1 Year Review. Please advise

Alexland

It's never too early to think about making provision for retirement. Building up a decent pot is part of life's journey not something to be considered later when there won't be much benefit from compounding. The earlier she starts the less she will need to contribute. At 37 she is already behind. If she is adverse to pensions then maybe the 25% bonus on a S&S Lifetime ISA might spark her interest?

MaxiRobriguez

Captain_Bravo wrote: »

My wife is self employed, no pension plan, she is 37 and kinda thinks it's to early to think about pension

She'll probably think that until 50, at which point it's too late for compounding to work it's magic properly.

DairyQueen

Captain_Bravo wrote: »

My wife is self employed, no pension plan, she is 37 and kinda thinks it's to early to think about pension

Then she is very misguided.

Captain_Bravo wrote: »

Also I noticed a lot of people who are employees speak about pension but all self employed people I know have no pension plan whatsoever.

And too may SE people face an impoverished retirement as a consequence.

The majority of my pension assets were contributed before age 40. Thanks to compounding now (age 60) I have a very comfortable retirement pot. If I had contributed the same amount (in real terms) after age 40 then my portfolio would be worth roughly half its current value.

Believe me, in 15 years from now, your wife will be regretting her decision to sideline her later life income. I doubt she realises that a £250k pot will provide an income of only £8750p.a. at a reasonably safe drawdown rate of 3.5%.

Please don't say that she is also not paying NI contributions. If so, then she will also be minus a full state pension.

Klara111

You mentioned :"My view is that as you learn more about S&S investments (if going 100% equities there are better asset allocations than VLS100 and a FTSE100 tracker) you will determine that the P2P is an unnecessary distraction."

Could you give some funds examples please with better assess allocations?

Couple of month ago I found somewhere info about one fund when're I seen 250-400% in 10-20 years.. Now I couldn't find it again and cannot remember its name

Had a feeling it starts on P or F.. not sure though.. Any ideas?

Alexland

VLS60 and VLS80 are the sweet spot in the VLS series for those seeking balanced and adventurous allocations. The hedged bonds provide some currency and volatility stability and I guess you just accept the under performance caused by the circa 25% UK allocation within the 60% or 80% equities.

However if going 100% equities with VLS100 then you don't get any hedged bonds just the global equities with the unfortunate 25% UK allocation. To make it worse running a FTSE100 tracker alongside further increases exposure to UK listed companies. Why on earth would you want to do that given their constant under performance and poor future prospects? Better options on Vanguard Investor include their All Cap fund or VRWL All World ETF which are invested in world developed and emerging markets but do not have the bias just the normal circa 5% UK allocation.

To see the negative drag from the UK bias compare the below total return graphs of VLS100 versus the HSBC All World and HSBC FTSE100 tracker funds (data goes back earlier than the Vanguard equivalents).

https://www2.trustnet.com/Tools/Charting.aspx?typeCode=FACDV,FKLDQ,FG18U

Alex

msnau

Alexland wrote: »

VLS60 and VLS80 are the sweet spot in the VLS series for those seeking balanced and adventurous allocations. The hedged bonds provide some currency and volatility stability and I guess you just accept the under performance caused by the circa 25% UK allocation within the 60% or 80% equities.

However if going 100% equities with VLS100 then you don't get any hedged bonds just the global equities with the unfortunate 25% UK allocation. To make it worse running a FTSE100 tracker alongside further increases exposure to UK listed companies. Why on earth would you want to do that given their constant under performance and poor future prospects? Better options on Vanguard Investor include their All Cap fund or VRWL All World ETF which are invested in world developed and emerging markets but do not have the bias just the normal circa 5% UK allocation.

To see the negative drag from the UK bias compare the below total return graphs of VLS100 versus the HSBC All World and HSBC FTSE100 tracker funds (data goes back earlier than the Vanguard equivalents).

Alex

Thanks Alexland - that is excellent advice. I am currently trying to decide between LS100 and All Cap. You've helped me make my decision. Appreciate all your comments (in other threads as well).

Captain_Bravo

I was thinking that this Brexit masquerade will be soon over, 'no deal' is off the table ... they speak about it, but I can't see it happening, stocks from UK companies are undervalued and still investors are running from them.

And since I am not risking much + I need to make some bold moves to recover some of the years when I was stupid and ignorant my line of thought was: do the opposite of what majority is doing
hence I added FTSE100 tracker alongside VLS100.
Of course I might be wrong, but it's a bit of a gamble after all, no ?


However regarding P2P lending you guys are right, it's just a distraction and I am happy that by the end of Oct all my loans will hopefully be repaid and I can transfer 7-8k pounds from P2P into Vanguard ISA S&S.


For my 2nd year on this 'investor path' I think it's time to open an account with iweb or AJ Bell or some other broker and start buying additional stocks, I just have to understand which is better in terms of costs based on my circumstances ... I will probably have 500-1000 pounds to invest several times per year into stocks.
I will keep drip feeding Vanguard funds under ISA umbrella (20k per year) and buy additional stocks via this brokerage account that I don't know yet where to open Any advice ?


thank you

eskbanker

Captain_Bravo wrote: »

For my 2nd year on this 'investor path' I think it's time to open an account with iweb or AJ Bell or some other broker and start buying additional stocks, I just have to understand which is better in terms of costs based on my circumstances ... I will probably have 500-1000 pounds to invest several times per year into stocks.
I will keep drip feeding Vanguard funds under ISA umbrella (20k per year) and buy additional stocks via this brokerage account that I don't know yet where to open Any advice ?

My advice would be: Don't.

Stick to collective investments rather than being seduced by the notion of becoming some sort of trader buying individual stocks, unless it's genuinely disposable surplus money suited to having a bit of fun rather than actually investing....

Prism

Captain_Bravo wrote: »

I
For my 2nd year on this 'investor path' I think it's time to open an account with iweb or AJ Bell or some other broker and start buying additional stocks, I just have to understand which is better in terms of costs based on my circumstances ... I will probably have 500-1000 pounds to invest several times per year into stocks.
I will keep drip feeding Vanguard funds under ISA umbrella (20k per year) and buy additional stocks via this brokerage account that I don't know yet where to open Any advice ?

I am 22 years into my investing and have never bought an individual company stock and likely never will - stick to funds, trusts and ETFs

LHW99

I am 30+ years investing and have bought individual stocks BUT as eskbanker says - only out of fun / interest with surplus funds and not for day trading. Some did well, some were OK, some were bad (thinking of Bradford & Bingley, though they were free ones - there were others!).