Whats your S&S ISA Portfolio? (Winners and Losers)

Linton

A key factor is that more or less exactly 5 years ago the FTSE100 was at its peak just before the credit crunch crash. Now the FTSE100 is around 10% lower. Anyone with a highly defensive portfolio with a large % in bonds is laughing whereas those of us mainly into equities are on average barely breaking even. This isnt the usual state of affairs over an extended period.

I am afraid the figures do demonstrate a point that I usually make in these discussions: what you invest in is far more significant than whether you do it actively or passively. Which is the answer to question as to whether you can construct a £200K portfolio of passive funds.

Sure you can. Whether it is sensibly and appropriately balanced for your needs is another matter, that is where the IFA's experience would really count. Again whether you chose active or passive funds is very much a secondary factor.

Strumminalong

These are my income funds from which I have the monthly income paid out.

Invesco Perpetual Monthly Income Plus 42.3%
Premier Monthly Income Class A 21.2%
Kames Capital High Yield Bond Class A 9.0%
Jupiter Monthly Income 8.7%

These are my accumulation funds from which I aim to build up a reasonable pot over about 10 years.

Cazenove UK Opportunities Class B 7.1%
Aberdeen Emerging Markets Class A 2.8%
Troy Trojan Class I 2.6%
Artemis Strategic Assets Class R 2.6%
Schroder Asian Alpha Plus 0.7%
Investec Emerging Markets Local Currency Debt Class A 0.7%
JPM US Equity Income Class A 0.7%
First State Global Listed Infrastructure Class A 0.6%
Legg Mason Japan Equity Class A 0.6%
Henderson European Special Situations Class A 0.6%

Currently paying in £100 per month via HL, switching between these. 14% up overall after 3 1/2 years.

MarcoM

Fair enough Linton but I am still not sure if a wealth advisor would suggest BTL to someone as mentioned in a previous post.

Also do you think a FA would be happy to deal only with passive funds if a customer had this wish. Basically could one say to a wealth manager "look mate here is a million quid, work out my risk profile but i only want this tuff invested in tracker, up to you to work out what % goes where but only in index trackers please". Do you think the customer would have an easy life?

IronWolf

My list at the moment is

ABERDEEN EMERGING MARKETS A ACC 14%
AMLIN PLC ORD 28.125P 17%
ARROW ELECTRONICS INC COM USD1 6%
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC CLASS'B'COM 4%
CRANSWICK ORD GBP0.10 6%
DECKERS OUTDOOR CORP COM USD0.01 12%
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES 6%
JD SPORTS FASHION PLC ORD GBP0.05 6%
TESCO PLC ORD 5P 23%
WAL-MART STORES INC COM USD0.10 6%

gkerr4

its interesting to me that the bulk of these ISA's are holding 'funds' - i view the S&S ISA as a trading account same as my others.

I transfer the maximum cash into it at the start of each tax year and 'play' - it's my one opportunity to become a millionaire without paying any tax!

jabbahut40

Hi All,

Many thanks to all for the responses to date. As additional info here is the %growth in money terms. These calc's don't consider the time value of money however should give you a good idea of my winners and losers. I have learned from both and am definitely feel a better investor. People are always quick to tell you about their winners however what about the losers? Would welcome your thoughts based on your portfolios and what did you learn.

First State Asia Pacific Leaders Acc (Growth 45.5%, Portfolio 17.9%)
JPM Natural Resources A Acc (Growth 9.3% Portfolio 13.4%)
Invesco Perpetual High Income Acc (Growth 2.7% Portfolio 12.0%)
Marlborough Special Situations Fund Acc (Growth 6.7% Portfolio 11.7%)
Schroder US Mid Cap Acc (Growth 5.5%, Portfolio 9.4%)
Aberdeen Emerging Markets Acc (Growth 4.4%, Portfolio 9.3%)
Henderson China Opportunities Fund (Growth -16.1%, Portfolio 7.7%)
Fidelity MoneyBuilder (Growth 2.3%, Portfolio 5.8%)
M&G Global Basics Fund A Acc (Growth -6.8%, Portfolio 4.9%)
Franklin UK Mid Cap Fund (Growth 0.0%, Portfolio 4.4%) - recent addition
Jupiter Financial Opportunities Fund (Growth -19.3%, Portfolio 3.5%)

Thanks,

Jabba

bowlhead99

My overall split looks like:

Global mostly-developed-markets equities (26%), income or wealth preservation (26%), individual stock picks (23%), emerging markets equities (13%), private equity fund-of-funds (11%), cash (2%).

The detail is:
Vanguard Lifestrategy 100% Equity 13.9%
Standard Life UK Smaller Companies 3.1%
Henderson European Focus Trust 2.5%
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust 2.3%
The Biotech Growth Trust 2.2%
City Natural Resources High Yield Trust 1.6%

Lloyds Banking Group Prefs (LLPD) 5.3%
Lloyds Banking Group Prefs (LLPC) 5.2%
New City High Yield Fund 4.9%
Raven Russia Prefs (RUSP) 3.5%
NatWest Prefs (NWBD) 2.6%
Polar Capital Emerging Markets Income Acc 2.4%
Ruffer Investment Company 2.3%

Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust 5.9%
iShares MSCI Latin America 3.5%
Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies 2.0%
JP Morgan Indian Investment Trust 1.4%

Harbourvest Global Private Equity (HVPE) 5.1%
Pantheon International Participations plc (PIN) 3.3%
Aberdeen Private Equity Ltd (APEF) 2.5%

Some of the categories are a bit arbitrary if you do a look-through, as for example the Polar Capital income fund is also EM but its focus is on income so I put it in that section instead.

The income section is hugely dominated by prefs at the moment as they've performed very well but the yield from them will be going into something else to help rebalance. Nothing in gilts or 'safer' corporate bonds as the prices are now very high and the yields very low - might as well stay in deposit accounts.

In the individual stock picks there are about 10-12 and it usually makes up a fifth to a quarter of this overall portfolio. The biggest holding at the moment is Asian Citrus Holdings (AIM and HK listed).

In terms of general learnings, I've been lucky not to have been in any particularly awful funds compared against their sectors (apart from a couple in a company personal pension in the days before I took an interest), but I've definitely been in the wrong sectors at the wrong times sometimes. Just like I've seen in business, those at the top of their game get more value out of their efforts by focussing on a strategic approach rather than micro-managing the detail.

I would have avoided my biggest losses by only investing in funds rather than indivdual shares, but to contradict my advice to avoid micro-managing, I do get a lot of satisfaction in watching individual companies develop and calling it right from time to time. Outside my ISA I have quite a lot of AIM exposure, where fortunes can be made and lost. But this is a hobby rather than advice to anyone else.

The best advice I have is common sense - from time to time, look at what you are holding and say to yourself - if this (e.g.) 20k portfolio was 20k of cash today, would I go and invest it in these 20k of assets? If not, what would I do differently. Sentimentality can stop people thinking rationally.

Finally - don't take this too far and try to tweak your investments all the time: if you want a fund to be 5% of your portfolio, don't pare it back everytime it gets to 5.5%. Compound growth is your friend. And don't automatically plough more cash in when it drops to 4.5% - sometimes you should cut your losses not average down. But if bonds outperform equities or equities outperform bonds to the extent that your 60:40 split is now 40:60, you need to take a serious look at whether you're still happy with what you're holding, and the growing risk that you lose all your winnings on one side and don't have enough invested to make it up on the positive correction on the other.

MarcoM

bowlhead99 wrote: »

My overall split looks like:

Global mostly-developed-markets equities (26%), income or wealth preservation (26%), individual stock picks (23%), emerging markets equities (13%), private equity fund-of-funds (11%), cash (2%).

The detail is:
Vanguard Lifestrategy 100% Equity 13.9%
Standard Life UK Smaller Companies 3.1%
Henderson European Focus Trust 2.5%
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust 2.3%
The Biotech Growth Trust 2.2%
City Natural Resources High Yield Trust 1.6%

Lloyds Banking Group Prefs (LLPD) 5.3%
Lloyds Banking Group Prefs (LLPC) 5.2%
New City High Yield Fund 4.9%
Raven Russia Prefs (RUSP) 3.5%
NatWest Prefs (NWBD) 2.6%
Polar Capital Emerging Markets Income Acc 2.4%
Ruffer Investment Company 2.3%

Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust 5.9%
iShares MSCI Latin America 3.5%
Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies 2.0%
JP Morgan Indian Investment Trust 1.4%

Harbourvest Global Private Equity (HVPE) 5.1%
Pantheon International Participations plc (PIN) 3.3%
Aberdeen Private Equity Ltd (APEF) 2.5%

Some of the categories are a bit arbitrary if you do a look-through, as for example the Polar Capital income fund is also EM but its focus is on income so I put it in that section instead.

The income section is hugely dominated by prefs at the moment as they've performed very well but the yield from them will be going into something else to help rebalance. Nothing in gilts or 'safer' corporate bonds as the prices are now very high and the yields very low - might as well stay in deposit accounts.

In the individual stock picks there are about 10-12 and it usually makes up a fifth to a quarter of this overall portfolio. The biggest holding at the moment is Asian Citrus Holdings (AIM and HK listed).

In terms of general learnings, I've been lucky not to have been in any particularly awful funds compared against their sectors (apart from a couple in a company personal pension in the days before I took an interest), but I've definitely been in the wrong sectors at the wrong times sometimes. Just like I've seen in business, those at the top of their game get more value out of their efforts by focussing on a strategic approach rather than micro-managing the detail.

I would have avoided my biggest losses by only investing in funds rather than indivdual shares, but to contradict my advice to avoid micro-managing, I do get a lot of satisfaction in watching individual companies develop and calling it right from time to time. Outside my ISA I have quite a lot of AIM exposure, where fortunes can be made and lost. But this is a hobby rather than advice to anyone else.

The best advice I have is common sense - from time to time, look at what you are holding and say to yourself - if this (e.g.) 20k portfolio was 20k of cash today, would I go and invest it in these 20k of assets? If not, what would I do differently. Sentimentality can stop people thinking rationally.

Finally - don't take this too far and try to tweak your investments all the time: if you want a fund to be 5% of your portfolio, don't pare it back everytime it gets to 5.5%. Compound growth is your friend. And don't automatically plough more cash in when it drops to 4.5% - sometimes you should cut your losses not average down. But if bonds outperform equities or equities outperform bonds to the extent that your 60:40 split is now 40:60, you need to take a serious look at whether you're still happy with what you're holding, and the growing risk that you lose all your winnings on one side and don't have enough invested to make it up on the positive correction on the other.

did you use the services of an IFA or did you choose this portfolio by yourself

JohnRo

There's no great wisdom behind my selections, just a ham fisted effort to gain exposure to as much of the global market as I can. The ratios are not fixed, just ballpark for starters since it's a new portfolio, the mix of trackers and managed funds reflect my opinion that a manager may struggle to add much value investing in established large cap markets so a cheaper index tracker is good enough long term, but may have the ability to dig out a few smaller company gems.

Developed Equity Allocation : 50% (Large cap 25%, Small cap 25%)

Index Tracker Funds
Eur Large Cap - 5% - Vanguard FTSE Dev. Europe ex-U.K. Equity Index Fund Inc
Jap Large Cap - 5% - Vanguard Japan Stock Index Fund Inc
Pacific ex Jap Large Cap - 5% - Vanguard Pacific ex-Japan Stock Index Fund Inc
UK Large Cap - 5% - Vanguard FTSE U.K. Equity Index Fund Inc.
US Large Cap - 5% - Vanguard U.S. Equity Index Fund Inc

Global Small Cap - 5% - Vanguard Global Small-Cap Index Fund Inc

Managed Funds
Eur Small Cap – 5% - Threadneedle European Smaller Companies C1 Inc
Jap Small Cap – 5% - M&G Japan Smaller Companies A Inc
UK Small Cap – 5% - Liontrust UK Smaller Companies Inc
US Small Cap – 5% - F&C US Smaller Companies 1 Inc

Global Emerging Equity Allocation : 30% (Large cap 20%, Small cap 10%)

Index Tracker Funds
EM Large Cap - 20% - Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund Inc

Managed Funds
EM Small Cap – 5% - Aberdeen Global Asian Smaller Companies D2 GBP Acc
EM Small Cap – 5% - Aberdeen Global EM Smaller Companies D2 GBP Acc

Bond / Money Markets : 15%

Index Tracker Funds - Investment Grade - 5%

• Vanguard UK Investment Grade Bond Index Inc
  
• Vanguard Global Bond Index Fund Inc

Managed Funds - High Yield - 10%

• Invesco Perpetual Global Financial Capital R Inc
  
• Kames High Yield Bond A Inc

Specialist Markets : 5%

Index Tracker Funds
Property - 5% - Blackrock Global Property Securities Equity Tracker A Acc
[STRIKE]Commodities 5%[/STRIKE]

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4186651

Colin297

14% over 3 years?

Isn't that less than, say, compound interest of 3.5% PA?

I just don't see the benefit, at this moment in time, of risking your funds in S&S unless you have very specific ITK knowledge.

I don't know alot about shares. I bought a book about them. I read it and quickly realised there isn't enough reward in it right now. Certainly, not when wagered against the risk attached.

Think about the amount of time OP etc has spent on assessing and researching the variables of their portfolios etc. If you count the time spent, risk etc, i don't see how anyone who isn't making 10%+ gains PA can justify this input...