Markets at record highs and euro / dollar both strong - does this impact your investment strategy?

Prism

I am not changing much but I have more UK smaller companies than normal in my portfolio. I started to make small changes when it looked like some sort of customs union Brexit seemed more likely than a no deal.

username12345678

I am not nearly close to clever enough to be confident that I could predict the likely macroeconomic and political impacts on my pf over any timescale.

What I can predict is my reaction to the historical worst case scenarios for market turbulence...and so I position myself so I can stick with the plan should another crash of a similar magnitude strike.

It means I forgo a lot of the upside but it also means I can sleep at night when I think about the potential downsides.

Linton

Dealing with high equity prices and a weak £ is already part of my strategy - rebalance between equity and other assets and between geographies every year

Freecall

badger09 wrote: »

Not to mention dividends

Didivends are only paid by corporations registered in Knotty Ash.

badger09

Freecall wrote: »

Didivends are only paid by corporations registered in Knotty Ash.

I too had made that connection but didn't want to inflict it on others. I'll now have nightmares featuring big teeth, tickling sticks & missing shirts:mad:

george4064

I bought my first house early this year, where I sold all my shares prior to fund as deposit.

Earlier this month I was finally ready to dip back into the market, and did exactly that. It was interesting and fun because I had to build my S&S ISA again from scratch. Gone with 100% equity with similar regional breakdown, however for a few regions I have selected different trusts/ETFs to cover that segment. In addition I've avoided any individual shares and gone purely wihh ITs and ETFs, with the exception of two stocks 1. Amazon (which in short I think will take over the world) and another small cap payments company I'd bought into

I know the markets aren’t exactly screaming cheap, but Im going with time in the market rather than trying to time the market.

Alexland

My strategy already considered there would be times at which market valuations looked "not cheap" so while I am still at an adventurous asset allocation I am not entirely in equities right now preferring to hold back some firepower in bonds for if any buying opportunities develop. Still a perfectly appropriate ratio for my objectives but just not ultra high risk right now.

Thrugelmir

HappyHarry wrote: »

5 years ago, the FTSE100 was also at a 5 year record high. Since then, it's gained around 35% (inc. dividends)

Many of the majors pay their dividends in either $ or €. The dividends have remained flat , the increase is purely down to a long term depreciation in the exchange rate rate.

bostonerimus

The valuation of the markets does not interest me. I started investing at a market high back in 1987 and I'm glad I did because it's allowed me to become financially independent and retire at age 52. I still put money into a simple cap weighted global equity index and domestic bond portfolio like I did 30 years ago and I imagine I'll be doing the same 30 years from now.

arnoldy

I sold down many of my US and European shares in 2017/8 due to the weakness of GBP. I brought a lot of UK shares Oct-Dec 2018 (At that time I was fully invested using dividends and proceeds from overseas shares). This has been OK for me so far. I will be buying especially US shares asap but am happy to wait 1-2 years so I don't expose myself to currency risk of GBP appreciating. At the moment I have more cash from uninvested dividends & new money. I'm adopting a more cautious drip feed approach with All Share recovered somewhat. I mainly have a diversified portfolio of shares. Not overly keen on paying some one 1-2% (OCF plus other charges) to hold Shell, Unilever etc, hence don't use funds much. The advantage of a private investor is they can buy small packages of shares on dips, quickly, so they can get good prices. Big funds can never do that without moving market.