Vanguard LifeStrategy

CaptainWales

Helo
I am thinking of opening a LifeStategy as an ISA account. thinking of going for the 100% Equity but looking at past performance this appears to be showing a current downward trend. Is this still a good fund to invest in? I have never opened a S&S ISA before so any advice would be appreciated.

dunstonh

I am thinking of opening a LifeStategy as an ISA account.

VLS xx is an investment fund. Not an account.

thinking of going for the 100% Equity but looking at past performance this appears to be showing a current downward trend. Is this still a good fund to invest in?

You need to improve your knowledge and understanding about investing. Especially if you are going to jump in at the top end of the risk scale.

The recent minor downturn (the level didnt even make it into crash territory and was only around a third of the early 2000s and 2008/9. Drops were greater in 2015/6.

These negative periods dont change anything. They happen regularly and are needed for investments to grow more over the long term.

eskbanker

The vast majority of investments, especially collective ones such as funds, will have dropped over the past few months - this is entirely normal behaviour, as any such investments are inherently volatile.

If you're looking for predictable linear, but low (probably negative in real terms), growth, stick your money in cash deposit accounts.

If you feel that investment is a better option for the long-term (10+ years) then you'll need to accept that there will be ups and downs along the way but that the longer the term the more likely the positive result....

What led you to consider investment and VLS in particular?

CaptainWales

I want to invest because I have too much sitting in cash accounts.


I've heard Vanguard LifeStrategy mention a lot which is what led me to them and their fees appear cheap compared to other funds. I'm happy to leave the money in for a long time to weather any downturn.


Also looked at Scottish Mortgage fund with Baille Gifford but fees are higher to invest so less attractive for me at the moment.


As a starting point I was thinking of depositing a few hundred pounds a month into the fund (as an ISA) which after ringing BG I understand I can't do (need to transfer one lump sum). I think I can do this with Vanguard.

AlexDee

I only hold VLS100 in my ISA. I also hold this on the Vanguard Investment platform.
I went for this for various reasons. The platform fees are cheap. If you only want to hold Vanguard funds and only have small amounts to invest (I’m led to believe up to about £50,000) then holding on the Vanguard platform is the cheapest way to do so.
The fund is quite well diversified albeit more heavily UK focused than the UK share of the market.
The VLS funds are also automatically rebalanced daily according to their allocations.

I spent a great deal of time researching before I began investing and settled on the VLS as it’s relatively simple and saves me having to diversify manually. It suits me well and I have a high risk tolerance with the money I’m investing into it.

It has taken a bit of a knock recently but seems to be recovering somewhat.

clsmooth48

I currently have about £5k split between Lifestrategy 60 and 80 in a Charles Stanley S&S ISA. The platform fee is 0.35% per annum up to £240 per year max (I’m paying £17.50 a year) as opposed to 0.15% per annum up to £375 max with Vanguard. The no brainer is to transfer it straight from Charles Stanley to Vanguard which I must do in the next few days.

Any other Vanguard investments worth looking into?

ColdIron

The CSD £240 cap only applies to company shares, investment trusts, ETFs etc. It does not apply to funds like Vanguard's Lifestrategy. That said Vanguard Investor would be cheaper than CSD as long as you are happy to be constrained to Vanguard's offerings

dunstonh

clsmooth48 wrote: »

I currently have about £5k split between Lifestrategy 60 and 80 in a Charles Stanley S&S ISA. The platform fee is 0.35% per annum up to £240 per year max (I’m paying £17.50 a year) as opposed to 0.15% per annum up to £375 max with Vanguard. The no brainer is to transfer it straight from Charles Stanley to Vanguard which I must do in the next few days.

Any other Vanguard investments worth looking into?

Not sure what you achieve by splitting VLS60 and VLS80. However, if you are cost focused then you wouldn't be using VLS. Their TOTAL annual charges are around 50% higher than HSBC GS.

Alexland

dunstonh wrote: »

Not sure what you achieve by splitting VLS60 and VLS80. However, if you are cost focused then you wouldn't be using VLS. Their TOTAL annual charges are around 50% higher than HSBC GS.

I am guessing they are seeking to achieve 70/30 which seems reasonable to me.

But it also depends on what investments you want to hold (eg VLS has UK equity bias, government bond bias and currency hedging) and the lower Vanguard Investor platform charge pretty much covers the fund charges difference.

Alex

dunstonh

I am guessing they are seeking to achieve 70/30 which seems reasonable to me.

There is such small difference between them that trying to find yourself half way between them is like wondering if you should have 3 or 4 scoops of ice cream but decide that 3 1/2 is best.

But it also depends on what investments you want to hold (eg VLS has UK equity bias, government bond bias and currency hedging) and the lower Vanguard Investor platform charge pretty much covers the fund charges difference.

No indication that any thought has been made to the investments. Just how little that can be paid and it has to be Vanguard. Although we only have a paragraph to go on

Alexland

dunstonh wrote: »

There is such small difference between them that trying to find yourself half way between them is like wondering if you should have 3 or 4 scoops of ice cream but decide that 3 1/2 is best.

Do I want to see around 25% loss or 40% loss in a bad crash? Not sure, maybe I only want just over 30% loss with a small probably it would be worse. Seems reasonable to me.

Alex