Vanguard Life Strategy

esmecullen

thanks takesyourchances:)

I'm a first time investor and I thought the VLS 60% acc was one of the more "safer" options to invest in for the long term as I'm not looking to withdraw money anytime soon from this.

Being a beginner..............I'm a little overwhelmed by the choices out there but will wait and see and when I get more experienced in investing............may decide to broaden my outlook and perhaps dabble in buying some shares and perhaps another fund.

In the meantime will keep reading and researching and keeping my eye on the markets:)

JohnRo

esmecullen wrote: »

... and keeping my eye on the markets:)

Unless you're looking for an opportunity to invest a further lump sum at a lower price I wouldn't pay too much attention to, or worry about the markets. Your investment is in there, it isn't a part of your wealth you need to access in a hurry, it's earning dividends/interest and will do whatever it does over the years.

Much better than having it stored as manipulated for profit bankster tickets that's for sure. (imho)

takesyourchances

esmecullen wrote: »

thanks takesyourchances:)

I'm a first time investor and I thought the VLS 60% acc was one of the more "safer" options to invest in for the long term as I'm not looking to withdraw money anytime soon from this.

Being a beginner..............I'm a little overwhelmed by the choices out there but will wait and see and when I get more experienced in investing............may decide to broaden my outlook and perhaps dabble in buying some shares and perhaps another fund.

In the meantime will keep reading and researching and keeping my eye on the markets:)

No problem at all

The VLS is a great save and hold set up and if you don't need the money soon let it work away, I am the same I am letting mine sit as long as needed there is no set time scale as this is long term for me.

There is huge amounts of choice and it can be mind blowing, I narrowed down the extra geographic regions I liked and then looked at the investment funds / trackers within these and made a choice out of them.

If you have a region of the world or market you fancy then you can narrow down your choice of fund etc around that.

I have a virtual set up of single shares going for over a year, which is fun to see, but don't think I would enter them as it is putting a lot of faith in one company and to spread it I think it would take a lot.

I prefer the spread within funds etc were you are investing in lots of companies all at once and it spreads the risk and also you can spread the geographic location. This personally is the attraction for me over investing in a single company share and after picking funds etc it is pretty hands off, save and drip feed and hold does me nicely

Keep us updated how you are getting on, only change I made is I have decided to hold fire on taking out the BlackRock Global property tracker at the moment and instead I set up a drip of £50 into my newly opened Aberdeen Japanese Small Company fund, so April will be a spread of drip feeds of £500 between my VLS and funds.

For May and the next few months ahead I think I will be drip feeding in around £300 to £350.

Good luck

Cash-Cow_3

I keep reading bonds are in a bubble. With vls does that not make this risky.

Also looking at some of the holdings banks are very high up in the % of stock in the portfolio. Isn't that risky given debts in Europe?

brasso

Cash-Cow wrote: »

I keep reading bonds are in a bubble. With vls does that not make this risky.

Also looking at some of the holdings banks are very high up in the % of stock in the portfolio. Isn't that risky given debts in Europe?

Yes and yes.

VLS is good if you are a committed passive investor, and want to just have money in the markets but want to take no interest.

Remember there is no guarantee that you won't lose all your money. VLS simply tracks a selection of global indexes (with a heavy UK bias). If we enter another extended dip, you will lose. That said, if you have a very long timeframe available, in theory you should be reasonably safe, especially if you can continue to dripfeed additional investment during the lean times i.e. you will be buying cheap.

But if you have just a one-off lump sum to invest, be aware that with markets at a historic high, you have to decide whether now is the best time to buy.

ozzage

For the people in this thread I say:

In my view deciding whether now is the best time to buy is not a great idea. The markets could rise 20% next month. Nobody knows.

Invest your money. Invest more money. Wait. Keep investing. Ignore everything else.

It's not complicated. Invest whenever you can. That's important. Don't NOT invest because you think the market will drop, or because you're afraid that it won't rise yet, or for any other reason. Just keep putting your money in when you have it.

It'll all work out nicely in the end if you just keep it simple (assuming you have time on your side).

Many problems come from trying to time the market. People delay buying hoping for better circumstances, or they sell out of fear at exactly the wrong time, expecting things to drop further. They miss a year's worth of dividends waiting for the perfect opportunity to buy, which never comes. Or it does come but they miss it because they're not quite sure yet. You can't predict the markets so don't even try. Just invest.

adewalton

That's right!!!!
It's more about how long you intend to invest for in my eyes?
That's a bigger question I say!!!
The longer the better as they say ......

It's not about timing the markets it's about time in the markets!!!

esmecullen

takesyourchances wrote: »

I prefer the spread within funds etc were you are investing in lots of companies all at once and it spreads the risk and also you can spread the geographic location. This personally is the attraction for me over investing in a single company share and after picking funds etc it is pretty hands off, save and drip feed and hold does me nicely

Keep us updated how you are getting on, only change I made is I have decided to hold fire on taking out the BlackRock Global property tracker at the moment and instead I set up a drip of £50 into my newly opened Aberdeen Japanese Small Company fund, so April will be a spread of drip feeds of £500 between my VLS and funds.

For May and the next few months ahead I think I will be drip feeding in around £300 to £350.

Good luck

thanks:) yes I will do

good luck with yours:)

latecomer

Bit of an odd question but anyone know whether I would be able to contribute to this fund as part of my work pension and hence benefit from the tax advantage from it? That to me sound like the best of both worlds as I intend to increase my contributions anyway and am looking at investing in S&Ss. Obvious downside is its locked in and untouchable until 55 (18 years away for me)

I guess it may depend whether its available via our pension provider but it might be worth asking?

mickeypops

latecomer wrote: »

Bit of an odd question but anyone know whether I would be able to contribute to this fund as part of my work pension and hence benefit from the tax advantage from it? That to me sound like the best of both worlds as I intend to increase my contributions anyway and am looking at investing in S&Ss. Obvious downside is its locked in and untouchable until 55 (18 years away for me)

I guess it may depend whether its available via our pension provider but it might be worth asking?

Most employer pension schemes are tied into one provider of funds - Standard Life, Legal and General etc., and you wouldn't be able to specify a fund out of the list approved for your scheme.

However, there's absolutely nothing to stop you opening a Self Invested Pension Plan (SIPP) with HL or Best Invest, or many ohers, on top of your employer's scheme. You'll get all of the tax benefits, and you can place your investment into pretty much any fund you want, including all of the Vanguard ones.