Great British Invest off or Passive V Active Updates

Thrugelmir

Audaxer said:

I'd be interested to know what conclusions, if any, you guys have come to in the Active v Passive debate during the current market conditions? I was a bit surprised to see that my VLS funds have held up a lot better than my income portfolio of active funds over the last month.

On a broad level only time will tell if Vanguard have got their VLS fund allocations right, i.e. heavy US weighting.  On a general level I've been nervous of bonds for a couple of years. Short term gains on Government stocks have clouded what the long term holds. Investors are sleepwalking into that hole. As for Corporate bonds I divested totally at the beginning of March. 

Audaxer

Thrugelmir said:

Audaxer said:

I'd be interested to know what conclusions, if any, you guys have come to in the Active v Passive debate during the current market conditions? I was a bit surprised to see that my VLS funds have held up a lot better than my income portfolio of active funds over the last month.

On a broad level only time will tell if Vanguard have got their VLS fund allocations right, i.e. heavy US weighting.  On a general level I've been nervous of bonds for a couple of years. Short term gains on Government stocks have clouded what the long term holds. Investors are sleepwalking into that hole. As for Corporate bonds I divested totally at the beginning of March. 

Are you therefore 100% equities?

Thrugelmir

Audaxer said:

Thrugelmir said:

Audaxer said:

I'd be interested to know what conclusions, if any, you guys have come to in the Active v Passive debate during the current market conditions? I was a bit surprised to see that my VLS funds have held up a lot better than my income portfolio of active funds over the last month.

On a broad level only time will tell if Vanguard have got their VLS fund allocations right, i.e. heavy US weighting.  On a general level I've been nervous of bonds for a couple of years. Short term gains on Government stocks have clouded what the long term holds. Investors are sleepwalking into that hole. As for Corporate bonds I divested totally at the beginning of March. 

Are you therefore 100% equities?

Around 34% cash currently. Slowly drip feeding. Did make my first foray into PNL today. As need to diversify. Although classified as equities some of my holdings generate income from what could be called alternative assets. 

Prism

Audaxer said:

I'd be interested to know what conclusions, if any, you guys have come to in the Active v Passive debate during the current market conditions? I was a bit surprised to see that my VLS funds have held up a lot better than my income portfolio of active funds over the last month.

I have been pleasantly surprised at the performance of my portfolio which is 100% equities. Comparing it to a few passives it would roughly equal to VLS 80 in February and somewhere between VLS 20 and VLS 40 in March. Otherwise everything dropped in relation to its risk level - microcaps the most and global equity the least.
Away from the invest off I did have some passive gov bonds in my ISA which held up very well so at some point in the future might reintroduce them into my SIPP which the invest off reflects.

Audaxer

Prism said:

Audaxer said:

I'd be interested to know what conclusions, if any, you guys have come to in the Active v Passive debate during the current market conditions? I was a bit surprised to see that my VLS funds have held up a lot better than my income portfolio of active funds over the last month.

I have been pleasantly surprised at the performance of my portfolio which is 100% equities. Comparing it to a few passives it would roughly equal to VLS 80 in February and somewhere between VLS 20 and VLS 40 in March. 

The VLS40 price fell by just under 6% during March. Did your 100% equity portfolio really fall by less than that during March?

Prism

Audaxer said:

Prism said:

Audaxer said:

I'd be interested to know what conclusions, if any, you guys have come to in the Active v Passive debate during the current market conditions? I was a bit surprised to see that my VLS funds have held up a lot better than my income portfolio of active funds over the last month.

I have been pleasantly surprised at the performance of my portfolio which is 100% equities. Comparing it to a few passives it would roughly equal to VLS 80 in February and somewhere between VLS 20 and VLS 40 in March. 

The VLS40 price fell by just under 6% during March. Did your 100% equity portfolio really fall by less than that during March?

Yup, its in the first post. About -5.1%

cloud_dog

finellah said:

Cloud_dog - I think there is something not right with some of this months numbers on your spreadsheet e.g. Linton Growth and Thrugelmir.  
I appreciate you keeping it updated - thanks.

Thanks for letting me know, I'll have look in the morning.

EDIT: I've corrected those two entries.  Unsure what happened there, must have just been typing random numbers in to the cells.

I'll add all the other updates in the morning.

TBC15

I’m down 5.3% in March, God bless you Mr Smith and Mr Gleeson. Not bad for 100% equities.

bostonerimus

I expect VLS type things (and my 75/25 portfolio) and a pretty passive approach that might just be some rebalancing to end up in the middle of the pack. Some actives will beat it and some will be behind it. For the purposes of this thread I have never touched my portfolio since Oct 2017.  On the $ calculation I am back to where I was at the beginning and I'm 8% up in £s thanks to the falling pound.

Thrugelmir

Don't Let Your Granny Loose at the Dogs
At 30-04-2020 - £107,492     Up 12.71% on month.