S&S ISA critique please?

Ark_Welder

cornburn wrote: »

Hi all,

A few months ago I moved approx 1/3 of my total savings into a S&S ISA with Hargreaves Lansdown. I have all but £6k invested in the following, and am struggling to decide where to put the last £6k of my allowance. I thought I'd ask if any of the more knowledgeable can see an obvious gap that I could look into? At the moment I have £12k in funds & £5k in shares. Currently almost £600 down from 3 months ago :S Cheers!!

1 Cash 26.0% (the bit left to invest!)
2 Invesco Perpetual High Income 25.2%
3 Liontrust UK Growth Class R 8.9%
4 BMW AG Pfd. 8.3%
5 Tesco 7.9%
6 Newton Asian Income GBP Inc Shares 6.0%
7 Henderson Global Technology Class A 4.6%
8 Ubiquiti Networks 4.5%
9 Old Mutual Global Investors UK Dynamic Equity Class A* 4.3%
10 Fidelity South East Asia Class A 4.2%

Whether there are any gaps or not will depend upon what you are trying to achieve, because what might be a balanced portfolio from one perspective could be inappropriate for someone else. If a geographic spread is important to you then possible gaps have been suggested in other posts.

What would be interesting to know is the rationale for the individual securities selections, i.e. TSCO, BMW3 and UBNT, and how you see these fitting in with the fund selections.

[edit] snap, with grizzly

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

grizzly1911 wrote: »

It would vary from one client to another depending on circumstances, goals, aspirations, needs and their perceived attitude to risk.

My dear Grizzly Bear - you don't get out of it that easily

OK I challenge everyone to state their goals and list their holdings....

I am not scared to go first either.....

Goal - to gradually compile an income bearing portfolio with view to some capital growth

Available to Invest via ISA as it currently stands £36,276
Available outside of ISA if needed approx £90,000

If fully invested would leave a cash holding for spending/emergencies of about £20,000

Invested so far.....

Inside ISA:

LSE: EDIN £12,000 On Downside 1% but pays quarterly dividends
National Grid £2,700 On Upside 6%
Easyjet: £3,000 on Upside 23%

Outside ISA:

Not sure of current values as these are old and paper share certs.

600 Santander Shares (ex Abbey National Windfall)
Halifax (can't find the share cert)
Associated British Foods (late husbands from ages ago)
500 BT Group Shares from Maggie T's Privatisation Years
500 United Utilities Shares (Ex Norweb Maggie T's privatisation years)

marathonic

My goal, like most peoples should be, is to achieve growth through both capital appreciation and dividends.

I'm 30 years old and my Pension currently represents 1.8 times my salary allocated as follows:

UK Tracker 20%
US Tracker 20%
European Tracker 20%
Pacific Rim Tracker 20%
Emerging Markets Tracker 10%
UK Smaller Companies 5%
JPM Natural Resources 5%

It's high risk, but primarily trackers because they're low cost and this is going to be a regular investment over 30-35 years.

I don't want to see large differences in performance come rebalance time and have to investigate whether I'm in the wrong fund or to read in the news that a high-ranking fund manager has left meaning I should reconsider my choices. In saying that, I may consider switching to a managed fund for my emerging markets exposure.

I intend to add in an allocation towards bonds but, in my opinion, they don't represent their traditional status as a lower-risk asset class at current prices. I'll wait until prices come down a little first. If this doesn't happen by the time I'm 35, I'll probably start moving towards them a little, regardless of price.

Aside from that, I've recently purchased a house so am currently working on replenishing my emergency fund so that it represents 6-months worth of expenses.

When complete, I'll be starting an S&S ISA. The intention there is to maximise it annually. I'll start off with a core holding in something like Vanguard Life Strategy 80% fund for a couple of years and then build it out by adding some side funds of whatever asset class I feel is undervalued at that point in time - it may be something not present in the Vanguard Fund or it may be something that is represented in the fund but that I'd like to increase my exposure to.

A lot of people spend ages trying to come up with the perfect portfolio and end up missing out on years of investment. I think the Vanguard Life Strategy funds are great for just getting on with it whilst you do your research on the sidelines.

bowlhead99

I'd agree with grizzly and ArkWelder - one man's meat is another man's poison.

My portfolio isn't "balanced" in terms of equal weight to every sector out there, as I make my own judgements on how I want to grow my money and how I perceive the relative prospects of individual markets or sectors, and how much loss I can absorb if/when I get it wrong, and how much upside I want to shoot for.

I've posted one or more of my porfolios before, but I'm not looking for advice on what I might like to have in them - I'm generally familiar with what asset classes and holding structures are out there and how they work.

- It's not generally meaningful for the typical investor to see what proportion of my portfolio is in this FTSE350 share or that AIM share or that NYSE share because most investors are best avoiding individual shares.

- It's not useful to know that I want to take x% of my exposure to sector A via investment trusts, because that's a personal feeling and the average man on the street doesn't need the complexity of trying to understand mechanics of discounts and premiums over and above 'normal' fund NAVs.

-The proportion of my higher risk high yield area of my portfolio last year that came from Lloyds pref shares vs Raven pref shares vs high yield funds or emerging market bonds is not relevant because a normal punter should not be 'balancing his portfolio' by buying instruments issued by a single UK bank whose dividends have been frozen nor be buying 12% pref shares in a Russian property and logistics business.

-The fact I made good money on Pantheon and Harbourvest last year as their respective discounts to NAV narrowed is useless information to many, because if the average person on MSE were to read their respective annual reports their ability to make a decision would be thwarted by not knowing what a private equity limited partnership commitment is nor how a venture capital secondary is priced. To many, they are as much a 'black box' as Charles Ponzi or Bernie Madoff's funds or Standard Life's GARS, the latter of which I also hold and like the story but couldn't tell you in what direction it will move tomorrow.

So you see, I'm happy to write a few paragraphs for the OP who wants to know "if any of the more knowledgeable can see an obvious gap that I could look into", when there are indeed some obvious gaps. It doesn't mean he should or will choose to consider any of the suggestions in my posts #3 or #5, although I hope they make sense. He should probably not touch any of the more esoteric things mentioned in this post.

But I'm less comfortable saying 'this is my portfolio' and posting it here with narrative on exactly why I've chosen every component in these specific proportions, because aside from appearing egotistical or setting oneself up for criticism, it is not going to help someone decide what they need in theirs.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

I take it from all that Bowlhead isn't your average punter LOL

Interesting though he mentions Lloyds Pref Shares and Harbourvest as The Sheepdog, my Gentleman friend holds such investments!

Ark_Welder

Plus, this thread doesn't need to be herded in the direction of discussing others' portfolios, there are existing threads for that, or perhaps a new one could be started. Unless the OP cornburn is happy with a different agenda.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

bowlhead99 wrote: »

But I'm less comfortable saying 'this is my portfolio' and posting it here with narrative on exactly why I've chosen every component in these specific proportions, because aside from appearing egotistical or setting oneself up for criticism, it is not going to help someone decide what they need in theirs.

I don't think it would be egotistical.

Aren't you up for some constructive criticism from people on this board then to assist you in your investment journey?

jem16

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Aren't you up for some constructive criticism from people on this board then to assist you in your investment journey?

I don't think he needs any assistance. He knows what he's doing and is quite happy to follow his own thoughts.

mollycat

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

I don't think it would be egotistical.

Aren't you up for some constructive criticism from people on this board then to assist you in your investment journey?

I think you're being unecessarily provocative towards a poster who readily gives lots of free advice and is appreciated by numerous other forum members.

You may find the plague of posts you've unleashed on the forum witty; I find them juvenile, and belittling, (mainly to yourself).

I suppose the only good thing about people who troll message boards is that they get fed up after a bit.

Just my opinion mind

Woofity Woof! :rotfl:

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

mollycat wrote: »

I think you're being unecessarily provocative towards a poster who readily gives lots of free advice and is appreciated by numerous other forum members.

You may find the plague of posts you've unleashed on the forum witty; I find them juvenile, and belittling, (mainly to yourself).

I suppose the only good thing about people who troll message boards is that they get fed up after a bit.

Just my opinion mind

Woofity Woof! :rotfl:

You misjudge me. I appreciate their posts and found them to be most helpful. I am sure you would agree it would be only fair for the board to assist them by offering constructive criticism in fair return? I am sure there are some very experienced people here who can help.