No Santa Rally

Alexland

steampowered wrote: »

Out of interest, why is this important to you?

1 share in BP plc has the same value regardless of whether you bought it at 200p or 400p.

Sorry I was talking about fund units. When switching between equity and bond units I am comfortable that in a market decline I am potentially getting into more equity units for a long run until the price at least recovers back to the previous high before I would start derisking again. Sure I might miss some of the gains if/when the top of the market moves higher but I am getting return from the volatility and getting more stability than a 100% equities portfolio.

Alex

Audaxer

newatc wrote: »

Thanks Bowlhead. I understand what you are saying that but frankly as a rough guide it serves for me while I recognise it wouldn't for many including the poster I quoted.
I also recognise there are many posters in forums with varying levels of knowledge and different priorities. It would probably be rather boring if that wasn't the case.

I tend to agree with you that the FTSE 100 can be used as a very rough guide as to how equities are doing as most of the main markets seem to be correlated, so if there is a big drop in the FTSE there is a good chance other markets will be falling as well.

If you see on the news that there has been a big drop in share prices they generally refer to the FTSE 100. I don't see anything wrong with using that a prompt to have a quick look at your portfolio to see if or how it has been affected.

aroominyork

If you asked the man in the semi-financially-literate street how to tell what the markets were doing, four out of five would mention the FTSE100. It is how I assessed my IFA’s performance before I started DIYing, so take it easy guys.

So, newatc, look for the index which best matches your portfolio. For example, if you are globally balanced, a world index; if you are UK-overweight, Vanguard VLS.

6022tivo

I wish I knew what you guys were talking about.

I have cash to invest but no idea how.

I also have a lot of money tied up in one company that I am trying to sell at the moment and panicking a little as the Crest transfer is taking it's time..

Alexland

6022tivo wrote: »

I have cash to invest but no idea how.

I also have a lot of money tied up in one company that I am trying to sell at the moment and panicking a little as the Crest transfer is taking it's time..

Is there anything particularly wrong with the company you selling or is the price just getting dragged down by the market correction? Are you intending to reinvest the money to minimise time out of the market?

Generally for beginners who are happy to invest for 5+ years (preferably longer to ride the ups and downs) we usually suggest looking at low cost diversified global mixed asset funds on a platform with a good fee structure for the amount of money being invested and contribution pattern.

Alex

MaxiRobriguez

I'm 95% equities currently. I've varied between 85% and 100% equities throughout the year, building cash buffer and then used it to buy in the Feb, April and October corrections.

I'm down 4.8% for the year, but I've got a sizable (20%ish) allocation to China, which is down 25% YTD, so I don't feel too bad! (although that allocation has increased from 15% earlier in the year).

BarleyGB

Im down about 10% since the start of 2018 (15% up in 2017). Im 100% equities in my ISA, mostly high risk, volatile etc. Ive been topping up in the dips (April, Oct and this week).

Im wondering where this correction is going though. At the start of the week I thought (for comparison purposes) FTSE 6500 to 7000, DOW 21000 to 23000, NASDAQ 6000 to 7000 settling as a new norm.

Now im wondering if there's another 10%, 20% to go? there's little cheer on short term event horizon

coastline

BarleyGB wrote: »

Im down about 10% since the start of 2018 (15% up in 2017). Im 100% equities in my ISA, mostly high risk, volatile etc. Ive been topping up in the dips (April, Oct and this week).

Im wondering where this correction is going though. At the start of the week I thought (for comparison purposes) FTSE 6500 to 7000, DOW 21000 to 23000, NASDAQ 6000 to 7000 settling as a new norm.

Now im wondering if there's another 10%, 20% to go? there's little cheer on short term event horizon

Who knows ? A bit of history to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U3aq37KhQM&t

The markets appear to be at the point of correction or crash. The first chart below I posted a while ago and if you look at the RSI set up it is clearly turning like previous downturns.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpvF774VAAAZaog.jpg

Here is the same set up 2 months later on DEC 19th and the RSI values are near the centre (50). In correction mode they normally turn around here and recover. We should know in the next month or so.? At the end of the day drip feed monthly or keep buying the dips as there's no reason it won't get to the highs again.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DuzfnXtWsAA0Uwv.jpg

Alexland

If this continues I might start a 'Lose £19k in 2019' thread.

It would be have been cheaper to burn my car and personal possessions than suffer my recent investment performance - and others have seen bigger percentage losses.

Alex.

Fatbritabroad

Yes I put my entire 40k inheritance in in August so of course it tanked afterwards.

Considering I am mostly in 100% index funds I'm quite pleased with being about ten % down and am still buying smaller amounts each month. The way I put it in perspective it will take my under three years to put the same amount in at lower prices from my normal monthly pension and isa contributions so although annoying I'm not running for the hills yet