having a dabble

Alexland

dd95 said:

so the general consensus then is to build up a decent sized (circa 100k) main global tracker pot and once that is at a decent size look at putting smaller amounts into more risky specific funds?

Why bother at any account valuation when your global tracker is likely to outperform most of the funds the average investor might select over the longer term anyway? Just manage the asset mix between equities, bonds, etc to reduce volatility as you get closer to withdrawal. The biggest differences you can make to your investment performance is keeping your costs low, contributing enough and using appropriate wrappers and asset allocations.

Thrugelmir

dd95 said:

so the general consensus then is to build up a decent sized (circa 100k) main global tracker pot and once that is at a decent size look at putting smaller amounts into more risky specific funds?

out of interest, what was everyone's journey like? what did you branch out into away from your global indexes (if at all) and why?

Global index investing is relatively new. Wasn't possible to trade shares so freely in the past for a whole variety of reasons. Global trackers in themselves only cover a segment of the entire investment universe. Low cost is a major driver of current attraction along with the fact that there's a high weighting to the outstanding large cap performers of the last decade. Of which there's actually very few. Around 1% accounting for all the bulk of the capital growth. Fads come and go. As companies themselves wax and wane. 
Investing elsewhere elsewhere doesn't mean greater risk taking. Corporate failures in the global majors is a very real possibility. 

Durban

Alexland said:

Yes sometimes you need to make the same mistakes twice for it to sink in....

Eh?  Was that aimed at me buying Carnival shares or am I being paranoid 😃

Alexland

Durban said:

Eh?  Was that aimed at me buying Carnival shares or am I being paranoid 😃

Paranoid, if you are unlucky they might do well and teach you the wrong thing.

MaxiRobriguez

bargainhunter888 said:

£2k / mnth :O you''ll have a nice retirement! more that what most people earn 

I make it work by living off by basically not spending on anything luxury or unnecessary so that my bank account always finishes with about £100 at the end of the month, and I've got an offset mortgage to dip into if need immediate cash.

My biggest regret is overpaying my mortgage for almost a decade before realising the pension sacrificing was monetary wise far more beneficial. Still, good habits were created at least.

bargainhunter888

wouldnt you rather live for the moment than waiting til retirement age and not being able to enjoy the things when you are are a bit younger  

Alistair31

bargainhunter888 said:

wouldnt you rather live for the moment than waiting til retirement age and not being able to enjoy the things when you are are a bit younger  

People usually advocate that approach when things are going smoothly in the economy. I wonder how those who spaff everything they earn will cope if or when they lose their job due to Covid.

Thrugelmir

MaxiRobriguez said:

bargainhunter888 said:

£2k / mnth :O you''ll have a nice retirement! more that what most people earn 

My biggest regret is overpaying my mortgage for almost a decade before realising the pension sacrificing was monetary wise far more beneficial. Still, good habits were created at least.

If you are one of the unfortunate people whose job is now at risk. Then your attitude maybe very different. 

Sailtheworld

dd95 said:

so the general consensus then is to build up a decent sized (circa 100k) main global tracker pot and once that is at a decent size look at putting smaller amounts into more risky specific funds?

out of interest, what was everyone's journey like? what did you branch out into away from your global indexes (if at all) and why?

I started off dabbling and then branched into global indexes. 

The big eye opener for me was when I started to think about risk. I was actually taking quite big risks and just wasn't being paid enough.

I spent too much time and headspace dabbling and tinkering with an overly concentrated set of shares. I would've been better off using that headspace thinking about how to increase my overall savings rate and earn more money.

Sailtheworld

Thrugelmir said:

dd95 said:

so the general consensus then is to build up a decent sized (circa 100k) main global tracker pot and once that is at a decent size look at putting smaller amounts into more risky specific funds?

out of interest, what was everyone's journey like? what did you branch out into away from your global indexes (if at all) and why?

Global index investing is relatively new. Wasn't possible to trade shares so freely in the past for a whole variety of reasons. Global trackers in themselves only cover a segment of the entire investment universe. Low cost is a major driver of current attraction along with the fact that there's a high weighting to the outstanding large cap performers of the last decade. Of which there's actually very few. Around 1% accounting for all the bulk of the capital growth. Fads come and go. As companies themselves wax and wane. 
Investing elsewhere elsewhere doesn't mean greater risk taking. Corporate failures in the global majors is a very real possibility. 

You always come at this knowing you have an investment edge. You can spot, ahead of time of course, the future winners that aren't in global trackers, the winners of the last decade that will decline, the 1% of stocks that will the bulk of future capital growth and identify problem market weightings. You also know which of the current global majors will fail and when. 

You shouldn't assume that just because you have this gift everyone else does. For us mere mortals posting from houses rather than private islands we can gain global exposure at low cost (yes low costs are an attractive feature - who knew?) - of course we have to accept market risk and market returns but that's life.