Vanguard LifeStrategy....

redpete

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I started investing in the VLS 60 less than one month ago and it is already up by about 3%.

So short a period as to be meaningless.

Gadfium

Mine's up 15% over two years (VLS 80% Acc).
Meh...I'll look at it again sometime in the Autumn. Fire and forget baby, fire and forget.:D:D:D

Ryan_Futuristics

My Kotak India Mid-Cap's up 98% in 12 months

Real growth's to be found in Asia - the world's all shifting East

guymo

edinburgher wrote: »

I am seeing a lot of comments from people who have chosen a passive investment product that leave me scratching my head - I think you're all closet active investors (maybe even day traders for a few of you) :rotfl:

I agree with this. It seems to me that passive investing is acting as a "gateway drug":

1. person wants to begin investing but is scared
2. person reads monevator or Hale or something
3. person takes the plunge with an index tracker; person becomes investor
4. investor's tracker goes up
5. investor forgets the fear from step 1 and the rationale from step 2 and tracks investment daily and/or complains about slow speed of fund purchases (hint: they go through at the next pricing point, always) and/or starts taking bets on Russia, oil, Russian oil, or whatever.

I don't have a view on whether this is good or bad, but from posting histories on here it does at least seem to be happening.

AlanP_2

guymo wrote: »

I agree with this. It seems to me that passive investing is acting as a "gateway drug":

1. person wants to begin investing but is scared
2. person reads monevator or Hale or something
3. person takes the plunge with an index tracker; person becomes investor
4. investor's tracker goes up
5. investor forgets the fear from step 1 and the rationale from step 2 and tracks investment daily and/or complains about slow speed of fund purchases (hint: they go through at the next pricing point, always) and/or starts taking bets on Russia, oil, Russian oil, or whatever.

I don't have a view on whether this is good or bad, but from posting histories on here it does at least seem to be happening.

I can see where you are coming from on that and I like the gateway drug analogy.

If you are genuinely interested in the subject matter then the more you read on sites like this and in books, blogs and the like the more you get "sucked in".

Luckily for me my other half gets bored with the subject in about 2 minutes so when I say "We could invest a bit into xyz as well" the quick NO keeps me in check :rotfl:

enthusiasticsaver

guymo wrote: »

I agree with this. It seems to me that passive investing is acting as a "gateway drug":

1. person wants to begin investing but is scared
2. person reads monevator or Hale or something
3. person takes the plunge with an index tracker; person becomes investor
4. investor's tracker goes up
5. investor forgets the fear from step 1 and the rationale from step 2 and tracks investment daily and/or complains about slow speed of fund purchases (hint: they go through at the next pricing point, always) and/or starts taking bets on Russia, oil, Russian oil, or whatever.

I don't have a view on whether this is good or bad, but from posting histories on here it does at least seem to be happening.

Yes, I recognise that I could fall into this trap :rotfl:I am reading everything I can about investing in stocks and shares and getting more and more absorbed with all the information and advice out there.


I am new to investing and paying in monthly to VG but as our income can be erratic I am also paying in lump sums so everytime I go on to the website to trade the valuation is right in front of me so I can see it going up and down.


I do have a strategy though and am determined not to be distracted by short term ups and downs.

enthusiasticsaver

Ryan_Futuristics wrote: »

My Kotak India Mid-Cap's up 98% in 12 months

Real growth's to be found in Asia - the world's all shifting East

Goodness that is a good return and I have read that Asia is doing well. I am researching some satellite funds at the moment to invest in alongside my VG LS60 so shall look at that one.


What do you think about Japan? Their economy has been in the doldrums for so long but I have been reading that it has started to pick up now.

InvestInPoker

guymo wrote: »

I agree with this. It seems to me that passive investing is acting as a "gateway drug":

1. person wants to begin investing but is scared
2. person reads monevator or Hale or something
3. person takes the plunge with an index tracker; person becomes investor
4. investor's tracker goes up
5. investor forgets the fear from step 1 and the rationale from step 2 and tracks investment daily and/or complains about slow speed of fund purchases (hint: they go through at the next pricing point, always) and/or starts taking bets on Russia, oil, Russian oil, or whatever.

I don't have a view on whether this is good or bad, but from posting histories on here it does at least seem to be happening.

Haha good post. You could add the step where there is a decent size downswing in the equity markets and investor loses their mind. I almost can't wait for the next 10%+ global dip, just to laugh at all the "What is happening to my portfolio!?!?" type threads.

Ryan_Futuristics

guymo wrote: »

I agree with this. It seems to me that passive investing is acting as a "gateway drug":

1. person wants to begin investing but is scared
2. person reads monevator or Hale or something
3. person takes the plunge with an index tracker; person becomes investor
4. investor's tracker goes up
5. investor forgets the fear from step 1 and the rationale from step 2 and tracks investment daily and/or complains about slow speed of fund purchases (hint: they go through at the next pricing point, always) and/or starts taking bets on Russia, oil, Russian oil, or whatever.

I don't have a view on whether this is good or bad, but from posting histories on here it does at least seem to be happening.

People are naturally irrational, knee-jerk and undisciplined

But I always think the Tim Hale approach is almost depressingly resigned to that - and taken as a religious tenet, resigns you to rather modest returns and potentially not learning as much as you could

Others have said this, but I always think it's very odd to see the risk of being in the markets that you would won't beat the index ... The risk is losing 90% of your capital when markets crash - and not recovering it for 20-30 years (which has happened in every global market)

You get people turning up here saying they followed Hale's 2009 book, and didn't make anywhere near as much as they'd expected ... And others who say they bought the trackers they were "supposed to", but also took a punt on Axa BioTech off a Telegraph article, and found that justified the risk a bit more

Afaic, every perspective on investing is retrograde and selective - for an unknown future, I'd say your greatest investments are knowledge and experience - so get involved, but manage risk ... I also think any perspective (including trackers and cap-weighted global funds) is doomed to underperform when it becomes too popular - which is why no one perspective sticks over the decades

TCA

Ryan_Futuristics wrote: »

My Kotak India Mid-Cap's up 98% in 12 months

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Goodness that is a good return and I have read that Asia is doing well. I am researching some satellite funds at the moment to invest in alongside my VG LS60 so shall look at that one.

Look at it of course, but you want to be picking the winner for the next 12 months, not the last 12 months. I don't have any knowledge of the Indian stock market, but just because it had its best year since 2009, doesn't mean it'll have another one.