Asian Markets

Party_Animal

bigadaj wrote: »

Don't say advice, you'll have dunstonh spitting out his whiskey and soda!

These were general comments about potential alternatives, which are eminently sensible.

The problem here is that splitting your investment between UK equity income and Asian funds still isn't giving you a fair balance for investements.

You need to go through a staged approach, first determining your attitude to risk, and translating that into an asset allocation, so certain amounts in equities, cash and bonds and possibly gold, property commodities etc

Then apportion the equity portion to sectors and geographically.

The easy way of doing this is to use the vanguard or similar lifestyle funds, and many would advoctse this approach with some side funds. Diversification only really becomes effective with larger sums so if your amounts aren't too large then a general spread might be best.

sorry, "general comments", and well appreciated.

JohnRo

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

in asia, they might say that it's europe and the USA that are riskier. (they talk about the "western financial crisis", not "global".)

When you look at national bank balances it's not difficult to understand why. The big three credit rating agencies have proven they are not to be trusted, they operate like a US cartel.

http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-china-rating-agency-cuts-us-sovereign-credit-rating/1771402.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/fear-of-junk-status-europe-seeks-to-free-itself-from-rating-agencies-grip-a-772733.html

planteria

bigadaj wrote: »

Have been revwiing my holdings and I'm overweight uk, Asia and emerging markets and underweight in USA Nd Europe and would agree with the Asian view even though I think I've probably gone a bit too far and need to slightly up particularly my us allocation.

im not convinced by the idea that we need to cover all markets. i tend to think that Europe and US are 'similar' to the UK. we have a lot of scope to invest with worldwide revenues via the UK stockmarket. whereas there are very different demographics in the Developing (in many cases Emerged) markets which i want to be invested in for the long-term.

http://www.hl.co.uk/news/articles/asia-investment-case-remains-compelling

"Anthony Eaton | 25 October 2013

Asia - investment case remains compelling

On our recent trip to Asia it was striking how confident the business community is. Even if headline growth figures are slowing a little, the economies are much bigger than in the past, so the actual added value remains huge. In Thailand we were told rural incomes are now growing faster than urban (the poorest sections of society are joining the consumer added value society). And for those who thought that it's all over for China, Porsche have just announced that China is their biggest world market after the US.

Everywhere huge investments are taking place to build greater capacity, to create modern towns and cities and to increase efficiency. So different from the Western economies, where businesses lack the confidence to commit capital against a background of populist politics. In Singapore the airport is being moved from one end of the country to the other, and increased in size, and ports are being restructured and expanded. New roads and railways are being built, and Malaysia and Singapore are doing more and more together - new town and industrial estates in Johor, over the bridge from Singapore and an imminent project to link Singapore and Kuala Lumpur by high speed rail.

The Iskander district of Johor will house about 5m people when completed. Houses are already changing hands at rates of appreciation that make London look dozy and the Marlborough school is already full to its current 600 pupil capacity. The new Edu-city, of which Marlborough is a part, is attracting wide numbers of universities and schools from the West and will probably become a regional centre of excellence. Really, as a Brit or a European, the vision and drive in Asia makes you weep for our relative decline.

Reflecting on our trip to Asia and there are 6 big things we like about this region:

There are a lot of people there - 4 billion of them. By way of comparison the United States has 330 million and old Europe 350 million.
They are young. The average age over the region is approximately 28, compared to 38 in the United States and 41 in Europe.
Populations are growing at just over 1% across the region, including China, compared to almost zero in Europe.
Asian economies are characterised, for reasons of history, by the dominance of wealthy and connected families across a broad range of economic areas. There is competition, but much less than in Western economies and oligopolistic tendencies exist. That means high margins for incumbents.
They are prudent. In most economies people are required to save for their health, education and pensions so as not to burden the state. Loans for property and spending are limited by salary. Property speculation is discouraged or taxed in many countries.
Above all else, they are economically immature societies, with lots of growth and wealth creation to come. By comparison Western societies are ageing and economically mature. We spend with credit cards (they use cash) we pay high taxes and we indulge ourselves with state entitlements.
There have always been big populations in Asia, but while they had no disposable income they were irrelevant to global output. Now average incomes, at around $5,000 across the region, are at levels that permit consumption beyond the necessities of life. Consumption generates high-margin, self-reinforcing economic activity and, given that regional incomes are still around 10% of ours at most, this is a compounding dynamic with duration.

All of this is available 'at a discount', following a summer of heavy declines triggered by anxieties over a potential end to money-printing in the West. To us, this means signs of life in Western economies, which should increase trade and prove further good news for Asia.

Generally, we feel that markets are becoming less binary and are increasingly willing to look at different scenarios on merit rather than as mutually exclusive. If we are right about Asia then the value we see will 'out' sooner or later. When the smoke clears from current Western fires we will still be an indebted tax and entitlement society, whilst Asia will still be a much more dynamic place."

bigadaj

I'm not sure quoting hl articles helps your case, as they are notorious for writing whatever encourages people to give them the maximum amount of money.

We all make decisions based on our own opinion and see how these things pan out the problem for me is that most innovation currently is in or coming out of the us. Also the political risks in Asia are huge, china is a particularly obvious example but its a different way of doing business. You might think this could damage their development, but considring virtually all of the ceridtor nations are in Asia then why would that bother them.

Westphalia

I have read that many of the larger Asian companies are now beginning to shift their focus away from growth and are concentrating on paying dividends, so if you are looking for growth an income fund with dividends re-invested might be the way to go.

mutley74

you missed the First State Asia Leaders fund ...quality top fund IMHO. I go for quality established for bigger holdings and sometimes a small percentage invested in a new fund....but have u considered Investments Trusts for asia instead?

JohnRo

Anecdotal, and fund specific so don't take it as meaning anything much, but..

My predominantly UK Income portfolio is doing OK, one or two equity funds are doing very well, LWI & MRC while one or two have flatlined, BNKR & FGT. I know that's not comparing like with like but there is a dominant UK theme in all.

My Aberdeen Asian Income (AAIF) is bouncing back well in the last month. It tumbled when everything else did in Summer and didn't recover for a long time while other regions seemed to claw back most if not all the setback.

Intended topping up at the "low point" as it stayed there for a good couple of weeks but dithered holding out for a further fall, needless to say it has risen steadily since.

I hold Newton Asian in a different account and that's still struggling. Every (good pedigree) dog has its day imo, that's why it is generally seen as important to try and maintain a balance of sorts and diversify, then just rebalance or perhaps take profits if one region or fund goes ballistic (which seems increasingly unlikely in a global marketplace unless you get into very specific investments).

mutley74

JohnRo wrote: »

Intended topping up at the "low point" as it stayed there for a good couple of weeks but dithered holding out for a further fall, needless to say it has risen steadily since.

I hold Newton Asian in a different account and that's still struggling. Every (good pedigree) dog has its day imo, that's why it is generally seen as important to try and maintain a balance of sorts and diversify, then just rebalance or perhaps take profits if one region or fund goes ballistic (which seems increasingly unlikely in a global marketplace unless you get into very specific investments).

looks like the sneeze is just going through Asian markets....imho..maybe I good time to buy (for the long term)

JohnRo

As I get more and more comfortable with investing I'm starting to find the red numbers far more interesting and "exciting" than the green.

vectistim

You have red and green rather than red and black?