Has 2017 Been good for you?

Alexland

economic wrote: »

I want to invest more in stocks (since i am "only" 34) but i am willing to wait for a dip before i deploy more into stocks. although i am kind of scared to as investing all the cash would mean i am approaching near 500k in stocks and i am not sure i can handle the volatility.

Even if you hold that mix you are going to have to learn how to handle the volatility eventually as your assets grow. I find it helps to run a spreadsheet of our whole balance sheet including our house (minus mortgage balance), coins, cars, etc. So when stocks are down the value of the house might have gone up, etc. The basic Zoopla and Parkers guide valuations are good enough for this. Some of our accounts go up anyway due to regular contributions so I never really see the full extent of the devaluation in a downturn. Even when the contributions become a small proportion of the pot values there are usually sufficient historic gains that you are always in profit.

Alex

bostonerimus

economic wrote: »

So you are 75% in USD. Not globally diversified but you were hedging currency risk as you spend in $.

Well US equity is exposed to currency.....GM sells in China etc.

economic

bostonerimus wrote: »

Well US equity is exposed to currency.....GM sells in China etc.

Indirectly. Also companies that earn their revenues abroad could very well hedge their currency exposure. So you wouldnt easily be able to tell.

economic

Prism wrote: »

The pensions are 100% equity with only a few hundred pounds in cash for fees. That's included in the gain

The ISA is stocks and shares, single fund, no cash

The cash buffer has made pretty much zero - could probably do with a slightly better savings account

Are your returns calculated purely on the invested amount? I.e. if you contributed to your pension throughout the year, this contributed amount would not be included in the numerator but would show in the denominator? Its very tricky to work out returns when you have been investing throughout the year.

Zoea

Excuse me for not reading the whole thread. I may do later.
Personally, it's been 'ok'. Kind of good by most standards but I'm not about to start counting esoteric investments in strong blockchain based systems or whatever, at least not yet. I mean, my other (majority) investment has notionally been doing well and really ought to be a winner but I have to see further gains to be convinced. C'est la vie.
I like to weigh any potential of personal financial goals and invest etc against the global or at least local bell weather. I am happy that inflation remains low though I reckon it may need to be a tad bit lower p'raps. I continue to be disappointed in the inflation in things like foods and maybe more importantly the lack of wage growth leading to below cost of living increase increases in mean/median wages. Someone somewhere is making a whole lot of money out of starving / milking this system and I have NO idea why and it ought to really stop. Just share the benefit.

bostonerimus

economic wrote: »

I think this is the dilemma many of us face who are in our 30s and 40s. Due to low rates what option do we have but to take a lot of risk?

Our biggest asset should be ourselves. We have the potential to yield a lot more then some stocks if we are good enough/hard working enough.

Looking over 20 or 30 year cycles should calm your worries a bit. When I was saving for retirement I used a 60/40 allocation because it was a good balance of risk and reward. I was lucky to have good stock returns and also save into a bond bull market. Since I retired I've upped my equity allocation because I can afford to take the risk. I have seven figures in stocks so a 1% swing is frightening in absolute terms.

Prism

economic wrote: »

Are your returns calculated purely on the invested amount? I.e. if you contributed to your pension throughout the year, this contributed amount would not be included in the numerator but would show in the denominator? Its very tricky to work out returns when you have been investing throughout the year.

Yes it is hard to work out - my strength isn't stats. I don't contribute much as a percentage so it only changes the calculation by about 1%. I do two calculations, one for each denominator using the same gain and split the difference.

In the end, the only amount that really matters to me is the total gain including the contribution but that doesn't help for comparisons.

Next year I am going to pay in my full yearly pension in April anyway

bostonerimus

economic wrote: »

Are your returns calculated purely on the invested amount? I.e. if you contributed to your pension throughout the year, this contributed amount would not be included in the numerator but would show in the denominator? Its very tricky to work out returns when you have been investing throughout the year.

I assume when we report gains it's investment gains and does not include contributions throughout the year.

dales1

Not quite, because your contributions during the year have also made some returns themselves, hopefully. So your annual returns are slightly overstated if you ignore these.

So, for more accuracy, you need to "unitise" your calculations (eg google monevator unitise) - it's fairly easy, but the difference shouldn't be too great if your portfolio is big and your annual contributions are small in comparison.

Dales.

Liffy99

A reasonable year in financial terms I feel. This year, following a redundancy payout, meaning I retired at 61, I have diversified cash into many other products.
I now have 3 Robo investments, 5 P2P accounts, 7 current accounts, a SIPP, a DC pension pot and cash ISAs and savings. Cash stuff aside (which of course has been lamentable) the robots have averaged about 5% returns, the P2P much the same, the SIPP about 6% and the DC pension closer to 8%. Not quite the figures some others are posting but better than inflation and I am more of a passive investor than stock market activist.
However I would happily give the redundancy back as I busted my femur badly in Feb and am still needing crutches with a new hip seeming the only way out. What was supposed to be my ‘gap year’ has been such a loss . . . .