Vanguard Life Strategy

mark55man

remember, despite all the hype, that Japan's rise is in dollar-adjusted terms only 3% greater than the S&P - although I do think it has more upside

gadgetmind

I have my only over-weight to Japan via Ruffer Inc Co (RICA).

For Europe, I picked up some ITs on discounts in early 2012 and then sold when both NAVs picked up (understatement!) and discounts narrowed. I'm now broadly neutral on Europe.

If you're a fan of buying into out of favour sectors/territories then ITs are a great way to "double dip" as they drift back up the popularity charts.

Shaolin_Monkey

I tend to think that further significant rises in the Japanese stock market will likely be accompanied by weakening of the yen. For that reason a currency hedged fund is something I'm considering to cancel out the effect of the weakening yen. A cost effective way to do this is through iShares MSCI Japan Monthly GBP Hedged ETF (IJPH). It's shot up very quickly in the last few months which makes me a bit nervous about buying at this moment, but on the other hand long term (I think) it could go a long way.

brasso

gadgetmind wrote: »

I have my only over-weight to Japan via Ruffer Inc Co (RICA).

For Europe, I picked up some ITs on discounts in early 2012 and then sold when both NAVs picked up (understatement!) and discounts narrowed. I'm now broadly neutral on Europe.

If you're a fan of buying into out of favour sectors/territories then ITs are a great way to "double dip" as they drift back up the popularity charts.

@gadgetmind --- Would you mind clarifying the point about ITs and 'double dipping'? I'm not disagreeing -- I simply don't understand. A brief explanation for my education, or even a link to a longer explanation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

takesyourchances

mark88man wrote: »

remember, despite all the hype, that Japan's rise is in dollar-adjusted terms only 3% greater than the S&P - although I do think it has more upside

Yes that is true about the dollar adjusted terms, the currency can add to the fluctuation.

gadgetmind wrote: »

I have my only over-weight to Japan via Ruffer Inc Co (RICA).

For Europe, I picked up some ITs on discounts in early 2012 and then sold when both NAVs picked up (understatement!) and discounts narrowed. I'm now broadly neutral on Europe.

If you're a fan of buying into out of favour sectors/territories then ITs are a great way to "double dip" as they drift back up the popularity charts.

Yes IT's look very good for niche sectors and out of favour sectors/territories, the only thing would be the amount needed for me to make an IT worth while to buy into, it seems from our posts before when I was asking about IT's to learn about them I would need higher amounts. They do look very good though for specific sectors and your Europe buys was very good.

I have some exposure in Europe through the VLS and would do with the Global Small Cap but would leave a fund focused solely on Europe at the moment.

I am thinking this Aberdeen Japanese Small Cap fund for the opening amount of £500 and while I would increase my others over the course of the year I could put small drips of 50's in every few months while I bring the others up. Maybe on these amounts this would be more suited to get some exposure there.

Shaolin_Monkey wrote: »

I tend to think that further significant rises in the Japanese stock market will likely be accompanied by weakening of the yen. For that reason a currency hedged fund is something I'm considering to cancel out the effect of the weakening yen. A cost effective way to do this is through iShares MSCI Japan Monthly GBP Hedged ETF (IJPH). It's shot up very quickly in the last few months which makes me a bit nervous about buying at this moment, but on the other hand long term (I think) it could go a long way.

I also had a look at the iShares MSCI Japan Monthly GBP Hedged ETF it didn't half shoot up over the last few months. With a long term view though it looks to be a nice holding.

Although on my overall portfolio amounts and smaller opening amounts for me it would be the amounts needed to make the investment worth while and for small drip feeds here and there.

I would only be looking at £500 to start with while I build the other funds up and slower drip feeds of £50 every few months which is pointing me towards the Aberdeen fund on the smaller opening amounts I would be looking at.

I am thinking if I was to open the Standard Life Global Small Cap and the Japan Small Cap funds this month within the tax year it is allowing me from April to April a good run at the drip feeds on my next allowance for 2013/14 and to add the First State Asian Pacific at the back end of this year rather than add these two small cap funds within the allowance after April and the First State Asian Fund.

This is a link out of interest

http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/a/aberdeen-global-japanese-smaller-cos-d2-gbp-accumulation

All great reading thank you

Totton

Equal amounts of 20% plus the 100% is the same sort of exposure as putting it all in the 60%.

imho that is not correct, take a look at the holdings ... I do agree that holding more than one Vanguard fund is a little daft, you just need to decide on your risk appetite and then select the best one that fits.

HTH,
Mickey

Carpi09

takesyourchances wrote: »

http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/a/aberdeen-global-japanese-smaller-cos-d2-gbp-accumulation

All great reading thank you

Looks like a strong fund to hold. Surprisingly it did well from 08-09 compared to many others.

Can this go on is the question, I'd like to think so and definitely may feature in my portfolio come April.

gadgetmind

brasso wrote: »

Would you mind clarifying the point about ITs and 'double dipping'? I'm not disagreeing -- I simply don't understand.

If an IT invests in an unloved sector, then its Net Asset Value will be low because no-one wants to hold these assets. Furthermore, no-one wants to hold the equity of this IT, so it trades at a discount to NAV. You therefore get cheap assets as a discounted price.

For example, in early 2012 I bought into ITs in Europe, Property, Financials, Property in Europe, European Financials, etc. Not only were these underlying equities cheap, but ITs investing in them were on 20-30% discounts. As the perceived risk changed, the values of the underlying assets increased, and the IT discounts narrowed.

I have now reduced these positions to be more neutral on the areas listed but am still a little over-weight on European property/equity and global financial capital.

Come April, I'll sniff around again for opportunities as I rebalance. Who knows, I might revert to being a stock picker!

takesyourchances

Carpi09 wrote: »

Looks like a strong fund to hold. Surprisingly it did well from 08-09 compared to many others.

Can this go on is the question, I'd like to think so and definitely may feature in my portfolio come April.

Yes looks very interesting to me and held better than a lot during 08-09.

The undervalue in the companies I am not sure how long can last, the measures being put in place at the moment and the value looks good for the long term. I think on a lower holding this looks an interesting addition to have.

You have a good core in your VLS so come April your side fund choices will fit in well. Thinking about my ideas I think I am better off getting the extra exposure opened in this allowance to have more drip feeding in my allowance from April on.

Thanks

Porcupine

Stupid question time. The Blackrock Consensus funds are funds-of-funds, are they not? On HL Consensus 85 A-units have an TER of 0.65%. But if you drill down into the components you find a second layer of charges, for example BlackRock 100 UK Equity Tracker Class D has OCF of 0.17% and Blackrock Cash A class has a TER of 0.58%. So do you end up paying somewhat more than the AMC of the wrapper fund suggests?