SIPP - My Current Portfolio - Variety of Investments - Opinions/Comments ?

BigBlueSky

I have been self-investing into a SIPP for a number of years now with my own investment decisions. Some of them good and some of them bad. I've been adding to it as and when I have spare funds and it has overall not done too badly.

My investments in individual shares have been very poor (as you will see below), but the funds haven't performed too badly.

I've decided to fully review all my funds and see whether now is the time to sell some off and buy either more of the ones that are performing better or invest into new funds.

I'm no expert in investing, but I believe I have got quite a variety of investments and therefore my risk should be fairly well spread.

Below are my current investments - along with their current value and their percentage increase or decrease in value from when I originally purchased them.

The overall cost stands me at £250,058.73 with a current value of £299,728.97 (+19.86%).

LEGAL & GENERAL(UNIT TRUST MNGRS) L&G US INDEX TRUST(I)ACC £24,576.54 +113.6%
SCHRODER UNIT TRUSTS UK DYNM SMLR COS Z ACC £25,512.05 +83.87%
SCHRODER UNIT TRUSTS GLOBAL HEALTHCARE Z ACC £11,837.74 +82.12%
LEGG MASON INVESTMENT FUNDS LTD IF ROYCE US SMLR COS X ACC £20,725.95 +78.92%
AXA FRAMLINGTON UNIT MANAGEMENT BIOTECH Z ACC £10,985.76 + 69.01%
QUILTER INVESTORS LIMITED QUILTER INVRS GBL BEST IDEAS R GBP ACC £19,931.38 +66.04%
JUPITER UNIT TRUST MANAGERS INDIA I ACC JUPITER INDIA I ACC £12,768.15 +62.74
INVESCO FUND MANAGERS INVESCO HIGH INCOME UK Z ACC £33,858.17 +54.69%
LINDSELL TRAIN LIMITED GLOBAL EQUITY B INC NAV £6,179.33 +43.11%
FIRST STATE INVESTMENTS(UK) STEWART GBL EMG MKT LDRS B GBP ACC £12,330.50 +40.94%
M&G SECURITIES LIMITED M&G GLOBAL THEMES R GBP DIS £13,880.31 +34.17%
ARTEMIS FUND MANAGERS STRATEGIC ASSETS FUND CLS'I' ACC £1,599.49 +33.51%
BIG YELLOW GROUP ORD GBP0.10 £247.38 +21.96%
KAMES CAPITAL PLC HIGH YIELD BOND B INSTL ACC £10,875.13 +21.82%
NEPTUNE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT RUSSIA & GREATER RUSSIA C ACC £7,726.17 +20.89%
BNY MELLON FUND MANAGERS LIMITED NEWTON UK INC INSTL W INC £6,849.41 +20.78%
FIL INVESTMENT SERVICES(UK)LIMITED INDEX UK P ACC £9,035.47 +20.22%
BNY MELLON FUND MANAGERS LIMITED NEWTON ASIAN INC INSTL W IN £8,679.75 +19.63%
BNY MELLON FUND MANAGERS LIMITED NEWTON ASIAN INCOME INSTITUTIONAL INC £101.26 +17.57%
ROYAL LONDON ASSET MGMT(IRL) STERLING EXTRA YIELD BOND A GBP INC £20,429.11 +9.22%
ROYAL LONDON UNIT TRUST MANAGERS CORPORATE BOND M INC £13,964.29 +8.40%
BNY MELLON FUND MANAGERS LIMITED NEWTON UK INCOME FD INST INC £59.42 +2.38%
BLACKROCK FUND MANAGERS LTD GOLD & GENERAL D ACC £9,322.05 -15.05%
TUI AG ORD REG SHS NPV (DI) £168.46 -16.30%
ROYAL MAIL PLC ORD GBP0.01 £773.63 -23.23%
DIXONS CARPHONE PLC ORD GBP0.001 £584.59 -26.92%
TALK TALK TELECOM GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.001 £3,024.98 -40.55%
THOMAS COOK GROUP PLC ORD EUR0.01 £13,702.50 -71.44%

Just looking for opinions really about whether others believe the portfolio is diverse enough to cover most eventualities. Any opinions/comments are appreciated.

Mothman

+20 Funds looks overly complicated to me. Also your increase\decrease figures are meaningless without a time frame. If you are 19% up overall compared to a year ago then it's happy days, but I doubt it.

Also can you cope with downside risk of such a portfolio, without knowing your age, objectives and risk tolerance it's impossible for anyone to comment as to it's suitability. If you haven't done so already then set the fund part of your portfolio up on a site such a Trustnet which then will give you far more information regarding past performance, risk level and asset allocation so that you can compare it other perhaps less complex alternatives.

Linton

Overall you seem to have covered most areas.


My view is that you seem to have too many investments to understand exactly how you are investing. It is not helped by the way you present your data. You could at least have subtotals for equity and bonds - not necessarily for our benefit but certainly for yours. Do you have an overall understanding of how your money is allocated? There seems to be too much duplication - why 2 UK equity income funds and 2 high yield bond funds?



In my 100% equity growth portfolio of a smiliar size to yours I seriously question any holding of less than 5% - there are a few but I know why. Holding investments of less than 1% is a waste of time. Even if they doubled in value the effect on your overall portfolio would be minimal -probably less than the typical daily movement. I see no point in all your small holdings of UK shares, and why did you choose those ones. They look pretty depressing.



I suggest you do not worry too much about the returns of the different funds. The whole purpose od diversification is that at times when some areas do well others will suffer. So a wide variation is a good thing - if they all performed well together it would indicate you have an unduly risky portfolio.

BigBlueSky

Thank you for the replies.

My investments are all held with Interactive Investor so I do have access to performance charts etc. There was no neat way to present the information on here which is why it is quite hard to read/understand.

I've had some of the investments for 10 years or so, but some for a much shorter period of time so I understand what is being said about the percentages not meaning much without having a period against them.

Further background - I'm 39 years old, looking at medium/high risk really at this stage. I hold other savings, EIS, SEIS and VCT's as well as a final salary pension that I've made extra contributions into.

I do agree with so many funds sit it has been difficult to see where there is overlap in the funds and why I have ended up with multiple funds covering the same type of investment.

There are a couple of funds over low value that I believe came about when the non-commission based share types came out a few years ago. Not all were properly converted and some income was reinvested into a different share type.

I tend to use different companies 'picks' of investments to select them covering different areas - such as 'North America, High Yield, UK Equity, etc'. My principle has been to try and spread between as many of these areas as possible - to spread risk.

The small holdings of UK shares were purely speculative - Although as you can see they haven't done particularly well. I did have some Sky ones though which did really well before being sold off.

bostonerimus

BigBlueSky wrote: »

There was no neat way to present the information on here which is why it is quite hard to read/understand.

I that this says a lot. Do you have any idea of your asset allocation across investment categories, geography etc?...I don't and the number of your investments would make it a time consuming job to do the analysis. How do you manage this portfolio? Do you have a rebalancing strategy? Decide on an asset allocation and then set it up by sell in at least 10 of your 20 funds. Get your portfolio into single digits and sell the individual shares.

AnotherJoe

Far too many investments. I've got more than 2x what you've got and half the number of investments.
Too many investments are (a) a distraction, (b) small amounts make no difference even if they do very well, (c) you end up building your own expensive tracker fund.
I would start by dumping all those individual shares at the end of your listing which even if they were doing well are too small to make a difference but as it happens are dogs, what were you thinking ?

Then I'd get down to no more than 15 funds with a minimum of 5% eg £25k, each.

Alexland

Ergh has the Investment Monster been sick everywhere? Unlike Pokemon you don't have to catch them all. There's no harm being interested in the investment universe but it doesn't mean you have to keep buying stuff. Consider holding a passive global equities fund and a hedged bond fund in a suitable proportion.

BigBlueSky

bostonerimus wrote: »

I that this says a lot. Do you have any idea of your asset allocation across investment categories, geography etc?...I don't and the number of your investments would make it a time consuming job to do the analysis. How do you manage this portfolio? Do you have a rebalancing strategy? Decide on an asset allocation and then set it up by sell in at least 10 of your 20 funds. Get your portfolio into single digits and sell the individual shares.

I have access to lots of charts and information via Interactive Investor including geography, sectors, styles, etc. - In a way so much information I don't know where to start.

I don't have any re-balancing strategy. I've never sold off and changed funds since these were first purchased - although added to them and taken out new funds (which is why I have so many).

BigBlueSky

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Far too many investments. I've got more than 2x what you've got and half the number of investments.
Too many investments are (a) a distraction, (b) small amounts make no difference even if they do very well, (c) you end up building your own expensive tracker fund.
I would start by dumping all those individual shares at the end of your listing which even if they were doing well are too small to make a difference but as it happens are dogs, what were you thinking ?

Then I'd get down to no more than 15 funds with a minimum of 5% eg £25k, each.

Thank you. I agree with what you are saying. The individual shares are my worst choice - especially Thomas Cook that has lost over £50K. I bought them when they were cheap, and they did increase significantly in value but I put off selling them to take the profit and now they have dropped so much.

BigBlueSky

Alexland wrote: »

Ergh has the Investment Monster been sick everywhere? Unlike Pokemon you don't have to catch them all. There's no harm being interested in the investment universe but it doesn't mean you have to keep buying stuff. Consider holding a passive global equities fund and a hedged bond fund in a suitable proportion.

I think it may have been! - Thanks for the suggestions.

Lokolo

BigBlueSky wrote: »

I have access to lots of charts and information via Interactive Investor including geography, sectors, styles, etc. - In a way so much information I don't know where to start.

I don't have any re-balancing strategy. I've never sold off and changed funds since these were first purchased - although added to them and taken out new funds (which is why I have so many).

Asset allocation is your friend here.

Lets say you want to go 100% equities. 50% UK, 20% US, 10% EUROPE EX UK and 20% EMERGING MARKETS.

Now after 1 year, UK has gone down 30%, Emerging Markets up by 50%. Your portfolio is going to be heavily weighted into emerging markets all of a sudden. So you want to rebalance, and get back to your ideal portfolio set up. You can sell all holdings and rebuy. You can sell some holdings in one fund and buy in another.

One thing to note is that II charge buy and sell fees. It's more reason to limit your fund selection if you are going to buy and sell.