What's happened to my portfolio in the last 2 weeks?!

El_Selb

Not sure whether I've been very unlucky or there's been a bit of a slump in the last couple of weeks...but regardless pretty annoyed at losing £200+ off my previously £6k portfolio. I've endured a pretty tight month so I could hit the £6k mark this month....only to see half of what I put in get wiped off! It's basically wiped off the earnings above cost since I started investing in Feb.

Just wondering if there's been a bit of a general slump? All my investments (below) have gone down. I guess I'm just looking for a bit of comfort, and that it's not just me! I know investings a long term game, I shouldn't be too concerned and they'll come good. But still....!


FTSE 250 - 1,000
IP Group (stock) - 500
Lazard Emerging Markets - 700
Vanguard ls 80 - 3600

talexuser

All you have to do is google a few indexes , eg ftse if you have uk funds to see the general trend.

Basically markets do not go up ALL the time, if that is unacceptable get out of funds, but over a long enough period of time the chances are they will. Also you haven't lost anything until you sell up.

edinburgher

I probably shouldn't, but I tend to look at Google Business/Reuters Markets etc. once a day. You see downwards trends as they happen (as well as positive ones). A bit of knowledge can help settle your nerves (just don't chop and change your investments because you think that reading a few articles lets you predict the future!)

Assuming you've not been investing for too long, remember that your pot size will probably grow most from new contributions. Markets moving up and down will happen, keep at it

In_For_A_Penny_2

El_Selb wrote: »

Not sure whether I've been very unlucky or there's been a bit of a slump in the last couple of weeks...but regardless pretty annoyed at losing £200+ off my previously £6k portfolio. I've endured a pretty tight month so I could hit the £6k mark this month....only to see half of what I put in get wiped off! It's basically wiped off the earnings above cost since I started investing in Feb.

Just wondering if there's been a bit of a general slump? All my investments (below) have gone down. I guess I'm just looking for a bit of comfort, and that it's not just me! I know investings a long term game, I shouldn't be too concerned and they'll come good. But still....!


FTSE 250 - 1,000
IP Group (stock) - 500
Lazard Emerging Markets - 700
Vanguard ls 80 - 3600

Don't you watch the news?

Tescos, Middle East, Hong Kong, ukraine/Russia as well as weak UK manufacturing data & US to end QE etc etc.

Enough there to upset markets

ChesterDog

Yes, been an iffy couple of weeks.

That's the way it goes.

From time to time, a couple of weeks could lose you tens of percent.

Prevailing upward trend wins out in the end though. :-)

brendon

3% in two weeks is nothing, and it shouldn't concern you. I made about 8% in August, but lost 10% in September. It's just random noise. A disaster here, news about QE there, a protest in some other part of the world. The best you can do is stick with it a ride it out, rather than trying to explain every up and down.

jabba42

wait until your portfolio is worth 50% of what you paid for it, then you can come here and cry

laurel7172

Think of it as getting more for your money this month...

bowlhead99

El_Selb wrote: »

Not sure whether I've been very unlucky...

No more than other people with equities-heavy portfolios!

...but regardless pretty annoyed at losing £200+ off my previously £6k portfolio....

£200 on £6000 is about 3%?

As an example, the IP Group stock you hold isn't any lower than it was 6 months ago (200-210p range), but is 20% higher than it was in mid-May and a full 50% higher than it was 12 months ago. Isn't large changes in value what you signed up for? 3% is neither here nor there.

...only to see half of what I put in get wiped off!

Presumably, you didn't lose half of what you put in. You lost 3% of what you put in. But you also "lost" a portion of what you put in a while back.

Except of course you didn't lose anything. You still own the shares and units that you bought. Today, the market thinks those shares are worth a different amount of pounds than it did a fortnight ago, as the prices take a random walk, just like they did last month and the month before.

If you're not trying to sell now, but instead you're trying to buy more, isn't a reduction in prices the absolute best thing that could have happened to you?

Your choices are, embrace the reductions and buy more over the coming months, or kick yourself for being heavy in equities and reallocate your portfolio away from equities to whatever you think is the long term mix for your aims and what you can afford to risk. How would you have felt if everything lost 30% over a period of a few months?

Presuming you've already got a mix that works for you, nothing to worry about. If it doesn't, change it having locked in the small loss.

takesyourchances

The way I look at it is movement over a few weeks or few months is going to happen and always think long term. In 10 years time you won't remember this movement, that is how I think about it and when it dips, buy some more

dunstonh

.but regardless pretty annoyed at losing £200+ off my previously £6k portfolio.

I suggest you sell up and stick to savings then as £200 on £6k invested is peanuts. If you are getting annoyed at that small amount then what are you going to be like when it nearly halves in value?

It's basically wiped off the earnings above cost since I started investing in Feb.

And economic cycle is closer to 10 years. You have invested for just 7 months. This is just a tiny tiny blip compared to what you will see ahead.

FTSE 250 - 1,000
IP Group (stock) - 500
Lazard Emerging Markets - 700
Vanguard ls 80 - 3600

Ok, so you have picked a very high risk selection in terms of volatility. Way above the typical UK investor. It is a rollercoaster ride you are in for. And you are getting sick before you have left the station.

I guess I'm just looking for a bit of comfort

nobody can comfort someone who cant handle a 3% loss. Especially one on a portfolio spread that is capable of a 50% loss in a similar period.