My passive investment experiment

Alexland

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Or maybe it's been a good period for your particular actives ?

Yes we are only talking about an 18 month period when funds like LTGE and Fundsmith have been in a market sweet spot. This can run for a few years but when the market changes it might take a period of under performance before it becomes clear you need to move onto the next fund which you may or may not chose correctly.

Alex

pip895

DrSyn wrote: »

Of course you could start another experiment and hedge your bets at the same time.
Just put the money from your poorest performing funds into your three best funds shown above for 24 months and report the results back here to us.

Sounds too much like selling low and buying high to me - I have actually been doing the opposite - selling the winners and buying more of the losers, to keep my asset allocation in line.

The fact is though for much the same reason, the thought of buying loads more Fundsmith and LT doesn't really appeal:o - maybe keep some HMWO but add an infrastructure fund... Might sell out of ATT altogether so I don't end up with too many investments - I do have a tendency to accumulate funds.:D

bostonerimus

Linton wrote: »

Surely the chance of you picking the next Invesco Perpetual High Income or LTGE, Fundsmith etc etc are much higher than that of picking another Woodford or ... sorry cant think of any others.

Woodford is spectacularly visible, but there are many funds that are quietly merged or wound up.
Then there are the funds like LT IT which saw a nasty drop this summer and the fact that 50% of it is invested in Lindsell Train itself just makes alarm bells go off for me. So you need to keep your radar on, My radar says LT might be the next Woodford.

arwain

bostonerimus wrote: »

Woodford is spectacularly visible, but there are many funds that are quietly merged or wound up.
.

Yes I think you are right, I was just reading about this today in John Baron's Investment Trusts book (see pages 13 and 14). He referrers to figures from the IMA that showed that between 1998 and 2010. there was close to a 100% turnover of funds in the investment fund industry.

Prism

bostonerimus wrote: »

Woodford is spectacularly visible, but there are many funds that are quietly merged or wound up.
Then there are the funds like LT IT which saw a nasty drop this summer and the fact that 50% of it is invested in Lindsell Train itself just makes alarm bells go off for me. So you need to keep your radar on, My radar says LT might be the next Woodford.

The IT is a bit indulgent with its self investment but the fund is pretty stable I reckon. Nice mix of consumer stocks.

arwain

bostonerimus wrote: »

LT might be the next Woodford.

On page 63 of the Baron book he mentions the "Well respected Neil Woodford" in all fairness though the book is a few years old and I think at that time Woodford had a very good reputation.

Just a few paragraphs above this though, Baron make mention of Nick Train in very positive terms. It would be a bit of a coincidence if Train ran into difficulties with his fund.

bostonerimus

Prism wrote: »

The IT is a bit indulgent with its self investment but the fund is pretty stable I reckon. Nice mix of consumer stocks.

The premium falling from 100% to 20% last summer must have been a shock for the investors and the small number of companies owned in both the IT and the Equity Index would trouble me. But lots of people have made money, apart from the folks who bought the IT in May that is.

Afraid_of_Kittens

I was very lazy with my Stock and Shares ISA - I went with Legal & General because I already had a home insurance policy with them.

I then chose 7 funds to invest in:-

20% UK Index Trust (FTSE all share) - 13.9% ytd
20% All stocks Gilt Index (UK Government Bonds) - 11% ytd
20% International Index Trust (International shares ex UK) - 22% ytd
10% Global Emerging Markets Index Trust - 11.9% ytd
10% Global Tech Index Trust - 32% ytd
10% US Index Trust - 25.4% ytd
10% Global Emerging Markets Local Currency Governmrnt Bond. - 11.8% ytd

I was going to have funds in Japan Index Trust and Pacific Index Trust but the International Index Trust sort of covers that. It is overweight in US and Tech - but they have been the best returns. The Global Emerging Markets Local Government Bond is probably the odd one out and chosen as I was going to have 20% in the Global Emerging Markets Index Trust but split it with the Bond.

I try and feed £250 per month into the various funds. If a fund drops in value I tend to add more money into it in £100 lump sums. I do some balancing about once a year where I go on a bit of a spending spree.

My Stocks and Shares ISA is my early retirement nest egg. I want to retire at 60 when my Local Government Pensions kik in and I get a lump sum from my pension. My pension alone wont be enough to retire and I will be 62 when my wife gets her State Retirement Pension so my stocks and shares ISA will bridge the 2 year gap.

However I have a NEST pension invested in their Sharia fund - this is performing well and might provide me with enough to retire at 60.

I am very happy with the growth so far - I could probably have got better funds with better returns with other platforms but I have no complaints with Legal & General. I could put more in the Tech and US funds but the bubble has yet to burst.

Johnnyboy11

This article from the DT might add to the discussion, the chart says it all really...

Exposed: how firms hide the true scale of fund manager failures

pip895

Johnnyboy11 wrote: »

This article from the DT might add to the discussion, the chart says it all really...

Exposed: how firms hide the true scale of fund manager failures

Behind a pay wall unfortunately.