Am I well balanced?

System

Thrug - its just the nature of the work, demand will never go and the demands of the job, while they keep me awake at night, put other people off staying or pushing themselves. Where I work there are easier advertised than mine with the same pay, and that's how I have my section pretty much to myself, I was the only applicant I know of when my supervisors job was internally advertised. Recruitmemt is a problem for the other jobs in my area too, they realise they can get the same or better pay in an easier place

System

Its the difficulty of the work that pushes me so hard for financial freedom

System

Redpete - international property, that's an interesting one, though maybe later on when my house isn't so heavily weighted on my assets
I have read that developed world equities do better than developing world ones, I've seen fairly consistent 5 year graphs to that extent

Masonic - I've been tempted to take out a (profitable) loan to fill my flexdirect quickly, if that goes teats up my WiFi has a few k stashed, and parents. I do accept that what you're saying is probably the most direct way, I'm still managing to build up cash at about £100 a month, it'll get easier when I start the new contract

jimjames

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Jimjames - fair point about mid cap, I just thought a combination of big and small pretty much covers it

But the large cap is UK so you have no US exposure with the largest stock market in the world.

I disagree about not holding enough cash. I've done similar to you from when I started investing 20 years ago. Obviously there is a risk involved with holding less cash but I decided I was comfortable with that and it's worked out ok for me.

masonic

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

I have read that developed world equities do better than developing world ones, I've seen fairly consistent 5 year graphs to that extent

The 5 year graphs comment is a joke, right?

Makes you wonder why anyone invests in developing markets if they are higher risk and have lower returns...

System

Masonic- here you go (PDF):

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.ftse.com/Analytics/FactSheets/Home/DownloadSingleIssue/GAE%3FissueName%3DGEISSC&ved=0ahUKEwjV2M_xgaHOAhViJsAKHVcoC2cQFgghMAA&usg=AFQjCNGF6FF7XWG3EzDNMQLmmPDm7diOOw&sig2=0EI3yfUVCWGZwXjNsgVnNQ

Maybe its perception or political instability? Maybe its domestic bias and less Monet in these economies

Jimjames - I misquoted the isa as just being a FTSE tracker, of its 85% equity 60% is the FTSE all share and 25% is international big caps

And the sipp is international small caps, 57% us.
There is domestic bias in the isa and I might be missing a trick, but I suppose at worse my future is here and it reduces currency issues and a lot of the FTSE is quite international in itself, and we may have a brighter future with the flexibility of brexit

I have been running on a 1k emergency stash for about 5 years! Lol will slowly increase it now I have good current accounts, in line with investments

jimjames

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

I have been running on a 1k emergency stash for about 5 years! Lol will slowly increase it now I have good current accounts, in line with investments

I think the key thing for me with the emergency cash is the level of debt you have and if it is covered, easy access to credit should boiler or car need repairing and stability of employment. Some people prefer the security of paying off their mortgage early, I preferred to invest instead, same with level of cash savings. In an emergency I could get access to investments, I might not get best price but I'd get my hands on cash in a week or so. I've run those lower levels of cash for 20 years and so far it's worked fine but I do realise it's not for everyone as it is higher risk.

enthusiasticsaver

I would say not enough liquid assets (cash) which other people have mentioned.

Personally I prefer multi asset tracker funds like the Vanguard, L and G ones as they are more diversified than the ones you are investing in via S and S ISA and SIPP.

What rate are you paying on your mortgage? Paying that down early is also an option and may save you more in interest than you gain in your s and s isa.

masonic

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Masonic- here you go (PDF):

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.ftse.com/Analytics/FactSheets/Home/DownloadSingleIssue/GAE%3FissueName%3DGEISSC&ved=0ahUKEwjV2M_xgaHOAhViJsAKHVcoC2cQFgghMAA&usg=AFQjCNGF6FF7XWG3EzDNMQLmmPDm7diOOw&sig2=0EI3yfUVCWGZwXjNsgVnNQ

Maybe its perception or political instability? Maybe its domestic bias and less Monet in these economies

You've missed the point. Looking over 5 years is not much better than looking at 1 year. It is far too short a period to make any meaningful conclusions.

Here is a 15 year chart comparing the MSCI emerging markets index with the all companies world index: https://www.msci.com/resources/factsheets/index_fact_sheet/msci-emerging-markets-index-usd-net.pdf

If you look over 25 years (which you can do using sector averages on Trustnet, performance has been quite similar.

System

Enthusiastic saver - sipp is vanguard global small cap and looking more into it about 47% of that is actually mid cap

2.39% fixed interest, 60% LTV. Also isa more liquid than that

Masonic - I suppose, it looks like a slightly magnified version of the others. I think world economics come into this and there might've been breakthroughs back then