Good funds to invest

Thrugelmir

Prism wrote: »

I'm not sure if investing in pretty boring global mega caps is classed as a fad.

There should always be a reason behind ones choice of investments. A fad simply results in there being no value to be found. As prices move higher on demand rather than underlying fundamentals.

Thrugelmir

Aminatidi wrote: »

What's the "fad" with the likes of Fundsmith and Lindsell Train?

I could get it if it was BitCoin but Hineken, Unilever, Diageo, Novo Nordisk, Estee Lauder.

They don't seem especially "faddy".

I'm not referring to the funds themselves.

Ciprico

...quite a lot of overlap between Fundsmith and Scottish Mortgage, but if that's your thing Monks could be a contender.

IShares Core S&P could also be worth a look - lower fees, and less dependent on a handful hi tech companies that some say are way over priced and possibly due a correction.....

Lama_glama

Just to let you know at the end I have bought 10k of Scottish Mortgage Trust.

On the upcoming weekend I will go though the thread/search a bit more and I will allocate the remaining 10k ISA allowance.
Thanks for the support.

Topaz99

Sorry to 'piggy-back' on this thread, but just wanted your opinion on Fundsmith, as my Financial Advisor mentioned these to invest in, but not sure on the amount yet (maybe 20k?)

I am just looking at any info on other users or investors to see if they are any good.

I was told they can be volatile, but good returns. Are they easy access and how have you found them as a savings/return vehicle?

eskbanker

Topaz99 wrote: »

Are they easy access and how have you found them as a savings/return vehicle?

Questions like this would imply that investing is probably not appropriate for you - without knowing more about your situation I'd politely suggest that sticking to cash savings will be a more suitable approach if it's "easy access" that you're looking for....

Prism

Topaz99 wrote: »

Sorry to 'piggy-back' on this thread, but just wanted your opinion on Fundsmith, as my Financial Advisor mentioned these to invest in, but not sure on the amount yet (maybe 20k?)

I am just looking at any info on other users or investors to see if they are any good.

I was told they can be volatile, but good returns. Are they easy access and how have you found them as a savings/return vehicle?

I think its one of the best run funds out there however I feel before investing in any active fund an investor should understand the funds goals and how it attempts to achieve those goals. I get the feeling a lot of people just look to great returns without considering any of the downside risks.

I would suggest watching some of the ASM's here https://www.fundsmith.co.uk/tv if you think its something worth considering

bowlhead99

Topaz99 wrote: »

Sorry to 'piggy-back' on this thread, but just wanted your opinion on Fundsmith, as my Financial Advisor mentioned these to invest in, but not sure on the amount yet (maybe 20k?)

I am just looking at any info on other users or investors to see if they are any good.

I was told they can be volatile, but good returns. Are they easy access and how have you found them as a savings/return vehicle?

They are not a 'savings' vehicle, they are an investment fund, with money at risk. They invest in companies which are listed on the stock markets around the world. In the time since they have launched they have returned on average about 18% a year, but that is over a period of time (since 2010) in which stock markets have been generally been going up.

They launched after the crash of 2007-2009 in which global markets lost about 60% in dollars or 40% in sterling, so it remains to be seen how much their value would fall in the next global crash, especially if the direction of currency strengthening/weakening was the opposite way round next time. Their portfolio is highly concentrated, in the types of companies which Mr Smith likes, which means they have the potential to hugely outperform (or hugely underperform) a broader cross-section of company shares around the world.

Their biggest loss in any one month in the last five years was only about 7%. Which is not much in the context of the total profit he had made for investors at that point. However, if you invested tomorrow and there was a global financial crisis during which the fund lost 7% every couple of months for the next two years, your investment would only be worth 42% of what it had started at (£20k becomes about £8k). In practice, the fund is 'instant access' to sell your ownership position within a few days as long as all investors don't want to withdraw their money at once. But you might not want to cash it in when it is worth a relatively low value, and might need to hold on for five years or more until it grew 150% to be worth £20k again from its £8k low.

So, it's not really a comparable savings vehicle to the premium bonds you were talking about on your other thread. But some long term investors might use it as a major part of their global equity investment portfolio.

No doubt the Financial Advisor who mentioned it (assuming they were doing so in a professional capacity) didn't suggest it should be held on its own as your only investment, so the amounts by which it has risen in recent years (or could rise or fall in the future) should be taken in context with how the other things in your future investment portfolio might be performing at the same time, as some things would go up or down while other things might be going down or up (or less up or less down)

AnotherJoe

Topaz99 wrote: »

Sorry to 'piggy-back' on this thread, but just wanted your opinion on Fundsmith, as my Financial Advisor mentioned these to invest in, but not sure on the amount yet (maybe 20k?)

I am just looking at any info on other users or investors to see if they are any good.

I was told they can be volatile, but good returns. Are they easy access and how have you found them as a savings/return vehicle?

Something is completely missing in the interaction between you and your FA as you are totally befuddled and musinderstsnding the differences between savings and investing. Go back to them and have them explain until you understand.

aroominyork

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Something is completely missing in the interaction between you and your FA as you are totally befuddled and musinderstsnding the differences between savings and investing. Go back to them and have them explain until you understand.

Or first do some reading yourself, for example this Morningstar article as a starter.