30 y.o new to investing

P3

With interest rate at all time low, I have some spare money to invest in SS ISA, i still have £13600 allowance, after LISA and H2B, although I have the money for lump sum, I feel drip feed monthly would be the best option, I have opened with Vanguard due to low platform fee. With my age, I'm leaning toward invest 90% of the money in equity fund. 

I have a few question to get myself more clued up and get advice

1) what number is important and should look out for when compare each different fund. 

At the moment, with little experience, I look at last 3 years past performance(at least 10%) 52 weeks prices so I'm not buying on the high

2) I have seen the VLS 100% portfolio, what advantage is this compare to with me copy their portfolio ?

3) I have selected these, what do you think? Cheap to own one share

FTSE All-World UCITS ETF £64.70

FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF £48.38

Global Minimum Volatility UCITS ETF £25.41

Global Momentum Factor UCITS ETF £25.59

FTSE North America UCITS ETF £57.75

4) I also wanted these but one share is quite expensive, they are in the VLS 100% portfolio so I might invest some money on the VLS

FTSE Developed World ex-U.K. Equity Index Fund

S&P 500 UCITS ETF

U.S. Equity Index Fund

5) I also got my eyes on below but they are quite expensive tho, are they good to have ?

FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund £125

SRI Global Stock Fund £251

6) what are the key number to look out for when selecting bond fund? 

7) I have selected some cheap to own bond fund at under £100 per share, coupon average at 3-4%. Good choice?

USD Corporate 1-3 Year Bond UCITS ETF

USD Corporate Bond UCITS ETF

U.K. Gilt UCITS ETF
Any other advice would be much appreciated !!!

Thanks for reading!!!

Mr.Saver

P3 said:

1) what number is important and should look out for when compare each different fund. 

At the moment, with little experience, I look at last 3 years past performance(at least 10%) 52 weeks prices so I'm not buying on the high

Look at the fees. The less you pay, the more you get. The last 3 years past performance is largely irrelevant, because "past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results".

P3 said:

2) I have seen the VLS 100% portfolio, what advantage is this compare to with me copy their portfolio ?

You can replicated their portfolio, you can even go a step further and replicate the underlying portfolio - the individual shares and bonds. The advantage of holding a fund is you save the trading commissions for buying / selling many individual funds and/or shares, and you also save the time for rebalancing your portfolio, because the fund will do it automatically.

P3 said:

3) I have selected these, what do you think? Cheap to own one share

FTSE All-World UCITS ETF £64.70

FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF £48.38

Global Minimum Volatility UCITS ETF £25.41

Global Momentum Factor UCITS ETF £25.59

FTSE North America UCITS ETF £57.75

The unit price is almost irrelevant for an investor, because it's very very unlikely you will only buy (or afford to buy) one share, and some platforms even allow you to buy partial shares.

P3 said:

4) I also wanted these but one share is quite expensive, they are in the VLS 100% portfolio so I might invest some money on the VLS

FTSE Developed World ex-U.K. Equity Index Fund

S&P 500 UCITS ETF

U.S. Equity Index Fund

Invest some in the VLS fund is not the same as buy one of those fund, because the VLS also contains many other funds which you may or may not want. The weight of those funds in the VLS may be fairly small, and you may end up buying a lots of other funds you don't need or want.

P3 said:

5) I also got my eyes on below but they are quite expensive tho, are they good to have ?

FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund £125

SRI Global Stock Fund £251

Ignoring the price, it's irrelevant. Those funds are good for some people, but no good for others. They are often building blocks for a portfolio, but not all portfolios need them. Think of your portfolio first, before choose a fund.

P3 said:

6) what are the key number to look out for when selecting bond fund? 

Same as Q1?

P3 said:

7) I have selected some cheap to own bond fund at under £100 per share, coupon average at 3-4%. Good choice?

USD Corporate 1-3 Year Bond UCITS ETF

USD Corporate Bond UCITS ETF

U.K. Gilt UCITS ETF

Again, please ignore the price, it's irrelevant. Are they good choice? It depends on your portfolio.

P3 said:

Any other advice would be much appreciated !!!

Learn the basics first, don't blindly choose fund base on the criteria you think is important, because they might not be important, or even relevant.

dunstonh

1) what number is important and should look out for when compare each different fund.

Liquidity of underlying assets and where they invest (just beause a fund is in a sector, does not mean it derives the bulk of its return from that area.   So, the investment strategy you intend to follow will have an impact on the funds you would look at.

At the moment, with little experience, I look at last 3 years past performance(at least 10%) 52 weeks prices so I'm not buying on the high

That is not a way to pick funds.

2) I have seen the VLS 100% portfolio, what advantage is this compare to with me copy their portfolio ?

How often would you rebalance?

Will you be checking it daily to see when the asset ratios change?

3) I have selected these, what do you think? Cheap to own one share

What makes you think they are cheap?  The unit price is certainly no indicator.

4) I also wanted these but one share is quite expensive, they are in the VLS 100% portfolio so I might invest some money on the VLS

Yep, this confirms you are misunderstanding what unit price means.  It is not an indication of cheap or expensive.

Tell me what the answer is to the following two sums

1000 units at 0.04p

10 units at 4.00p

(its 40 for both and if 40 increases by 10% then its the same growth for both)

7) I have selected some cheap to own bond fund at under £100 per share, coupon average at 3-4%. Good choice?<br>USD Corporate 1-3 Year Bond UCITS ETF<br>USD Corporate Bond UCITS ETF<br>U.K. Gilt UCITS ETF

Corporate bonds are a bit out of favour at the moment with only limited exposure in most fluid models.  Liquidity concerns, defaults and reduced potential due to companies looking to restructure.   It's a time to be very picky on corp bonds.

Global bonds have been out of favour for even longer. Low yields and expectation of currency fluctuations make them look unattractive.  

So, what has drawn you to have these funds in your bespoke portfolio?

Any other advice would be much appreciated !!!

You are also looking at more advanced options (ETFs). So you need to understand the increased risks over UT/OEICs.  Do you currently?  e.g. replication method for one, no FSCS protection being another?

Finally, you have £13,600.    Trying to build a bespoke portfolio of single sector funds on £13,600 is pointless.     Let's say your chosen model currently has an allocation of 2% to emerging markets.  That would require you to buy £272 in an emerging markets fund.  As you are looking at ETFs rather than OEICs/UTs you would have dealing costs.   Dealing costs on £272 could wipe out any profit for many years.

With your value, you are better sticking to multi-asset funds.

Alistair31

OP, you have tied yourself in knots. I think the final sentence of the preceding post could well be the answer for you. 

Sailtheworld

There is a beginners guide on here. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/investment-beginners/

I'd also take a look at Lars Kroijer's video series that accompany his book (Investing Demystified) https://www.kroijer.com/. Thought provoking ideas on risk and an explanation of why it seems to hard to choose an investment (spoiler alert - because it is)

Own your own decisions but a couple of starters.

P3

I have dipped my toe into the water now. Total £724 
I have a few question that it's not making sense to me
1) there are product that have accumulation and income option, which one is better suited? And why? For example ' FTSE Developed World ex-U.K. Equity Index Fund'

2) how to compare which fund is better? What number is the number 1 to look at, what way to comparation?  Is dividends a way to finding a good value product? I am aware that dividends% high might be due to fund value dropped.
My opening post I was doing past performance (obv it's not the future), 
Is it PE ratio? Number of stocks? Median market cap? PB ratio? Return on equity? Earning on growth rate?
3) how many different fund is the magic number? I read between 10-15 and 20 is too much? But as long it's diverse,  does it matter?
£1000 in one fund at 0.40% fee
With £50 with 20 fund at 0.40% fee each is the same right? With no exit/selling fee

Below is what I bought so far, with the value being low, I'm not too fussed whether for now it's right or wrong choice. 

Equity 333.36 46.04%

Fixed Income 238.14 32.89%

LifeStrategy Fund 150 20.72%

Cash 2.5 0.35%

Name Cost Unit

Cash 2.5

Global Momentum Factor UCITS ETF (VMOM) 25.85 1

FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF (VEVE) 48.73 1

Global Minimum Volatility UCITS ETF (VMVL) 25.58 1

FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (VWRL) 65.14 1

FTSE North America UCITS ETF (VNRT) 58.06 1

U.K. Gilt UCITS ETF (VGOV) 26.58 1

USD Treasury Bond UCITS ETF (VUTY) 21.85 1

EUR Eurozone Government Bond UCITS ETF (VETY) 23.33 1

ESG Developed World All Cap Equity Index Fund - Accumulation 10 0.04

FTSE Developed World ex-U.K. Equity Index Fund - Income 50 0.1637

U.S. Equity Index Fund - Accumulation 50 0.1002

LifeStrategy® 100% Equity Fund - Income 100 0.552

USD Corporate 1-3 year Bond UCITS ETF 41.75 1

USD Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (VUCP) 44.63 1

LifeStrategy® 20% Equity Fund - Gross Income 50 0.3476

U.K. Government Bond Index Fund - Income 20 0.13

Global Corporate Bond Index Fund - Hedged Accumulation 20 0.19

Euro Government Bond Index Fund - Hedged Accumulation 20 0.15

Global Bond Index Fund - Hedged Income 20 0.15

Mr.Saver

You have bought way too many funds. Just look at the commissions for buying (and latter, selling) those funds, how much did that cost as a % of your £724 investment?

coyrls

You cannot be serious.

Alistair31

coyrls said:

You cannot be serious.

And if he is then he has totally ignored the help he has received so far. In which case I’m not sure why anyone would bother explaining it all again.

port_of_spain

Have you bought all these on the Vanguard Investor platform? If you have, then there is no real harm done, because there are no dealing commissions with them, even for ETFs (unless you use instant dealing for ETFs, for which there is a commission; but there's no need to do that).

You are correct that it isn't too crucial what you're invested in, when it is only £724 invested. But the sensible way to do it is to put it all in one fund which is designed to be suitable as an investment portfolio by itself; as some of Vanguard's funds are. (Others of their funds are designed to be used to build a portfolio using many funds, but that only works if you have a strategy, not just buying stuff at random.) So take your time to work out what single fund you'd like to be invested in, instead of this mish-mash. And then sell everything, and switch to that fund.

The Vanguard funds which can work as one-fund portfolio are: any of their LifeStrategy funds, or one of their vanilla global trackers, viz. FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (VWRL), FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund, or FTSE Developed World ETF (VEVE). You already have several of these, but you only need one of them, and nothing else!

There are also other funds not by Vanguard that you could use instead, but I'm guessing you're on their platform, which only carries their own funds.

P3

Yes I am only using vanguard, as I understand it, it cost 0.15% account fee plus 0.24%(avg) fund management costs and 0.12% ETF one - off costs
With no switch/selling fee.