Anyone else making a loss on all their S&S investments?

EdGasket

After 8 years of being 'invested' my pension is down around 15%. I have a few S&S ISAs that have been invested for a few years also all showing losses. My conclusion is that the stockmarket is itself a 'dead loss' at the moment and only earning money for the people running it. I have a fairly diverse mix of funds, resources, retail, construction, pharma, engineers, gold, and property but almost every sector apart from property is down. I am financially savvy but it seems that unless you have been exceptionally lucky enough to be in housebuilders for a few years, on average, it is very difficult to make any positive returns elsewhere.

Anyone else in this position?

Any suggestions?

brendon

8 years ago was the peak of the market before the crash, so that might have affected performance. It might help to detail what your current holdings are, so we can give feedback on whether your portfolio is suitably diversified.

bigadaj

As stated would be helpful if you could advise what funds and or shares you are in and over what periods. Pension contributions are normally regular payments so would have thought these would fluctuate in value but take advantage of pound cost averaging over the longer term.

Sam_J12

I don't really understand how every sector of your pension fund other than property can be down? You can't have invested everything in to your pension fund at the same moment 8 years ago right before the crash. Presumably much of this money was invested long before then, or right after the crash, and is showing a handsome profit?

Also, I think your pension fund and ISA funds has been very badly managed if this is true. Just investing in a simple S&P500 tracker 8 years ago would show a profit of around 60% now. Money invested 7 years ago in the S&P500 would be showing a profit of 180%.

dunstonh

I would be surprised if you are down on 2008 values. Yes, it was the peak before the drops but the recovery and income distributions since then should put you back in surplus.

Anyone else in this position?

I would be surprised anyone with conventional and structured investments (i.e. a balanced portfolio or multi-asset fund) would be. However, some fashion investors could be.

Give us some details on the investment names.

Linton

Sam_J12 wrote: »

I don't really understand how every sector of your pension fund other than property can be down? .......
Also, I think your pension fund and ISA funds has been very badly managed if this is true. Just investing in a simple S&P500 tracker 8 years ago would show a profit of around 60% now. Money invested 7 years ago in the S&P500 would be showing a profit of 180%.

In the past 8 years a FTSE100 tracker would be up around 30%, the average Far East fund up about the same as is the average Europe fund and the average global fund up around 45%. The only thing I have found going down is Natural Resources. So any sort of sensibly balanced equity portfolio should be up.

AndyC85

Last six months have been pretty bad, but still up over a few years. Would be nice if things start picking up soon though.. or will it slide down further.. Wish I had a crystal ball!

Glen_Clark

EdGasket wrote: »

After 8 years of being 'invested' my pension is down around 15%. I have a few S&S ISAs that have been invested for a few years also all showing losses. My conclusion is that the stockmarket is itself a 'dead loss' at the moment and only earning money for the people running it. I have a fairly diverse mix of funds, resources, retail, construction, pharma, engineers, gold, and property but almost every sector apart from property is down. I am financially savvy but it seems that unless you have been exceptionally lucky enough to be in housebuilders for a few years, on average, it is very difficult to make any positive returns elsewhere.

Anyone else in this position?

Any suggestions?

UK stock market has made little or no capital gains compared to others like USA. Possibility of EU exit, housing crisis, debt and deficit, and other political considerations must be negatively affecting sentiment. Even banks like HSBC are thinking of moving head office from UK due to housing costs and bizarre taxation.

Aretnap

Been paying into mine for about 12 years. 100% equities across a range of sectors. For most of that time I was paying fairly high fees in today's terms (Scottish Life - cheapest fund charged 1%, , most expensive one 2.2%! I've now got more financially savvy and transferred it).

On a back of an envelope calculation the current value of my pension is roughly double my total contributions.

If you paid a lump sum in just before the financial crisis I can see how you might still be showing a loss (though you'd still have to have been unlucky with your choice of funds) - but if you've been paying in regularly for eight years it should have been virtually impossible to lose money, given that bonds, equities and property have all been in bull markets for most of that time. Unables you put all your money in mining stocks or similar perhaps.

I'd also be interested to know exactly what you've been invested in.

Doshwaster

Linton wrote: »

In the past 8 years a FTSE100 tracker would be up around 30%, the average Far East fund up about the same as is the average Europe fund and the average global fund up around 45%. The only thing I have found going down is Natural Resources. So any sort of sensibly balanced equity portfolio should be up.

I've only been tracking my investments carefully since 2010 but in the time the only fund which is significantly down is my Blackrock Gold and General. Across all funds I have seen an average annualised growth of 7%. I'd prefer it if that figure was closer to 10% but it's still reasonable.

verybigchris

Glen_Clark wrote: »

UK stock market has made little or no capital gains compared to others like USA. Possibility of EU exit, housing crisis, debt and deficit, and other political considerations must be negatively affecting sentiment. Even banks like HSBC are thinking of moving head office from UK due to housing costs and bizarre taxation.

Actually, the FTSE 250 has outperformed most US markets over the past eight years.

When judging the UK stock market, and the UK economy in general, you need to look past the not-fit-for-purpose FTSE 100.