Just retired, any thoughts on my portfolio

AnotherJoe

andy001 wrote: »

I wonder if OP may wish to reduce Equity portfolio to Bond etc as he is retired now?

The OP explicitly said

bearing in mind I do not need this income but consider it as a hobby with hopefully some profit /excitement and no i dont want bonds my pension is my safe money .

A_T

Too much yield chasing. A lot of investors seem fixated on dividends without apparently thinking about what generates those yields.

I suspect there is a psychology that wants to avoid selling any of your principal - but dividends are just another way of doing that and by doing so your avoiding many of the best growth companies. Berkshire Hathaway hasn't paid any dividends for decades.

AnotherJoe

Gasman, read this post https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74878871#Comment_74878871 about whether or not income funds are a good idea. (TL;DR, no they are not)

So, to meet your criteria of a bit of fun and excitement and "income" (which can come from selling units not just dividends), I'd start (as suggested in the very first reply) by switching out of income funds into growth ones and then taking income by selling funds as and when you want some holiday money.

FWIW I have 3 main investment portfolios. One passive, one active, and one income.

Over the last year (including dividends) they returned 28%, 14% and 2% respectively.

I'd have been much better off with either of the first two and selling some investments rather than taking the 2%.


I will be looking to completely start again with my investment portfolio.

Thrugelmir

a_gasman wrote: »

bearing in mind I do not need this income but consider it as a hobby with hopefully some profit /excitement and no i dont want bonds my pension is my safe money .

You might not need the income. However you presumably don't want to risk the capital. Stick with a solid global tracker fund. As capital once lost is irretrievable. Now you are retired you've no opportunity to replenish.

BLB53

I echo A_T and suggest focus on total return rather than income. Personally I split my investments 2/3 Vanguard Lifestrategy and 1/3 mix of global growth such as Scottish Mortgage.

Like you, my income requirements are covered by pensions so if I need any extra as a one-off I can just sell some of the growth from my investment trusts. For example my SMT has just about doubled in value over the past 3 years and earlier this year I sold 10% of my holding to help out a family member.

AnotherJoe

Thrugelmir wrote: »

You might not need the income. However you presumably don't want to risk the capital. Stick with a solid global tracker fund. As capital once lost is irretrievable. Now you are retired you've no opportunity to replenish.

How would a global tracker fund not risk the capital ???
Of course capital lost is not irretrievable.
Say a fund is £100 today £99 tomorrow £101 the following day, did you not retrieve your "lost" £1 and more?

MK62

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Over the last year (including dividends) they returned 28%, 14% and 2% respectively.

In a bull market, this isn't overly surprising (though without knowing the allocations of each sub-porftolio, this is generalising somewhat).


You might find you get a different outcome when the market goes the other way.

Thrugelmir

AnotherJoe wrote: »

How would a global tracker fund not risk the capital ???
Of course capital lost is not irretrievable.
Say a fund is £100 today £99 tomorrow £101 the following day, did you not retrieve your "lost" £1 and more?

Seems that we are on totally different pages.

a_gasman

Thanks for all the information, I will sell 50% of the UK equity funds and invest in the global idex tracker.


At least no one has said bloody awful choices you have made, and they have all made gains.


So my beginners choices have not failed. :j

A_T

a_gasman wrote: »

Thanks for all the information, I will sell 50% of the UK equity funds and invest in the global idex tracker.


At leasr no one has said bloody awful choices you have made, and they have all made gains.


So my beginners choices have not failed. :j

It would have been difficult not to make gains with equity funds in the last few years. You'd have done better though by having a global tracker rather than those income funds.