Woodford Concerns

Thrugelmir

dividendhero wrote: »

Woodfords funds were and still are very fragile, they might had survived had there been a siginificant upturn

Every fund is fragile in some way. That's the nature of investing. There's no fail safe protection against as yet unforeseen events.

AnotherJoe

Yes but some funds achieve fragility whereas this one had fragility thrust upon it by woodfords actions which i wont repeat here since everyone knows what they are.

LHW99

And yet more strategies that go round in circles
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-7170557/Exposed-Woodford-faces-questions-conflicts-link-100m-Wales-fund.html

talexuser

The story appears to be a potential conflict between Welsh taxpayer money and a man in charge of it. Can't see what Woodford has to do with it much except he invests in some biotech companies - what a revelation!

Malthusian

1. Woodford invests in Arix Biosciences.
2. Arix Bioscience runs an "investment fund" run by the Welsh Government
3. That investment fund invests in biotech companies which Woodford also holds

It isn't much of a story. The Welsh fund is supposed to invest in biotech companies and Woodford holds a lot of biotech companies. It would be more of a surprise if there wasn't some overlap.

You might have the germ of a story if Arix had used Welsh taxpayers' money to pay Woodford for his shares in those companies, i.e. if Woodford had cashed out at the same time as Arix (which was under Woodford's partial control) put money in. There's no indication in the Mail that that happened, and if it did there would probably be Chinese walls everywhere you looked.

Jonah01

OP here again and still researching and learning.

I have come to the conclusion active funds are no good for me and that I should be investing in passive cheaper index trackers.

While you obviously can't and shouldn't try to time the markets I am concerned about tracking the UK or US due to the ongoing saga of Brexit and also the US might be at its peak.

I'd be interested to know what people's thoughts are on just waiting to see what happens ?

While long term it doesn't matter but surely with these factors it might be possible to time it slightly to get a head start?

Prism

Jonah01 wrote: »

OP here again and still researching and learning.

I have come to the conclusion active funds are no good for me and that I should be investing in passive cheaper index trackers.

I wouldn't read too much into this. There are good active funds and bad ones. Not always easy to pick but this one has been bad for a while.

While you obviously can't and shouldn't try to time the markets I am concerned about tracking the UK or US due to the ongoing saga of Brexit and also the US might be at its peak.

I wouldn't try as its very hard to predict. The US might stagnate or there might be interest rate cuts and it rockets up from here. Brexit may or may not happen. Who knows! Just pick a nice balanced fund(s) and stick it out.

Nocto

After much thought and despite my earlier post stating my intention to stick with my investment, last week I decided to sell my units in Woodford Income Focus.

Having looked very closely at the holdings I actually think that there are some good companies in the fund, which are probably are undervalued and may do well in the future. But with the bigger fund suspended and the mess that Woodford’s in I came to the conclusion that the risks are now just too high. Especially for someone who’s invested mainly for income.

I lost 22% on Income Focus, but overall my investments have done quite well in the last year and despite the loss I’m 8% up (or 12% if I include income). So I’m just going to put it down to experience, rebalance my portfolio and move on.

Given what’s happened it would be very useful if someone like Morningstar or Trustnet gave funds a liquidity rating, as I bet I’m not the only investor who never gave it much thought for equity or bond funds.

JohnRo

Jonah01 wrote: »

I'd be interested to know what people's thoughts are on just waiting to see what happens ?

If you are ready to invest, clear about what you aim to achieve, have a plan and a realistic timescale, then just get on with it.

Jonah01 wrote: »

While long term it doesn't matter but surely with these factors it might be possible to time it slightly to get a head start?

It might be possible, it's at least as likely it won't be though.

How long do you think it will take for the populist - vote leave and all your wildest dreams will come true - economic and other fantasies here and elsewhere to become any sort of a reality?

What happens when Trump and his antagonistic, trade waring and protectionist ways are history, possibly in just over a years time?

What does any US successor bring with them?

What happens if the UK doesn't leave the EU or does and breaks apart completely?

Just too many unknowns and endless possibilities.

To paraphrase.. 'just keep calm and carry on investing'

AnotherJoe

Jonah01 wrote: »

OP here again and still researching and learning.

I have come to the conclusion active funds are no good for me and that I should be investing in passive cheaper index trackers.

While you obviously can't and shouldn't try to time the markets I am concerned about tracking the UK or US due to the ongoing saga of Brexit and also the US might be at its peak.

I'd be interested to know what people's thoughts are on just waiting to see what happens ?

While long term it doesn't matter but surely with these factors it might be possible to time it slightly to get a head start?

Spot the contradiction