My portfolio - up 9%

dunstonh

Experts say that there is a 10% chance of a UK 90s style housing crash yet people still invest in UK housing.

Too many sheep in the housing market who cannot spot a good deal or a bad deal.

I still believe you are understating the risk. If you had invested on 15th August 1997 in Gartmore China you would have suffered 63.57% loss by 30th September 1997. That sort of loss potential puts it into high risk. It took until 26th Aug 2005 for those people to break even. Although if they sat on it until date, they would be 155.72% up now. Which, over 10 years is nothing special.

Accepting the risk is a personal choice but there are a good many people that panic at the thought of a 10% drop let alone a 64% drop.

m_c_s

what was the make up the gartmore fund back in 1997...was that still HK biased and why the fall?
(just trying to do some research on Asia markets)

wombat42_2

m_c_s wrote: »

what was the make up the gartmore fund back in 1997...was that still HK biased and why the fall?

I dunno but I suspect the Hong Kong market was less mature then and certainly wasnt a conduit for China as it is now.

Anyway I personally I have two safeguards about Gartmore China and Threadneedle China:

1/I have a healthy rainy day cash buffer
2/ Using Google Alerts I continually read up on short term and long term trends on Hing Kong and the China market. Currently I feel optimistic about the future.


I have just checked and it was in 1997 when China took over soveriegnty of HK so there was specific upheaval in that year.

dolce_vita

This guy seems to have done ok

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing/article.html?in_article_id=424758&in_page_id=166&ct=5

wombat42_2

dolce_vita wrote: »

This guy seems to have done ok

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing/article.html?in_article_id=424758&in_page_id=166&ct=5

Yep I had already spotted that one. I am in touch with loads of internet intelligence mainly using Google Alerts.

JDinho

Presumably you are also reading up on mitigating CGT because of all the money you are making in China :rolleyes: ?

purch

I dunno but I suspect the Hong Kong market was less mature then

...well the 'market' has been around since the mid 1800's, and the Stock Exchange itself was probably opened some time at the start of the last century.

How mature do you want it to be ??