Investment platform / general advice

dunstonh

MPN wrote: »

I should clarify that I really meant can anybody name any multi asset funds that have performed consistently well over a long period of time?

VLS has not existed for a long period of time. In fact, it has only existed in a growth period (it started after the last major negative period).

VLS is good but its not the be all and end all. It has also had a bit of luck in that its asset allocation, which many have criticised for in the past as being too weighted to certain sectors, happens to have seen those particular sectors perform well. As the sector allocations are rigid, this was luck rather than management. L&G could have similar luck in future as they include property. However, property took a hit in 2016 that VLS did not suffer. In an equity crash, the L&G fund would likely do better.

You should be able to see other multi-asset funds that have performed well over the long term. However, do remember that these have to be on a like for like basis in terms of risk. Otherwise you have risk bias and that would likely be the main reason for performance differences.

MPN

EdGasket wrote: »

I can name one that has done badly, Blackrock's BIST fund. However it is currently trading 11.5% below NAV which is what makes it interesting.

Well I will suggest the following multi-asset funds to look into:

Premier Multi-Asset Growth & Income
Royal London Sustainable World Trust
HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic Portfolio
Orbis Global Balanced (this one has only been going 3 years though)

Any other opinions on multi-asset funds?

StellaN

MPN wrote: »

Well I will suggest the following multi-asset funds to look into:

Premier Multi-Asset Growth & Income
Royal London Sustainable World Trust
HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic Portfolio
Orbis Global Balanced (this one has only been going 3 years though)

Any other opinions on multi-asset funds?

I've also just mentioned the HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic on another thread regarding multi-asset funds. I personally think this fund has a great asset class breakdown if its suitable for your risk ratio as its about 80/20 equities similar to VLS80 or L&G Multi Index 6.

However, its more to my liking than VLS or L&G funds due to the asset class breakdown which in my opinion seems more balanced to what I have in mind for a multi-asset fund - for example 40% US, 14% Europe, 9% EM, 8% Japan, 5% UK, 3% Pacific Ex Japan then 16.5% Corporate Bonds and 5% Property. Sounds good to me?

bowlhead99

StellaN wrote: »

seems more balanced to what I have in mind for a multi-asset fund - for example 40% US, 14% Europe, 9% EM, 8% Japan, 5% UK, 3% Pacific Ex Japan then 16.5% Corporate Bonds and 5% Property. Sounds good to me?

Personally I understand the desire for some home bias which Vanguard and others try to give you. Not so much in your home market as an American would have for example, but 5% UK vs triple that in continental Europe or 15x that in "rest of world generally", just feels low to me.

It is perhaps a bit arbitrary when the "UK" stuff is just the UK-headquartered global giants of the FTSE100 anyway rather than UK focused businesses, but investing 1:1 home:away in equities as a Brit is maybe more suitable for those who really believe that UK should be avoided under current Brexitty conditions, rather than someone who lives their life in GBP with only a portion of his expenses being driven by imported goods and services.

grey_gym_sock

1 approach is not to have any home bias for UK big-capitalization shares versus rest-of-the-world big-cap shares, but to have a bias to UK mid-cap or small-cap shares (or even to UK-focused VCTs). since the mid- and small-cap stuff is more genuinely UK-biased, unlike the multinationals which just happen to be headquartered here.

of course, you can only do that if you're going to add some mid/small cap allocation.

MPN

StellaN wrote: »

I've also just mentioned the HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic on another thread regarding multi-asset funds. I personally think this fund has a great asset class breakdown if its suitable for your risk ratio as its about 80/20 equities similar to VLS80 or L&G Multi Index 6.

However, its more to my liking than VLS or L&G funds due to the asset class breakdown which in my opinion seems more balanced to what I have in mind for a multi-asset fund - for example 40% US, 14% Europe, 9% EM, 8% Japan, 5% UK, 3% Pacific Ex Japan then 16.5% Corporate Bonds and 5% Property. Sounds good to me?

Yes,I quite like the look of this HSBC fund, however as others have stated if you don't like the excessive UK headquartered giants of the FTSE why not invest some in the home market mid and small cap companies as part of your portfolio?

MonroeM

MPN wrote: »

Well I will suggest the following multi-asset funds to look into:

Premier Multi-Asset Growth & Income
Royal London Sustainable World Trust
HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic Portfolio
Orbis Global Balanced (this one has only been going 3 years though)

Any other opinions on multi-asset funds?

I used to have Royal London Sustainable World Trust as part of my portfolio and I recently sold it which I now realise was possibly a mistake! It had always performed consistently well for me over the past 7 years but I decided to sell my UK funds to concentrate on global funds.

Jeems

OP here, thank you very much for everyone who posted advice and research in this thread, it was very informative reading indeed.

I ended up putting the rest of my ISA allowance into VLS80 via iweb, I went with them due to the reduced charge and the fact that I will be topping up my ISA allowance fully in April. The numbers made the most sense for me. On my first day, the fund dropped 0.1% in value, great start :shocked:

One question re iweb...

I put in £5240, the £5 fund charge came out of this amount rather then a separate cash account. In essence, my ISA allowance is £5 short for the year. I spoke to them on the phone and they confirmed this was the case. Is this normal practise amongst other fund managers? It means I'll never be able to top up my ISA allowance to the max if I buy and sell more funds in future which seems a bit odd to me if so.

ColdIron

Jeems wrote: »

In essence, my ISA allowance is £5 short for the year. I spoke to them on the phone and they confirmed this was the case. Is this normal practise amongst other fund managers?

It's normal practise. Some percentage fee providers allow you to have the recurring platform fee to be taken from a non ISA account but not transaction charges in my experience

iWeb are cheap to hold but charge transaction fees. Good for long term buy and hold but not so good for frequent traders. Others that charge a percentage but no trx fees are the reverse. It's one of the factors you should consider when choosing a provider. I think iWeb have a reduced fee if you use their monthly investment option

PS iWeb are not fund managers, fund managers manage the funds you invest in

Jeems

ColdIron wrote: »

It's normal practise. Some percentage fee providers allow you to have the recurring platform fee to be taken from a non ISA account but not transaction charges in my experience

iWeb are cheap to hold but charge transaction fees. Good for long term buy and hold but not so good for frequent traders. Others that charge a percentage but no trx fees are the reverse. It's one of the factors you should consider when choosing a provider. I think iWeb have a reduced fee if you use their monthly investment option

PS iWeb are not fund managers, fund managers manage the funds you invest in

Sorry platform provider*, my bad! Yes I went with iweb because I am long term buy and hold and dont plan many trades in the next 12 months at least. Thanks again