Another query from me again (sorry!)

lynzpower

thanks for all your advice yesterday about that bond with the PO. Im definately going to leave that alone

Heres the problem, Im still sitting on an ineffectually working 10k +

Some will sit in savings ( skipton/ icesave etc)

Im now wondering , as per my Hargreave Lansdowne mailer, whether investment in some riskier funds might be wht I need to do. Im wiling to risk no more than 3k and im thinking latin america or india ( tending towards LA as Im more familiar with the region & political economy etc)

What Im wondering is:

For such a small amount of money ( ie <3k) is it worth doing- or will lots get swallowed in fees and the like. Im reading the mailers every time they cme through, and I cant fathom what it will cost me to stick 3k in this fund for - say a year. Will it negate the gains? I dont really get this- can you tell :rotfl:

Ive used my ISa wrappers for the year, so wont be tax free whatever gains I make. Have no real use for the money at this stage, this amount of money im happy to lose in worst case scenario.

Cheers from Confused me again :beer: :cool:

debbie42

The H-L funds are fairly transparent in their set up and annual charges. I'm looking into it now.

If you pick, say, the
Aberdeen Asia Pacific A Accumulation

The fact sheet says that there are initial charges of 4.25%, with a saving of 4.25% which (I think - haven't double checked yet!) means that you don't pay any up-front charges on this fund.

The annual charges are 1.75 - 0.375, so you'd pay 1.375%

So (IMO) not massively loaded on 3K to think you'd lose too much on the charges. I rather suspect the volatility would be more than that p.a.

I have read on here recently about sort of hidden charges associated with dealing that may add another 1% on, but again, I haven't got my head around that properly.

I'm currently moving an ISA to them myself, and need to get my head around it all a bit more, so I'll be interested in the responses.

lynzpower

thanks debbie!

I seem to stare at the stuff and then get baffled and leave it for a few weeks. the problem is that Ive been doing this for months now and im getting nowhere.

EdInvestor

If you are risk-averse and inexperienced, why are you looking first to buy shares in foreign emerging markets? They are one of the highest risk categories.

debbie42

The OP wrote that they could handle the thought of losing 3K, so didn't give the impression they were actually risk averse? They still have another 7K tucked away in other funds, I think, from their original post?

EdInvestor

The OP said:

Some will sit in savings ( skipton/ icesave etc) .Im now wondering , as per my Hargreave Lansdowne mailer, whether investment in some riskier funds might be wht I need to do. Im wiling to risk no more than 3k and im thinking latin america or india ...

But there's a hell of a lot of investments with a risk level between cash savings and emerging markets - why jump from no risk to high risk, without considering a bit of low or medium risk first?

It's like trying to run before you can even walk. A recipe for losing your money.

lynzpower

I think the difficulty is that Im struggling to pick funds that are reasonably ethically credible.

Ive got a L&G S&S ethical isa ( in my name) and OH has a Jupiter Ecology ISA for this year. So we are full in that regard.

I wont invest in property,( for a host of reasons) nor industrialisation ( ethically, these funds are dubious IMHO-)

TBH, the more i think of it, I think Im tending away from the India fund too.

3k is the most Im willing to lose at this stage, which is why Im willing to put it in an emerging market. Indeed, in the spirit of moneysaving I might put the min investment in then add to it later if I feel confident etc.

Im also considering the Climate Change fund detailed in the HL newsletter, I like the thought of it, ethically it certainly appeals.

The difficulty is in lots of the managed funds theres a holding Im simply not willing to support. In saying that I need to scrutinise the LA ones more thoroughly, to check which holdings they hold iyswim, but I was just doing a time saving excercise to see if it was worth my while risking such a low amount of capital in a managed fund IYSWIM.

Im not risk averse per se, but have a fixed amount I would be wiling to wave bye to at this stage.

I have 25k broken as roughly 1k in last years smile isa cash 5.5%, 2 S&S Isas for this year as above 14k total, and the other 10 laying about. 7 I will keep in cash- but 3 im wiling to risk right now.

EdInvestor

lynzpower wrote: »

I think the difficulty is that Im struggling to pick funds that are reasonably ethically credible.

Ive got a L&G S&S ethical isa ( in my name) and OH has a Jupiter Ecology ISA for this year. So we are full in that regard.

How do you mean you are "full"? If you want ethical, there is now a good selection of different types of funds with decent performance records.

http://www.trustnet.com/ut/funds/perf.asp?sort=5&ss=0&txts=&txtss=&columns=&page=0&booIMA=0&reg1=all&sec=eth&ima=all&unit=all&type=all&gobutton=Go

Have a look at Nos 7,12 and 23 for starters.

They are different types of funds from what you already have, but still ethical.There are also some European ethical funds in there as well you could consider - ethical funds are as yet rare in developing country markets. Suggest you pick 3 funds and put 1k in each.

lynzpower

Ed, thanks for that.

Im interested in the CIS one for sure, Im not personally convinced there is much ethical in terms of sustainability where tesco or LTSB is concerned so I would certainly prefer my funds not to have these as holdings.

Would it be a crap idea to have too many eggs in the co-operative basket, my current accounts are with them, last years ISA is with them,and 10k of savings is with them too at this stage?

I meant the S&S ISAs are full ( ie 7k) in the wrapper. my tax free allowane is full unless anyone can point me elsewhere??