Using the Vanguard Lifestrategy fund exclusively?

le_loup

I wanted a setup and forget portfolio so that when I peg it, my wife need do nothing other than do an occasional sell to fund her new lifestyle - that is: because she will be so heartbroken she will NEED to buy new cars, replace her wardrobe, get some decent shoes and bags and support the waster of a boyfriend she will meet on the internet!

What I ended up with are the following Vanguard funds:
50% LS 80% (good whole world with 20% ultra safe)
25% UK equity income (where most of my previous dabbling had been)
15% Global Small Cap (bit of excitement)
10% UK Investment Grade Bonds (safety but not as safe as No. 1)

This gives me a desired UK Equity bias of 36%; then total bonds of 20% (with a 75% UK bias); 25% US; 7% Europe and the rest in Japan (4%), Other Asia (2%), Emerging markets (3%).

That's all in her name ... I kept my, smaller, pot to play with!!!

moneyfoolish

Linton wrote: »

What extra fees? Is this an HL thing? Fund returns always include the fund manager's charges, its not an extra bill you get. Surely the important thing is the overall return. The Vanguard 40, 60, and 80 funds as a whole do not look too good compared with others in the 40-80% sector.

What are some of the top performers in the 40-80% sector and/or is there a list of them anywhere?

Linton

moneyfoolish wrote: »

What are some of the top performers in the 40-80% sector and/or is there a list of them anywhere?

https://www.trustnet.com and search for the sector you want. You can sort by clicking on the appropriate column heading.

JPG82

Am I right in thinking the vanguard life strategy funds are similar to the hl multi manager funds?

I am fairly new to investing and want to deposit £200 monthly into a fund and watch it grow. I've got a 30 year time frame so am I correct in thinking that the 80% equity fund might be a good starting place?

moneyfoolish

Linton wrote: »

www.trustnet.com and search for the sector you want. You can sort by clicking on the appropriate column heading.

Many thanks. In fact, the Vanguard funds look quite sick on that list!

pip895

moneyfoolish wrote: »

Many thanks. In fact, the Vanguard funds look quite sick on that list!

I agree - I have never quite got why they are practically worshiped on this forum . They have also been further disadvantaged by RDR - so I don't fancy them at all myself.:)

le_loup

A problem for newcomers is that they may not understand that sectors like 80/40 can included any mix of equities/bonds that it choses within the parameters. Therefor a fund could consist of FTSE100 companies and UK High Yield Bonds.
Vanguard LS, on the other hand, whilst having a UK bias will include equities in proportion to market size all over the world and government bonds from all over the world.
So you are not comparing like with like.
If you don't agree with indexing - don't use Vanguard. Use another fund which MAY perform well next year but will charge you a lot more.
Apples and chairs.

Linton

le_loup wrote: »

A problem for newcomers is that they may not understand that sectors like 80/40 can included any mix of equities/bonds that it choses within the parameters. Therefor a fund could consist of FTSE100 companies and UK High Yield Bonds.
Vanguard LS, on the other hand, whilst having a UK bias will include equities in proportion to market size all over the world and government bonds from all over the world.
So you are not comparing like with like.
If you don't agree with indexing - don't use Vanguard. Use another fund which MAY perform well next year but will charge you a lot more.
Apples and chairs.

If this argument that suggests the Vanguard funds are better diversified is correct you might expect them to be lower volatility ("safer") than the competition. However Vanguard 80% is 81st out of 131 in order of performance but 36th highest out of 126 in Trustnet Risk Rate. So it is unusually volatile for its performance.

le_loup

Not necessarily if it includes risker parts of the world in its mix which it does as it covers the whole word including emerging markets, etc.
I'm not plugging VLS. I'm suggesting that the Mixed Investment sector can be a very mixed bag indeed.

foofi22

Linton wrote: »

You could look at the multi manager/multi asset funds which may provide a more diversified portfolio than the Vanguard Lifestyle Index funds. Bear in mind that large companies all over the world will be fairly highly correlated.

During the past year (Vanguard lifestyle funds havent been around long enough to get in the 3 year statistics) the Vanguard 80% fund is down in the 3rd quartile of the 40%-85% mixed fund sector.

Just to add a bit of balance, and paraphrasing a little but aren't people usually informed that:
(a) investing is for the long term
(b) past performance is no guide to future performance!

However when 3 and 5 year records become available then some comparisons can be made for sure.

I don't hold Vanguard (I think it is a good vehicle) so I don't have an axe to grind