not be changing funds more than a couple of time a year. HL & iii have both been mentioned - are they comparable with charges.
2) Would it be better to invest in say 5 nr funds rather than 3 nr funds to give diversity.

If anyone has opinions on the above questions I would like to hear them!

jimjames

I use HL and would highly recommend them. First class service and one of the best websites I've used for transactions on the web for any type of service not just investments.

ermine

I conclude that:
1) I invested the sum at the wrong time (i.e. peak)
2) I would have had slightly better returns if I had invested in a tracker with a lower AMC / TER however that return would have been far less than the 40 - 50% return I was expecting.

It is clear that I need to get rid of the L&G tracker and it would appear the best option would be to transfer it into some new funds, to which I would invest a total of £300 per month.

To some extent you're now on your own, as you have to take an opinion as to what sort of assets you think will do well over the next 10-15 years. You'll get a lot of opinion from everyone, but it's just that.

Agreed that just like me you were unlucky in the timing of your tracker at the start. That doesn't necessarily mean that that particular asset class (FTSE All share) has to be got rid of, since what matters is your view on how it'll do from now on.

There is at least one investment strategy (dogs of the FTSE..) that specifically invests in things that haven't done well in the past, assuming that in general things revert to the mean. Past performance is no guide to the future, either on the downside or the upside. It's why chasing momentum (if it's going up, buy more!) doesn't work for many people.

So you'll either have to form an opinion of what you think will do well in future, it could be the FTSE All-share, it could be gold, it could be china, it could be india, you have to research and take a view. Alternatively seek advice from an IFA if you have enough money for it to be worth your (and their) while. I don't know how much of an investment stake one needs to make that worthwhile.

I went with iii because I am an individual shares/etf sort of guy. That index fund is the only fund I use. It seems they are generally dearer than HL for funds. Perhaps you need to first identify the asset class(es) you want ot invest in, identify the funds or shares that correspond to them and then you can compare what is the best platform(s) to hold them in, as costs chould be slaughtered wherever possible, they are parasitic losses drainign the lifeblood of your investment performance