Just for fun...

System

TheTracker wrote: »

Most popular fund of 2014: Woodford. Crowd meet Woodford, Woodford meet Crowd.

To be fair though a lot of that money was transferred from his old IP funds rather than being 'new' money.

sparkychris

Yeah but yeah but yeah

The OP said 'just for fun'

Where's the fun in putting £500 in a tracker or fund or whatever...

A few months ago I bought 400 tesco shares and am having the time of my life!

Now... Going back to OP's question... You've got 500 sheets in a Christmas card and its going on shares.

Buy buy buy.

Go!

Ryan_Futuristics

masonic wrote: »

It started long before Vanguard turned up on the scene over here. In fact, they were very late to the party and when they did turn up their funds weren't available to most investors for another year or two. Perhaps if you'd been investing for a bit longer you'd know that, but the popularisation of index trackers does all stem from John Bogle originally I suppose, so you can at least have that.

What I don't understand is why you brand those who invest in index trackers with labels like 'cult-like' 'devotees' when you seem to be trying harder than anyone else to convert people to your way of thinking. When did investment philosophies become so religious?

You often don't quite follow me

I'm not saying Vanguard invented trackers - but their popularity has doubled here since they came along

I don't call people who hold trackers 'cult-like' - I hold plenty myself ... But it's this black-and-white attitude that simply holds this one view (when there are hundreds of different views supported by academia out there) - and not least when it believes it to be "the collective wisdom of the financial industry" - The Tracker

teepee83 wrote:

To be fair though a lot of that money was transferred from his old IP funds rather than being 'new' money.

Plus you have to compare like-for-like

With trackers, you couldn't just compare Woodford's fund size to an HSBC FTSE All Share tracker; you'd have to compare it to every FTSE All Share tracker in the world (Danish FTSE All Share ETFs, Japanese FTSE All Share OEICs, etc) being that they've all got exactly the same holdings

With such a slight performance edge, even with very conservative active funds and pseudo-trackers are thrown in, it doesn't even seem conceivable to me that they could hold onto any edge with fundamentals and charges shifting against them

TheTracker

Ryan_Futuristics wrote: »

it's this black-and-white attitude that simply holds this one view (when there are hundreds of different views supported by academia out there) - and not least when it believes it to be "the collective wisdom of the financial industry" - The Tracker

Perhaps you misunderstood. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I don't think for one moment the collective wisdom of the financial industry says investors should buy trackers. Rather, my point is the collective wisdom of the financial industry is represented by the current state of the market. I can't imagine that's disputable. I believe in the wisdom of the crowd. I personally invest in that wisdom through trackers. You appear to believe something quite different, perhaps that you can outwit the crowd, where the crowd includes the bulk of the financial industry? Hubris or genius, time will tell.

I sometimes wonder if the person you are actually trying to convince is yourself? It comes across that way sometimes. I'm quite comfortable and relaxed with my investing style.

sparkychris

Listen you pair...

£500

Shares.

Buy.

Tayus

Come on guys... Fun!!! Lets get naming and shaming the companies and reasons why!

masonic

Ryan_Futuristics wrote: »

You often don't quite follow me

That seems to happen because following you usually requires a leap of faith. And I don't do faith.

I'm not saying Vanguard invented trackers - but their popularity has doubled here since they came along

I don't call people who hold trackers 'cult-like' - I hold plenty myself ... But it's this black-and-white attitude that simply holds this one view (when there are hundreds of different views supported by academia out there) - and not least when it believes it to be "the collective wisdom of the financial industry" - The Tracker

The point I am making is that there has been fairly strong index tracker advocacy on this board and others of it's type for the best part of a decade and certainly long before Vanguard turned up in the UK. I don't think it's any more extreme now.

I'd have to defer to your knowledge of the trends in popularity of trackers, but I disagree with your view that Vanguard can take much credit for this, or that it aggressively markets its products to investors (although I'll happily change my view in the light of evidence to the contrary). Vanguard has been very successful in the UK as it has been very competitive on price, but I think even platforms such as Hargreaves Lansdown have probably done more to raise awareness of trackers in recent years than Vanguard has.

masonic

Tayus wrote: »

Come on guys... Fun!!! Lets get naming and shaming the companies and reasons why!

With only £500? I'd "invest" it in a TSB Plus current account until I had at least £10k to invest in shares.

TrustyOven

masonic wrote: »

With only £500? I'd "invest" it in a TSB Plus current account until I had at least £10k to invest in shares.

Would you say the same if we were talking about funds instead of individual shares?

Archi_Bald

TrustyOven wrote: »

Would you say the same if we were talking about funds instead of individual shares?

I would, until I had at least £10K (impossible to get that in TSB Plus, but you get the gist....)

You gotta have your emergency cash fund sorted before you start investing.