Best long term investment...

Pincher

What! Costco only yields 1.2%!

I get 2% cashback for being an Executive Member, plus 1% cashback for using American Express to pay. Having paid £60 annual membership, the total cashback is just about £60.

I keep buying from Costco, when there are 20% off coupon prices, so they must be losing money. I find the price of 5 litre Filipo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil too low to believe.

Have they forgotten to put in a profit margin?

Saved £130 on a laptop on Johnlewis.com, and three year warranty instead of two, for Black Friday. Looking at the reviews, it looks like we ALL bought at Black Friday prices.

I do pity the retailers whom I buy stuff from.

I pray there are enough mugs left who pay full price to keep them in business. Human sacrifice Pincher style.

Apodemus

I guess the Costco yield is aligned to meet the needs of their mostly US shareholders.

When my wife used Costco we found that the added cost of all the unintended "bargain" purchases far outweighed the price benefits of the intended purchases! (Not to mention the 120mile travel to the nearest Costco!)

Pincher

Apodemus wrote: »

(Not to mention the 120mile travel to the nearest Costco!)

It's not in Canterbury, is it?
120 miles is a pilgrimage.

Die hard Costco fan. :beer:

bowlhead99

Apodemus wrote: »

I guess the Costco yield is aligned to meet the needs of their mostly US shareholders.

Costco pays only a little over 1% on an ongoing basis (40-45c a quarter on $150+ share price the last couple of years) but every so often they do a one off special dividend when business is good. For example at the start of 2015 they paid an extra $5 (3%+) on top of the normal divs; they also did similar ($7 special) at the end of 2012.

On top of that they have an ongoing share buyback/repurchase programme ; shares in issue have fallen by over three million since 2015 which at ~$150 each is half a billion dollars; part of an approved buyback of up to $4bn by 2019.

So if the yield looks low, some of it is the lumpiness of special dividends to use up the ongoing surplus earnings which sit above the core dividend level, and some of it is buybacks. Profits down a bit this year - a few factors, including the strong dollar doesn't help their overseas (e.g. UK) income when reported in dollar; but membership income is still up. Overall retailing is not a massively high-margin business.

These comments are of course just in response to the 'real' posters on this thread, as Gwencert who posted the Costco yield figure was just a bot / spam poster, now hidden.

When my wife used Costco we found that the added cost of all the unintended "bargain" purchases far outweighed the price benefits of the intended purchases! (Not to mention the 120mile travel to the nearest Costco!)

I am with you on that. Good value but do I really need 12 fillet steaks and a five litre jar of mustard this weekend? :rotfl:And sometimes it's easy to get seduced by the size of the product and the ex-vat pricing and not realise that actually it's cheaper to buy the smaller packs at the supermarket which are on three for two or whatever.

Can't fault them for buying things like a monster roll of kitchen foil that lasts all year or a lifetime supply of paper towels. And the good deals on Michelin tyres from time to time have saved me money on things I did actually want to buy!

Apodemus

Pincher wrote: »

It's not in Canterbury, is it?
120 miles is a pilgrimage...

...but only if you start in Winchester (which I think has its own Costco)!

From here, the walk would be more Proclaimers than Chaucer!

HouseQuest

Thanks for the tips people.

I am pretty set on an index tracker type investment, and then leaving it alone unless things majorly change. However two quick other qus:

Can you build in ethical investing into this? Ie avoiding certain stocks? I am guessing not as if youre tracking by buying % of each market that would mess that up...or mess about with the maths you are using to track the market? I would like to avoid certian things if possible however.

Also is there a decent compariosn site for global tracker products? Or any speific help on these? I am wondering about getting a financial advisor just to set it up due to the time needed to read around, but if there is somewhere that does some legwork for me that might help. I am not after answers just concise advice and comparison on the products available.

Cheers!

Gwencert

Well if you want to invest n the long run, one must look for the the best buy and hold stocks. In 2017, there is not much growth in sight and rick of recession is increasing. Hence it is advisable to invest in the best dividend stocks that have been here for a long period. like WMT, PG and KO.

AnotherJoe

HouseQuest wrote: »

Thanks for the tips people.

I am pretty set on an index tracker type investment, and then leaving it alone unless things majorly change. However two quick other qus:

Can you build in ethical investing into this? Ie avoiding certain stocks? No I am guessing not as if youre tracking by buying % of each market that would mess that up. Exactly. If you buy an index that includes Evil Corporation, theres no way to avoid that. ..or mess about with the maths you are using to track the market? I would like to avoid certain things if possible however. Not possible, you'd have to buy an "ethical" fund

Also is there a decent comparison site for global tracker products? No. See why below. Or any speific help on these? I am wondering about getting a financial advisor just to set it up due to the time needed to read around, but if there is somewhere that does some legwork for me that might help. I am not after answers just concise advice and comparison on the products available.

Cheers!

You cant compare index trackers against each other as they will track different indexes. eg a US tracker may have done better than a UK one, but thats because the US market has done better than UK, not because the first tracker company is inherently better than the second.

Now I suppose you could compare US trackers against each other, and UK trackers against each other, but even there, there will be both major and minor differences in exactly what and how they track and theres no way to know over the long term which will be best.

Best thing to do, once you've decided what "index" to track, is pick a trust/fund with the lower management charges as over time that will add up. .

And for 20 years, I really think there are only two logical choices where to invest if you arent going to go for a sector like biotech or healthcare or japan etc. Either UK all share because UK is where you live and are spending your money (All Share not FTSExxx) and where your income comes from, or a global tracker on the grounds that different global economies will do better and worse over 20 years so you cant just pick now which one will do best. Or an ethical fund I suppose given your questions above.

I've picked a global tracker for my granddaughter, L&G (International Index Trust), there are also Vanguard, Blackrock & no doubt others that cover pretty much the same grounds.

Zola.

Loving the Vanguard Life strategy. I am in the 80% Acc and it has grown 18% last time I checked.. (I check once every few months).

Pincher

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/property-or-pension-let-battle-commence-888vrhshl

"The Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, sparked a nationwide debate when he said property, not pensions, was “almost !certainly” the best bet for retirement."


Repeat quotes:


http://www.hl.co.uk/news/2016/9/13/is-andy-haldane-right-to-choose-property-over-pension

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Haldane was asked what he thought was the best way to save for retirement. "It ought to be pension but it’s almost certainly property," he replied.

Etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/28/property-is-better-bet-than-a-pension-says-bank-of-england-economist



Well, it's only one rude expert who dares to tell the truth.
Just ignore him.