Vanguard Life Strategy

takesyourchances

Been thinking a bit more on the property asset allocation idea above, I will continue to watch the BlackRock property tracker on my watch list and although the mainly commercial property asset seems an interesting one to me, I would be very cautious at running it low in % if adding it.

I think really if I was to add this at anytime I would maybe wait until I had at least 10K plus invested overall in other areas then a £500 opening would be 5% or under and could be diluted down to even lower than that, even 3% easily with less regular small drips into it and into mainly the other holdings.

My First State Emerging Markets fund is live for showing gains / loss's and I am very interested in this fund and sector on the side as well and I am happy to have added this. My drip feeds on March 7th will add another £250 to my LS 60% and £50 to my Aberdeen Asian Small Cap, I will adjust the drip feeds for all 3 for April and decide what to add into them. I want to also keep in mind I have around £2500 I can add into the S&S ISA in October.

My watch list at present has 3 funds / trackers of possible later interest in order of interest:

Standard Life Global Small Cap Fund
Reason: To diverse a little with the LS Global Large Cap focus in the developed world in Small Cap for long term growth potential.

First State Asian Pacific Leaders
Reason: With holding the Aberdeen Asian Small Cap fund, additional exposure into Asia and Pacific this fund would give large and mid cap company exposure which I think should compliment the niche Small Cap fund in Asia I have. I looked at the Aberdeen Asian Pacific but prefer the allocations in the First State as the Aberdeen has 13.35% in the UK and I would prefer this type of percentage in the Asian and Pacific region and the First State has 17.08% in Australia which I would prefer in this fund over the Uk as I have UK exposure already and little in Australia which this would give as well and add a bit more global coverage.

Last on my watch list is the above posts for the BlackRock Global Property Tracker for the reasons above and thinking of an a small asset diversification with mainly commercial property. I would be a lot more cautious on a low % holding than any of the funds I have at present and the other two watch list funds, 5% and under even 3% just to have a holding in this sector. If this was to come at all would be after 10K plus was invested in other areas.

This is my watch list at present for ideas for possible future holdings, I would like to balance my core Lifestrat to around 80% with what I have at the moment and if adding anything else for exposure the LS could be ran at 70% to 75% and adjusted as suited, but keeping the LS always the core of the portfolio.

That is my Saturday thoughts after the property idea postings and a long sleep :)

Best regards.

mark55man

This link from Motley Fool may be interesting as it covers the same sort of ground you are discussing here

http://boards.fool.co.uk/developed-world-emerging-market-etfs-12749984.aspx?sort=whole

TYC - thanks for keeping this thread going - have referrred it to several of my friends

takesyourchances

mark88man wrote: »

This link from Motley Fool may be interesting as it covers the same sort of ground you are discussing here

http://boards.fool.co.uk/developed-world-emerging-market-etfs-12749984.aspx?sort=whole

TYC - thanks for keeping this thread going - have referrred it to several of my friends

Thanks, I will have a look through the Motley Fool topic to help with ideas and thoughts

I enjoy contributing to this thread and adding my thoughts and ideas and reading others and hope your friends who you referred this topic to get some good interest in the posts through out

Gadgetmind on another thread here I read has 15% allocation in various property formats so was interested to ask about it and he shared a Vanguard link which had a section about property in relation to the LS funds.

https://www.vanguard.co.uk/documents...-appproach.pdf

I did wonder why property was such a very low percentage in the Lifestrat funds as a diverse also to any bonds held in the various formats so this section of it made that understandable.

Property investors must also be comfortable with the possibility that the property portion of their investment portfolio may correlate with the value of other property holdings in their total portfolio, such as their primary residence.

I can understand this now but did wonder why this was so very low in the LS..

Interestingly I was reading more of the smarter investing book last night and was reading on the various building blocks of a portfolio which included property as well, along with bonds and range of equities.

After reading this section of the book I felt that property could have a small place still and could also diverse a little as well with the bond allocation in the LS funds that feature bonds and along with side funds anyone holds.

I will keep the BlackRock Property Tracker idea on the back burner as it would be a small percentage if adding at a later stage and could be a year or so away. Some thoughts anyway

Gadfium

This is a brilliant thread, and thanks to all posters!

Whats the view on investment times? Is there any advantage to drip-feeding a VLS over the year compared to sticking a lump sum in? I have £5K that I will use to open a new S&S ISA in April. I have £2K of BT shares maturing (Sharesave) in August that I want to get into the ISA. The remaining ISA allowance will probably be made up of the 80% VLS with perhaps some other bits and pieces (perhaps a higher risk emerging markets fund). So, is it more advantageous to stick the initial £5K in straight away, or drip in £1K per month?

JohnRo

Gadfium wrote: »

Whats the view on investment times? Is there any advantage to drip-feeding a VLS over the year compared to sticking a lump sum in?

If you've got the lump sum there's no advantage drip feeding, unless the market you're invested in starts to take a sustained nosedive. I feed monthly as I took the view that a downturn is a possibility and I'd rather try and catch the lower prices with new money than sit on a pile of negative equity for a length of time. It's a risk and if it doesn't happen I'll have missed out on a golden opportunity to grow this element of my investment money quite rapidly in the current environment.

I think the lump or regular feed thing is a question only you yourself can answer, it's psychological rather than technical because no one knows what the future holds.

Gadfium

JohnRo wrote: »

I think the lump or regular feed thing is a question only you yourself can answer, it's psychological rather than technical because no one knows what the future holds.

Thanks for the response. Yes, that makes sense. I think that I'll invest £5k and then drip in another couple of £k over the year.

Carpi09

JohnRo wrote: »

If you've got the lump sum there's no advantage drip feeding, unless the market you're invested in starts to take a sustained nosedive. I feed monthly as I took the view that a downturn is a possibility and I'd rather try and catch the lower prices with new money than sit on a pile of negative equity for a length of time. It's a risk and if it doesn't happen I'll have missed out on a golden opportunity to grow this element of my investment money quite rapidly in the current environment.

I think the lump or regular feed thing is a question only you yourself can answer, it's psychological rather than technical because no one knows what the future holds.

I agree.

I will have 10k ready for April but I'm going to play safe and drip feed it. I also believe a downturn is likely to happen at some point this year and will invest when prices are lower.

May well regret it but aslong as I keep up with the drip feeding, I can't really go wrong.

mark55man

pound cost averaging (drip feeding) is one of the few techniques that seems to generate good returns

broadly it encourages you to buy more when the prices are low and buy less when the prices are high

obviously you can't be investing in garbage but even quality has peaks and troughs. All you need to be sure of is that when you do need the money you have reorganised your assets into a less risky profile so that you don't end up having to sell on a low

both Ben Graham and Warren Buffett (two rather famous US investors) are supportive of the approach

gadgetmind

mark88man wrote: »

obviously you can't be investing in garbage

Yes, you can because where there's muck, there's brass! Whenever the markets are having a bad hair day (or year!) I look for whatever is the most out of favour.

Property, European shares, bank equities, subordinated bank debt, mortgage backed securities, private equity, anything and everything that's suffered a triple helping of being on its knees, out of favour, and on a hefty discount to any sensible valuation.

I've always done better from buying what no-one else will touch, when no-one is really buying anything, than anyone will ever do from buying into whatever trendy investment The Telegraph money section is punting.

I love the uber-panics, such as when Europe is about to explode, the US has just been downgraded, and the streets of London are filled with rioters and arsonists, because that's when you can pick up the diamonds that the thundering herd have dropped as they head for the exits.

You'll get 3-4 such opportunities per decade. Make use of them.

And yes, this is market timing!

mark55man

aha - I wouldn't regard them as garbage but buried treasure - although you must be feeling pleased with your decision on a certain horse related investment

by garbage I meant scam/cowboy territory not respectable (or nearly so) companies just down on their luck