Is this a sensible portfolio?

Thrugelmir

benten69 wrote: »

Problem is OPEC (Saudi really) oil costs them an average of $27 to get out of the ground, the cheapest onshore fields are $10 a barrel, so they are not losing money, just making WAY less than they used to be, so I wouldn't worry about them struggling.

Latest production cost figures as at Mar 16 are Saudi $8.98 (the cheapest) and the UK $44.33 (the most expensive). Shows the pressure the North Sea producers must be under to cut costs.

MrAcrux

Latest production cost figures as at Mar 16 are Saudi $8.98 (the cheapest) and the UK $44.33 (the most expensive). Shows the pressure the North Sea producers must be under to cut costs.

I think its not just the cost of producing a barrel, its the fact that saudi is a welfare state and they have been eating through their foreign reserves at an alarming rate. If they keep going like this they will be in deep trouble in few years.

The companies in north sea has let go around 15-20% of their workforce. The remaining have had at least 3 rounds of wage cut. They have cut the budget to the bone, no wonder wood group shell staff had their first round of strike. I personally believe there is still a lot of potential in north sea but we need half decent oil price for that which is at the beck and call of OPEC. Eventually they will have to give in, its a matter of time.

Iran is saying that they are willing to participate next month in the unofficial talks in Algeria, so thats a positive I guess. We will have to wait and watch. Fingers crossed.

bigadaj

Depends where you sit on what a half decent oil price is.

For the majority of the world population and economies a lower oil price is better than a higher one.

Alice_Holt

In future years (especailly if your earnings are in the 40% tax rate), you could Bed and SIPP (some of) your Isa holdings into a SIIPP - thus getting a 40% uplift to your retirement fund (if pensions tax relief remains as is).

Some info here:
http://www.hl.co.uk/shares/bed-isa-sipp

Your suggested holdings look very sensible to me.

rockingdane

Isnt there too much reliance on Vanguard at this point...what if Vanguard goes bust?? Just asking as I am in a similar situation with just one fund the VLS 60...
Dane

bigadaj

Unlikely, and even if they did the underlying investments would still be yours assuming they are physical and there's no counter party risk.

However may not be a bad idea to diversify away from one producer if you have larger sums.

economic

Is it worth also diversifying away from one platform? I use td direct and assume it's all safe but is it a good idea to diversify away from this to say another platform/broker?

bigadaj

economic wrote: »

Is it worth also diversifying away from one platform? I use td direct and assume it's all safe but is it a good idea to diversify away from this to say another platform/broker?

Same as the vanguard question really, though probably a higher risk of them failing, if they did the investments are separate and held in trust so wouldn't be lost.

Main problem would be that they would have to be sold or taken on by another platform or broker, so they probably couldn't be accessed for a period of time.