BlackRock Consensus funds investing

steve4373

Hi

I’m about to start investing in a low cost passive multi asset fund in a S&S ISA. Vanguard Life Strategy is clearly very popular with many investors.

But what do people think of the BlackRock Consensus funds?

I thought they looked ok with very low charges too (0.09% with Hargreaves). Does anyone here invest in BlackRock? Do you rate them?

What are the pro & cons of BlackRock Consensus versus other similar funds like Vanguard LS and L&G?

Thanks

Steve

AnotherJoe

AFAICR the advantage is it doesn't have the artificial 25% U.K. loading of VLS, which results in an overconcentration in a few industries.

A_T

AnotherJoe wrote: »

AFAICR the advantage is it doesn't have the artificial 25% U.K. loading of VLS, which results in an overconcentration in a few industries.

I seem to recall the UK weighting varies and that some of the Consensus funds have an even greater overweighting to UK-listed than VLS.

AnotherJoe

If that's the case I'd certainly steer well clear

steve4373

With BR consensus 85, I believe the UK weighting at the moment is about 35%.

With that in mind which fund do you think might be better ? L&G multi asset/index?

Thanks

AlanP_2

steve4373 wrote: »

With BR consensus 85, I believe the UK weighting at the moment is about 35%.

With that in mind which fund do you think might be better ? L&G multi asset/index?

Thanks

That is your choice, nobody knows.

The manger of BR Consensus 85 is of the opinion that UK shares are a good buy relative to other geographies.

Other fund managers, and AnotherJoe, don't agree with that so have a different UK allocation in mind.

Nobody is guaranteed to be right.

Do you have any other investments / pensions etc? My wife's employer pension pot is quite heavy on UK investments so we have balanced that down a bit by having a low UK allocation in a SIPP.

I suspect, that over 10-20 years, the difference in returns between multi-asset funds of a similar "risk / equity" profile from Vanguard, L&G, Blackrock and HSBC will not be a great deal although the journeys will be different.

Herbalus

I have consensus 100 in my Lisa with HL

I have vanguard funds on the vanguard platform.

Seemed a bit steep to pay HL 0.45% to hold the same funds I hold on vanguard direct at 0.15%. Blackrock has the discount and does more or less the same thing so I went for that for additional diversification in the Lisa.

A_T

Maybe check out the Fidelity Multi Asset Allocator or HSBC Global Strategy funds. Similar to VLS and Consensus but no UK-listed bias - they also have some property.

steve4373

AlanP wrote: »

That is your choice, nobody knows.

The manger of BR Consensus 85 is of the opinion that UK shares are a good buy relative to other geographies.

Other fund managers, and AnotherJoe, don't agree with that so have a different UK allocation in mind.

Nobody is guaranteed to be right.

Do you have any other investments / pensions etc? My wife's employer pension pot is quite heavy on UK investments so we have balanced that down a bit by having a low UK allocation in a SIPP.

I suspect, that over 10-20 years, the difference in returns between multi-asset funds of a similar "risk / equity" profile from Vanguard, L&G, Blackrock and HSBC will not be a great deal although the journeys will be different.

My wife and I both have NEST workplace pensions. Just opened a S&S ISA. I’m fairly sure a passive low cost multi asset fund is the best way forward, but it’s just picking one with the right ratio of assets and geography etc! Hard to decide...

steve4373

A_T wrote: »

Maybe check out the Fidelity Multi Asset Allocator or HSBC Global Strategy funds. Similar to VLS and Consensus but no UK-listed bias - they also have some property.

Thanks for the tips. Fidelity and HSBC both have over 50% weighting to the US - that isn’t too much?

AlanP_2

steve4373 wrote: »

Thanks for the tips. Fidelity and HSBC both have over 50% weighting to the US - that isn’t too much?

See my previous answer :rotfl:


There isn't a right or wrong allocation, there are just opinions.

Some people will go 100% US because they are convinced that is their best option, others might go 100% UK.

the majority would suggest that for an inexperienced investor who just wants to get started a global multi-asset fund will be perfectly adequate.

We have investments in L&G MI6 and HSBC Balanced.

MI6 is 14% US and 24% UK and annualised returns are 6.79% (YTD), 5.02 (1 Year), 12.48 (3 Year), 7.86 (5 Year).

HSBC is 30% US and 3% UK with annualised returns of 6.48, 5.17, 12.76, 8.52

One went up 0.66% yesterday and one 0.47%, it was probably the other way round the day before.

I don't know how much you are planning on investing per year / month but for us the gain from being in either one over the last week or so is probably worth more than the marginal differences between each one.

The same analysis could be done with VLS 60 and the comparative Blackrock one as well. My point is that you can spend the next 12 months analysing and asking for opinions on here about A v B v C v D. What you are asking for is opinions on which type of Apple do you think I will like like as they are very similar and serve the same purpose as each other. If you want an Apple, buy and Apple and eat it.

If you decide later that you want to add another type of Apple because it has a slightly different taste then do so.

We prefer the L&G / HSBC offerings to VLS as they include non equity and bond holdings (property for example) and like the wider diversification but that is just our opinion. Haven't looked in detail at BR funds so don't know what they cover.