IFA versus HL

AnotherJoe

What oggy (and others have said for months) said, stop prevaricating, sell everything rather than tinkering with the current mess which I'd say is irredeemable ,  and buy one global tracker. . 

To lower costs more, as you are with HL, use an ETF like HMWO which will put a cap on fees.
Then, do more reading over time and you may add in a few specialist areas like smaller companies or selected themes say renewable, healthcare as examples
  

oggy_oggy_oggy

AnotherJoe said:

What oggy (and others have said for months) said, stop prevaricating, sell everything rather than tinkering with the current mess which I'd say is irredeemable ,  and buy one global tracker. . 

To lower costs more, as you are with HL, use an ETF like HMWO which will put a cap on fees. 

This may seem picky, but I think you're over-complicating it right there (by suggesting optimizing for HL's fees by using an ETF instead of a multi-asset fund). A multi-asset fund is the simple answer. A global tracker won't be suitable as an all-in-one solution, unless OP determines their risk tolerance is at the top end (100% equities). You could get a solution for a lower risk level by pairing a global tracker with an appropriate bond fund/ETF, but that's a 2-fund portfolio.

If the OP is going to come to a decision, we should keep this as simple as possible. That means a single multi-asset fund (or more than one, but only if they are unable to decide which multi-asset fund to use).

This can always be optimized on later on, if the OP is interested in doing so. For instance, they could buy a multi-asset fund with HL, and as a next step move it to a cheaper platform. Or, if they fancy the (slight) extra complexity, move to a 2-fund portfolio.

flopsy1973

Thrugelmir said:

flopsy1973 said:

 I am somewhat dissappointed what are your views on this. maybe i could do better DIY once i tidy up the portfolio   

Have you taken no action at all to at least rationalise the holdings? 

So what would you do to rationalise the holdings? 

bowlhead99

flopsy1973 said:

Thrugelmir said:

flopsy1973 said:

 I am somewhat dissappointed what are your views on this. maybe i could do better DIY once i tidy up the portfolio   

Have you taken no action at all to at least rationalise the holdings? 

So what would you do to rationalise the holdings? 

Frankly what we would do is likely to be different to what you would do because we all have different levels of knowledge and preferences and goals.

For example, if I knew what I was doing, I would build a target portfolio that met my objectives and strategy, then dump most of the holdings and move mostly to that portfolio, except in the non-ISA account I would consider the current values in the context of my CGT this year and the losses already made (e.g. on Woodford) or that I could create (e.g. DT and RM) and perhaps defer some sales until I could use next year's annual exemption against them to avoid a tax bill.

Whereas if I didn't know what I was doing, I would appoint an IFA to help construct the target portfolio.

You have said you know it needs tidying up and are going to make some changes and would prefer to manage it yourself when you have made such changes and tidyups. But you're telling us nothing about what it is you're going to do as part of that change and tidyup, or why particular holdings don't meet your needs and won't feature in the eventual solution, or what you want the end portfolio to look like - other than 'simplify it'. You just seem to want everyone to say what *they* would do, as if you are just going to copy those ideas and hope they work for you?

I think asking for others for their favourite funds or to identify your biggest issues is the wrong way to go about it. Starting from scratch with £300k, you wouldn't build a portfolio like that, it's just happened over time. So, ask yourself what you would build a portfolio like.

If you don't know what you are doing you don't need to come here and pretend you do, like a schoolkid, "yes I know the right answer but you say it first! Yeah that's what I was going to say". If you want incisive commentary here about your individual holdings you can give your feedback on them here and explain in detail what you are considering as replacements and why, and then people can discuss and help out. 

Or you can embrace what people suggest in just using multi asset funds or fund-of-funds solutions as a start point or temporary placeholder and then rebuild around that to the extent you think necessary. Or if you are uncertain about it all you can see an independent adviser for tailored personal advice. 

What I don't think you'll get here is someone going through each of your 30+ holdings and saying, increase this by £3000, reduce that by £1000, scrap that one altogether etc etc until you have a beautiful and simple portfolio. 

You need to imagine a blank canvas and decide what you want, which is what we would do, though it seems like we have more collective knowledge and experience than you. If you don't know what you want or how to practically build a sensible balanced portfolio out of individual specialist funds and you don't want to trust an off- the shelf risk-targeted fund, seems like you should end up buying personal advice. If you weren't convinced by the first adviser you met, meet two or three more.

AnotherJoe

oggy_oggy_oggy said:

AnotherJoe said:

What oggy (and others have said for months) said, stop prevaricating, sell everything rather than tinkering with the current mess which I'd say is irredeemable ,  and buy one global tracker. . 

To lower costs more, as you are with HL, use an ETF like HMWO which will put a cap on fees. 

This may seem picky, but I think you're over-complicating it right there (by suggesting optimizing for HL's fees by using an ETF instead of a multi-asset fund).

From memory, OP is almost 100% in equities hence my suggestion of a cheap 100% equities tracker.

(and, some of the stuff they are in are practically anti-equities anyway, eg equities guaranteed to be losing money, so better to be in 100% equities,  than 50% equities 40% crud and 10% bonds.

AnotherJoe

bowlhead99 said:

What I don't think you'll get here is someone going through each of your 30+ holdings and saying, increase this by £3000, reduce that by £1000, scrap that one altogether etc etc until you have a beautiful and simple portfolio.

I can do that.

First current investment. Sell.

Second current investment. Sell.

...... Continue until no more investments.

Purchase one or two new investments.

fronty

What have you decided to do then @flopsy1973? Do you think you've had enough advice to take action now? Only you can decide what to do, but if you do nothing then I think you will continue to be dissatisfied with your current situation.

flopsy1973

Ok I'm thinking more diy and getting rid of most of these holdings as I don't see any advantage of getting IFA to do it if I'm not going to get better returns? 
Also I meant to ask what if IFA did do all this and I lost my lot of money what redress have I got ? 

SonOf

flopsy1973 said:

Ok I'm thinking more diy and getting rid of most of these holdings as I don't see any advantage of getting IFA to do it if I'm not going to get better returns? 
Also I meant to ask what if IFA did do all this and I lost my lot of money what redress have I got ? 

Why do you think you will do better than an IFA?  Maybe you will. Maybe you will not.  The IFA's primary requirement is suitability.  
You get consumer protection on advice is the advice is considered unsuitable.   If mainstream regulated funds are used (which they are in 99% of cases) then a total loss is not possible unless we find a way to nuke ourselves back to the stone age.  In which case, you wont care.

flopsy1973

Not thinking I will do better than IFA but when I asked about returns they quoted the returns I have achieved with the mix of funds u have made just with less volatility.  Has anyone else experience  of using IFA versus diy  regarding fees and returns ?