Vanguard Life Strategy

esmecullen

Have topped up my VLS 60% with £500 today and will drip in as and when........planning on keeping this as my main fund and perhaps later on buying into a fund with no platform fees and very little in charges if something takes my fancy:)

tashalove

Hi guys,
I just found this thread and am really interested in the Vanguard Life Strategy 80%.
I have never opted for the S&S part of my ISA before so I am decided to take the plunge as I think it's time to start looking into investing for long term.
I am currently in my mid-twenties, do you think the VL 80 is a good starting point for a beginner investor? The regular savings plan sounds appealing to me as I won;t be able to put in a lump sum.

Can anyone offer me advice? Thanks.

Carpi09

tashalove wrote: »

Hi guys,
I just found this thread and am really interested in the Vanguard Life Strategy 80%.
I have never opted for the S&S part of my ISA before so I am decided to take the plunge as I think it's time to start looking into investing for long term.
I am currently in my mid-twenties, do you think the VL 80 is a good starting point for a beginner investor? The regular savings plan sounds appealing to me as I won;t be able to put in a lump sum.

Can anyone offer me advice? Thanks.

Have you read the thread? There is a lot of advice in this.

Similar situation to me, I am invested in the VLS 80 with the intention of keeping it for 10+ years. Keep drip feeding and do not panic when the prices go down, just think of it as a good opportunity to buy at a lower price.

Carpi09

£5760 gone into Cash ISA.

Remaining Balance for S&S: 5760

Time to look for side funds to compliment VLS 80

mark55man

tashalove wrote: »

Hi guys,
I just found this thread and am really interested in the Vanguard Life Strategy 80%.
I have never opted for the S&S part of my ISA before so I am decided to take the plunge as I think it's time to start looking into investing for long term.
I am currently in my mid-twenties, do you think the VL 80 is a good starting point for a beginner investor? The regular savings plan sounds appealing to me as I won;t be able to put in a lump sum.

Can anyone offer me advice? Thanks.

Good as anywhere - as long as you remember its for the long term, and keep pumping the money in even as you go through peaks and troughs. If you are serious about a 10+ year investment (the longer the better) then regard a drop in the value of the fund as a chance to buy more of it - a 10% drop is like 10% more for your money.

You just need to plan careful for when you will need the money as you don't want a last minute slump to undo the good work

marathonic

mark88man wrote: »

You just need to plan careful for when you will need the money as you don't want a last minute slump to undo the good work

This is the tough part. Given that, personally, my retirement planning is done through pensions, my ISA can be used to upsize my house or pay down my mortgage at any point.

It's hard to decide when to withdraw. Perhaps I'll come up with some sort of rule like - I'll drip feed every month for 10 years and, after the 10 years is up, I'll withdraw 20% of the total fund in any year that the market reaches a new all time high to either pay down the mortgage or switch to bonds, gold, etc. Equally, I could just continue to invest indefinitely as my mortgage is very manageable.

mark55man

One thing that Vanguard does is hide the rebalancing between bonds and equities. This is mainly good as rebalancing is nature's way of making you sell high and buy low.

However the need to rebalance grows as you add additional funds etc into your strategy

Tiglath

Another one for VLS80 here via a lump sum + monthly dripfeeding. Planning for 10+ years and I'll probably want to add extra things to the portfolio as I learn more, but my pension is happening elsewhere so this is 'extra.'

marathonic

pamelataylor2440 wrote: »

I am also new in the investments but it is good discussion, i 'm agree on not to invest for the 3-5 years old.
Dental plans are much available in the markets it will better for me that compare more plans.

Yeah. All I need is a good Dental Plan and I'll be sure to end up retired to a life of luxury... :rotfl:

chris1

Carpi09 wrote: »

Have you read the thread? There is a lot of advice in this.

Similar situation to me, I am invested in the VLS 80 with the intention of keeping it for 10+ years. Keep drip feeding and do not panic when the prices go down, just think of it as a good opportunity to buy at a lower price.

I've read the thread, though most of you seem to be at the VLS 60-80 end of the spectrum. If you were aiming for low risk and a 4 or 10 year term, would you go for VLS 20 or 40 (or both?), bearing in mind markets and gilt/bond prices both seem to be at a high.