Loss on Prudential PruFund S & S ISA

thriftylynny

First of all thank you to anyone who takes the time to post an answer during these troubled times. I have held 20k in a PruFund Risk Managed 2 S & S ISA ,managed by Link Asset Services for around 3 years , having made around 2.5k total during that period , never really been overly happy with that return but having paid an adviser £500 at the onset to open it i thought i would just leave it there & just be happy it was seemingly fairly low risk . I have regularly kept an eye on it's performance , the last time  10 days ago . I rang up yesterday & it has gone down £2100 ...in 10 days!!  i know it's very volatile & am aware of  the up/down risks but thought given this ISA'S poorish performance over 3 years i am upset & worried that it has wiped out totally all the gains of 3 years in just one week . I am 61 & can weather the storm for 5 years but seriously wondering whether i should withdraw now rather than wait & possibly lose the whole lot within what could be months or hang on in there?  I am sure there must be many of us feeling the same & would really appreciate any advice please

bowlhead99

Losing less than ten percent over a period of time where global stock markets crashed 20-40% is not very volatile. T

If you were aware that it could go up and down but happy to tolerate some ups and downs over the short term to make a greater return than cash over the long term, there does not seem to be any reason to cash it in just because it goes down a bit.

The fund won't lose all its money because that would imply that all the company shares and company or government bonds in which it invests, were somehow all worth zero.

I'll bet you the remainder of your £20k plus that the Pru Fund Risk Managed 2 fund won't lose all its remaining value over the next few months. If it does, I'll happily pay you £20k. If it doesn't, you pay me £20k

Albermarle

Yes many people are feeling the same and a lot of them have posted the same question as you on this forum over the last fortnight . So suggest you spend some time scrolling through the threads and see what the answers are . A very  brief summary is as follows:
The chance of you losing the lot is approx. zero .
Most peoples investments are back where they were around 2.5 to 3 years ago.
A 30% drop in the markets happens regularly every few years

Thrugelmir

thriftylynny said:

having made around 2.5k total during that period , never really been overly happy with that return 

 I rang up yesterday & it has gone down £2100 ...in 10 days!!

Let's put that in perspective. If you had of invested in Vanguard VLS100. A pure 100% equity fund. Over 3 years to yesterday. You would have returned 0.94%. Less than the return on cash and less than the return you generated. Horses for courses as they say. 

dunstonh

I have held 20k in a PruFund Risk Managed 2 S & S ISA ,managed by Link Asset Services for around 3 years , having made around 2.5k total during that period , never really been overly happy with that return but having paid an adviser £500 at the onset to open it i thought i would just leave it there & just be happy it was seemingly fairly low risk 

That return sounds perfectly in line with expectation for a period that includes 1 positive year and 2 negative years.    

So, when you say you are not happy with it, is it because of the return of the fund or the fact you managed to get some negative years early on?

I rang up yesterday & it has gone down £2100 ...in 10 days!! 

Again, totally in line with expectation.  Not sure it warranted the exclamation marks.

  i know it's very volatile & am aware of  the up/down risks but thought given this ISA'S poorish performance over 3 years i am upset & worried that it has wiped out totally all the gains of 3 years in just one week 

What poor performance?  The fund is doing well in the period in question.       Economic cycles are about 10 years (they have been getting longer over the generations).   A cycle will include good years, nothing years and bad years.   In that cycle you will expect multiple drops over 20% and one larger.  For example, in the last 20 years, there have been 2 bigger loss periods than the current losses under CV.        Each loss period varies.  Some are slow drawn out period (the dot.com loss of over 40% was over 3 years and was not just down to dot.coms but a serious of events that kept chipping away).  Some are short and sharp.  Like the credit crunch and CV.   Often you get double dips or triple dips as false hopes lead to an early recovery only it to drop again when its realised that the worst was not factored in.

You have only been invested for less than a third of an economic cycle and have, unfortunately, seen the negative side first.   

However, what you are seeing is perfectly normal and has happened time and again previously and will happen time and again in the future.

 I am 61 & can weather the storm for 5 years but seriously wondering whether i should withdraw now rather than wait & possibly lose the whole lot within what could be months or hang on in there?

What is happening at age 66 that requires you to take all the money out?

You would only lose the lot if we suffer a nuclear war, invasion from Mars or a zombie apocalypse.  

 I am sure there must be many of us feeling the same & would really appreciate any advice please

A quick read of some of the recent threads in this forum before posting would have told you that.

thriftylynny

Many thanks for your replies & putting things into perspective , feel a little less uneasy now & will leave things as they are ......lets sincerely hope the market picks up in years to come ! Stay safe guys 

Thrugelmir

thriftylynny said:

Many thanks for your replies & putting things into perspective , feel a little less uneasy now & will leave things as they are ......lets sincerely hope the market picks up in years to come ! Stay safe guys 

When investing you'll never stop learning from experience.