JPM Natural resources & Merriyll Lynch Gold & General

egamar

hyposmurf wrote: »

If I was to purchase a fund currently, would the idea behind favouring making monthly payments over a lump sum be that I could halt the payments should the market go into freefall?

Also No NO NO! That'd be the time to buy! Experts buy at the bottom (or on the way down and sell at the top (or on the way up). Me and you and Joe Public have an awful habit of buying at the top (or on the way up) and selling at the bottom (or on the way down).

You hear the experts on Working Lunch say just this from time to time!

Do you watch Working Lunch? You should - record it or get it from the BBC website.

egamar

wombat42 wrote: »

As i said before you benefit with regular payments if the market goes down as you get more units. Frankly i get the message that you investing in a risky volatile fund like JPM NR will give you sleepless nights. If I were you I would invest in something safer and less volatile such as a Global fund and keep it invested for an absolute minimum of 5 years and preferably 10. You should still get some nice returns and you will sleep easier.

Oh, you and your Global Fund and your 5 to 10 years! It's not a bad idea though. Provided you've selected the right fund.

You are quite right: volatile funds are NOT for the nervous or the beginner, I suggest. Seeing your portfolio lose £12k in two weeks can be a bit disturbing if you let it. You HAVE to have a long-term view if you're at the high-risk end of things where these funds live.

Ian_W

hyposmurf wrote: »

If I was to purchase a fund currently, would the idea behind favouring making monthly payments over a lump sum be that I could halt the payments should the market go into freefall?

No - in fact, quite the opposite!

You want to buy units as cheap as possible so if a fund [or markets generally] is/are particularly volatile monthly payments mean you have a chance of buying when the markets ARE down rather than paying in a lump sum only to see it decline by 10% a few days later. It's not a panacia though - I've been doing this over the summer since June and some fund prices were lower than the first month for most of the time, others dipped for a couple of months but were more expensive for more months - if that makes sense!
EDIT: egamar posted while I was typing - what s/he said too!

Aegis

hyposmurf wrote: »

Yeh down 41.04p for JPM NR.ML Gold & G down 37.0.I thought both these funds were meant to prosper in times like these.Didnt expect them to drop that much at all.Buying opportunity or as egamar said just a blip maybe theyll rise again by the end of the day.

Both invest in mining companies, and mining companies all took a hit yesterday. I won't be losing much sleep over it though, as I'm sure they'll recover nicely. Admittedly I'm only in the JPM NR fund rather than both, so I've probably not seen as big a hit to my portfolio because of it.

hyposmurf

The only problem I have is that I have to apply via post and any alterations I make have to be by post via Chartwell and a few others.H&L require a minmum payment of £3000 to.Looks like my options are narrowed.

meinnit

hyposmurf wrote: »

The only problem I have is that I have to apply via post and any alterations I make have to be by post via Chartwell and a few others.H&L require a minmum payment of £3000 to.Looks like my options are narrowed.

If you're referring to funds, The Share Centre allow a minimum of £10 to be invested in most funds and can also be done online. Call them to find out the minimum investment for your fund.

egamar

hyposmurf wrote: »

The only problem I have is that I have to apply via post and any alterations I make have to be by post via Chartwell and a few others.H&L require a minmum payment of £3000 to.Looks like my options are narrowed.

I'm a bit confused by this - but I have my own way of doing things so I don't always keep up with what's happening elsewhere.

I found that buying via a discount broker allowed one to buy much smaller holdings than the fund factsheet/fund manage themselves would allow.

I'm not sure who or what a Chartwell is and I'm too busy/lazy too look it up, but the discount broker I started out with - Allenbridge - had no such high maximum. http://www.allenbridge.co.uk/indexmain.htm and the transaction was completed on line through Allenbridge's link using my debit card - direct on the FundsNetwork site.

Maybe you should look at a different way of buying what you want? I had a quick took at H&L's site and they seemed to have modelled after this one, which is a bit busy, distracting and confusing to say the least! They seem to have an awful lot of things they want to sell!

hyposmurf

I had rpoblems finding any site that offered a monthly top feature than a lump sum and that had a easy to use website.A few of the websites its hard to even find where the money supermarket part of the site is,they really arent doing themselves favours!
In the end I purchashed £1000 worth of units at 847.50p.They had shot up 20.30p but the day before had dropped down 41.04p so saved 20.74 of the original.The price may still go down in the near future but Im looking at investing for the long, just wanted to get in while there was a drop in the price.

egamar

We'll be OK in the long term I suspect. I hope you chose a broker offering a good discount! 3% off the initial fee cushions you against some volatility .....

hyposmurf

Initial charge 4.25% Funds Supermarket Discount 5.00%.Bought it through Cofunds via Chartwell.They offer low costs but have a basic website,easy to make payments on though and understand.I also chose to go without the yearly analysis at an extra £20 a year.