Review my stocks and shares ISA

planteria

good thread, with some quality exchanges between RSB and economic:T.
fwiw i think with blue chips it's quite nice to buy them yourself, such as picking some high yielders as you have, along with Vodafone that you mention etc, rather that a FTSE tracker or a large cap managed fund.
i used to work with a chap that was very frugal and put away half of his weekly wages into a pot and then bought shares: Utilities were his bedrock, and he had built up a very substantial portfolio over the years.
managing your own portfolio could be both interesting and profitable. and then perhaps you could diversify into different things, such as an Asia fund, that you suggest. i use a Small Cap fund too, which backs companies that i don't have the time/knowledge/interest in investigating.
fwiw i also still see 'the internet' as a huge theme with plenty of legs, so some large US tech companies could compliment utilities/banks/telecoms.

Fatbritabroad

economic wrote: »

I am 34 and i started investing back in 2012 in an ISA so i was roughly the same age as the OP.

I also had a eerily similar portfolio to the OP - all high div stocks in energy and supermarkets.

Of course that did not work out so well a few years later with oil crashing and supermarkets getting hurt badly by competition.

Over the last 2 years i have, i would say, increased my knowledge about investing considerably. Losing money can really be a great learning experience. As long as you don't lose to much its fine to lose money but the key is to learn from the mistakes. If you are a beginner and do not have any help whatsoever from friends or family (i never got any help whatsoever) then you will make mistakes when starting out.

I now have a well balanced portfolio in my ISA, my pension and normal trading accounts with the following:

- half index trackers (half of which is global rest US so i am overweight US).
- single stocks in US banks, tech and some income stocks (tobacco and energy).
- trusts in tech and biotech

I have grown my total accounts from less then 100k back in 2012 to now approaching 400k (some from income from employment and rest capital gains/dividends).

I managed to benefit quite a bit from the rise over the last 2 years we have seen. And all because i learnt from my mistakes and re-positioned myself in time.

Investing is a continuous learning experience and you NEVER stop learning. You can take a more active approach like i have, or a more passive approach that is common on here.

I would say from your portfolio you need to understand about risk and diversification. Not sure how big your balance is but if you plan to maintain that stock composition i would be very careful as it looks very risky to me.

I would stick to a global fund and add some trusts in certain sectors like tech and biotech and maybe a few income stocks. then as you learn more you can add different trusts/stocks/funds or if you want to stick to passive then just stick to index trackers and trusts and add as you earn.

What tech and biotechnology trusts do you use out of interest? I currently just use vanguard lifestrategy and may want to add some specific sectors in the future though I will probably resist tinkering 😁

Ray_Singh-Blue

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Why does every trade have a winner and a loser?

Clumsy of me to put it like that. What I meant:

After an investment is traded its price may change. From a certain perspective, If the price rises, the buyer has "won" and the seller has "lost". If it falls the buyer has lost and the seller has won.

That's not to say everyone is playing higher-lower. Sometimes you just want a wooden dresser, or a days work, or a basket of Japanese shares and who cares about the price.

But if we are going out looking for investments which will rise in value more than most, hey, welcome to the table. The game is higher-lower. The guy to your left is a pro, the cards may be marked, the house takes a cut.

firestone

bostonerimus wrote: »

Buying ITs without understanding the quirks of their structure can be dangerous. Think on Woodford Patient Capital IT.

True up to a point - but some of the older IT's have been going for many decades even over a century in some cases having gone through many turmoils in the market and their quirks have been an asset but would be worth reading up on more then normal funds.As for understanding the dangers of their structure i am sure that could apply to trackers for some people who come the first big drop in price will form a group and claim they were mis-sold and that the product was not explained.:eek:

economic

Fatbritabroad wrote: »

What tech and biotechnology trusts do you use out of interest? I currently just use vanguard lifestrategy and may want to add some specific sectors in the future though I will probably resist tinkering 😁

PCT and BIOG. Don’t trade these. Hold till you retire.

bostonerimus

Fatbritabroad wrote: »

What tech and biotechnology trusts do you use out of interest? I currently just use vanguard lifestrategy and may want to add some specific sectors in the future though I will probably resist tinkering 😁

Please resist "tinkering". Decide on your asset allocation and construct a portfolio as simply as you can, Then stick with your plan and don't be distracted by all the shiny things you see along the way.

Adamjeffs

bostonerimus wrote: »

Please resist "tinkering". Decide on your asset allocation and construct a portfolio as simply as you can, Then stick with your plan and don't be distracted by all the shiny things you see along the way.

Very good advice.. Hence why I'm now 100% in a tracker fund just interested for educational purposes 😁 I just wanted a fire and forget investment

bostonerimus

Adamjeffs wrote: »

Very good advice.. Hence why I'm now 100% in a tracker fund just interested for educational purposes 😁 I just wanted a fire and forget investment

Using trackers doesn't release you from all management obligations. You need to tend the garden a bit to keep allocations within your preset limits or maybe adjust the allocation as your circumstances change. Your management should be strategic rather than tactical. It's true that if you have target date retirement fund a lot of that will be on auto-pilot, but you still need to be involved as the worst thing is to ignore your finances.

sixpence.

Are global/Western market dominated tracker funds generally considered lower risk investment options? That's the impression I've got from my reading. You diversify a bit and then you have some trackers to follow the market.

Planteria - yeah I've actually had most of these invested for about three years and have made cracking good dividends. The shares have mostly dropped about 3-4% in that time but my div income has been about 6.5% on average. I think it might be time to sell bits of them to put into trackers. I will still technically have made a profit, although it won't be anywhere near as high as if they had risen.

aberlyfid_2000

back to the OP's original question:

- i think from a UK prospective, you have a good portfolio here - the stocks you have are quite cheap, and offer high dividend returns (and are not likely to go bust either!). Clearly you have been monitoring the market somewhat and using your own convictions. :cool:
- for foreign exposure, i would suggest active (if you like the allocations) or passive, unless you are prepared to do more research yourself. I think this forum is full of active vs passive advice.:T.