VLS60 Confusion

FrankR

Going by their website
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/9241
VLS60 returned 6.96% between 2018-2019.
However, going by their key investor document
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/rs/gre/gls/1.3.0/documents/1277/gb
VLS60 made a loss of 3.1% in 2018.

Which figure is right and which figure should I take into account as a potential investor?
I.e. If I had put £20k in their product, would I have earned 6.96% annual interest, or lost 3.1% of this initial investment?

Dazed_and_confused

Doesn't it depend on whether you were invested in 2018 or 2018-19?

FrankR

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

Doesn't it depend on whether you were invested in 2018 or 2018-19?

What's the difference?
It seems like a lot of number fudge to me.

Dazed_and_confused

2018 presumably means the period 01-01-2018 to 31-12-2018

2018-19 probably means either 01-04-2018 to 31-03-2019 or 06-04-2018 to 05-04-2019

daveyjp

The info is there.

2018 is 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2018. 2018/19 is 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2019.

Its largely irrelevant as no one invests for a year.

All you need to assess is your own risk appetite to decide if VLS60 is right for you.

BLB53

The return for the whole of 2018 was -3.1% but the return for the 12 months may 2018 to April 2019 was 6.9%.

The average annualised return over the past 8 years (almost) has been 8.1% p.a. and this gives the better indication of what to expect longer term - but no guarantees!

AnotherJoe

FrankR wrote: »

Going by their website
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/9241
VLS60 returned 6.96% between 2018-2019.
However, going by their key investor document
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/rs/gre/gls/1.3.0/documents/1277/gb
VLS60 made a loss of 3.1% in 2018.
I.e. If I had put £20k in their product, would I have earned 6.96% annual interest, or lost 3.1% of this initial investment?

Depends on the exact dates. And its NOT interest. Its growth including accrued dividends.

FrankR wrote: »

which figure should I take into account as a potential investor?

Neither, because as you dont have a time machine, you cant get either of those, you'll get the figure it gets going forward from when you bought.
What you should take into account as a potential investor is what the growth might reasonably be from a global investment which is 60% equities, 75% of which are global companies and 25% nominally UK companies that are in fact mostly global but happen to be domiciled in the UK, and represent a (IMHO) over-concentration in a few industries, plus 40% international bonds.

When you decide to invest in VLS you are NOT investing in Vanguard and their investment skills, you are saying, in effect "I want a global 60/40 split of equities/bonds, with more nominally UK than otherwise, and hey look Vanguard is a cheap way of doing that".


If you are trying to see if VLS60 went up 6.9% or down 3.1% in 2018, and using that as a basis to determine what it will do next year, you are not ready to invest.