Investing in ETFs, having tried in S&S, which ETF from these two would you choose and why?

pete1975

Evening,  I thought after reading lots of articles at the start of the covid crisis that S&S were my way to earn some extra money to help pay the mortgage quicker.   
I think got lucky,  actually i know lucky,  as i invested several thousand pounds intended for my mortgage overpayments and today i managed to sell most for a small profit (£586).  I did loose £165 on my Intu shares but sold just in time, so I learnt a valuable lesson for not much loss.  ie I cant time the market and the feeling of losing money on something of whim is not for me at all.  I've since several a few books and had it drummed into my head that the best way for someone like like me (passive investor) is to invest in tracker funds - ETFs and top up on a regular basis, just forget about it and just check on it one or twice a year. Rather than check my S&S app each hour to see how much they have dropped into the red.
The plan - i have a fixed mortgage for 10 years (fixed at 2.39%) started last year and the money im investing is going to be invested for at least the 10 years and will be used to pay the mortgage off and help the children out with cars etc.
I  have invested in Vangaurd {VWRL}  within an ISA £20,586  ,   also £7000 invested with a Lindsell Train within a earlier ISA which has dropped about £500 so far.  Would you cut your loses on the Lindsell and sell them and just invest in the ETF, or would you let that recover and then sell and invest in the ETF?

 I also have a further 7k that I want to invest -  it will be invested under my Wife's ISA as she hasn't paid anything into it
( I will try to top up with £200 per month aswell).  I want to pick another ETF.  Lots of choices again and im getting lost with them and comparing them.
I created a watch list which consists of the following two,  any pointers on what to choose and why or is there a better alternative for the 7k
INVESCO MARKETS III PLC EQQQ NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF (EQQQ)   a bit more Tech
VANGUARD FUNDS PLC S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD(GBP) (VUSA)
thanks
Pete

dunstonh

I've since several a few books and had it drummed into my head that the best way for someone like like me (passive investor) is to invest in tracker funds - ETFs and top up on a regular basis, just forget about it and just check on it one or twice a year. 

Why did your reading point you to ETFs and not UT/OEICs?  (there can be a good reason but ETFs have more to be aware of)

I  have invested in Vangaurd {VWRL}  within an ISA £20,586  ,   also £7000 invested with a Lindsell Train within a earlier ISA which has dropped about £500 so far.  Would you cut your loses on the Lindsell and sell them and just invest in the ETF, or would you let that recover and then sell and invest in the ETF?

What is your investment strategy?

I created a watch list which consists of the following two,  any pointers on what to choose and why or is there a better alternative for the 7k
INVESCO MARKETS III PLC EQQQ NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF (EQQQ)   a bit more Tech
VANGUARD FUNDS PLC S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD(GBP) (VUSA)

How do these fit in with your investment strategy?

Or is it all a bit hit and hope/random at the moment?

pete1975

dunstonh said:

I've since several a few books and had it drummed into my head that the best way for someone like like me (passive investor) is to invest in tracker funds - ETFs and top up on a regular basis, just forget about it and just check on it one or twice a year. 

Why did your reading point you to ETFs and not UT/OEICs?  (there can be a good reason but ETFs have more to be aware of)

I  have invested in Vangaurd {VWRL}  within an ISA £20,586  ,   also £7000 invested with a Lindsell Train within a earlier ISA which has dropped about £500 so far.  Would you cut your loses on the Lindsell and sell them and just invest in the ETF, or would you let that recover and then sell and invest in the ETF?

What is your investment strategy?

I created a watch list which consists of the following two,  any pointers on what to choose and why or is there a better alternative for the 7k
INVESCO MARKETS III PLC EQQQ NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF (EQQQ)   a bit more Tech
VANGUARD FUNDS PLC S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD(GBP) (VUSA)

How do these fit in with your investment strategy?

Or is it all a bit hit and hope/random at the moment?

Hi please dont shot me down,  my strategy would be to able to access the money in 10 years min (to pay mortgage off and cars for children) its fixed for 10 years and i will be overpaying £100 a month when i can.  But at that stage I could well leave it longer 
i want some risk,  and ideally i want a return or around 8-10%

Prism

pete1975 said:

dunstonh said:

I've since several a few books and had it drummed into my head that the best way for someone like like me (passive investor) is to invest in tracker funds - ETFs and top up on a regular basis, just forget about it and just check on it one or twice a year. 

Why did your reading point you to ETFs and not UT/OEICs?  (there can be a good reason but ETFs have more to be aware of)

I  have invested in Vangaurd {VWRL}  within an ISA £20,586  ,   also £7000 invested with a Lindsell Train within a earlier ISA which has dropped about £500 so far.  Would you cut your loses on the Lindsell and sell them and just invest in the ETF, or would you let that recover and then sell and invest in the ETF?

What is your investment strategy?

I created a watch list which consists of the following two,  any pointers on what to choose and why or is there a better alternative for the 7k
INVESCO MARKETS III PLC EQQQ NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF (EQQQ)   a bit more Tech
VANGUARD FUNDS PLC S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD(GBP) (VUSA)

How do these fit in with your investment strategy?

Or is it all a bit hit and hope/random at the moment?

Hi please dont shot me down,  my strategy would be to able to access the money in 10 years min (to pay mortgage off and cars for children) its fixed for 10 years and i will be overpaying £100 a month when i can.  But at that stage I could well leave it longer 
i want some risk,  and ideally i want a return or around 8-10%

I would lower your expectations quite a bit. Vanguard are forecasting a 4.5% return on US equities over the next 10 years and 7.5% for the rest of the world mostly driven by emerging markets. They may well be wrong but 8-10% seems very optimistic.

pete1975

Prism said:

pete1975 said:

dunstonh said:

I've since several a few books and had it drummed into my head that the best way for someone like like me (passive investor) is to invest in tracker funds - ETFs and top up on a regular basis, just forget about it and just check on it one or twice a year. 

Why did your reading point you to ETFs and not UT/OEICs?  (there can be a good reason but ETFs have more to be aware of)

I  have invested in Vangaurd {VWRL}  within an ISA £20,586  ,   also £7000 invested with a Lindsell Train within a earlier ISA which has dropped about £500 so far.  Would you cut your loses on the Lindsell and sell them and just invest in the ETF, or would you let that recover and then sell and invest in the ETF?

What is your investment strategy?

I created a watch list which consists of the following two,  any pointers on what to choose and why or is there a better alternative for the 7k
INVESCO MARKETS III PLC EQQQ NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF (EQQQ)   a bit more Tech
VANGUARD FUNDS PLC S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD(GBP) (VUSA)

How do these fit in with your investment strategy?

Or is it all a bit hit and hope/random at the moment?

Hi please dont shot me down,  my strategy would be to able to access the money in 10 years min (to pay mortgage off and cars for children) its fixed for 10 years and i will be overpaying £100 a month when i can.  But at that stage I could well leave it longer 
i want some risk,  and ideally i want a return or around 8-10%

I would lower your expectations quite a bit. Vanguard are forecasting a 4.5% return on US equities over the next 10 years and 7.5% for the rest of the world mostly driven by emerging markets. They may well be wrong but 8-10% seems very optimistic.

i'd take 4.5% over the next ten years tbh, but if there was something with higher risk at 8-10% i would be interested in that.  

george4064

Without going into any alternatives and exclusing looking at the NASDAQ 100 or S&P 500 ETFs, I'd choose the S&P 500 ETF.

100 vs 500 stocks is the key reason, and less heavily concentrated on tech. (S&P 500 already has a fairly significant exposure to tech whereas NASDAQ would be too heavy in tech, in my own opinion).

NotSureWhichUsername

If you are open to other options, two ETFs I like are:

HMWO - Tracks the MSCI World Index. Includes developed countries only. Approx. 1405 holdings. 

VWRL - Tracks the FTSE All-World Index, which includes some emerging markets, although a small percentage. Approx. 3,421 holdings. 

Both ETFs are low fee, and pay a yield of around 2.0% - which you could reinvest to compound returns. 

pete1975

NotSureWhichUsername said:

If you are open to other options, two ETFs I like are:

HMWO - Tracks the MSCI World Index. Includes developed countries only. Approx. 1405 holdings. 

VWRL - Tracks the FTSE All-World Index, which includes some emerging markets, although a small percentage. Approx. 3,421 holdings. 

Both ETFs are low fee, and pay a yield of around 2.0% - which you could reinvest to compound returns. 

great thankyou,  I already have some money in the VWRL but i will look at that i have seen some ETF in the MSCI index but didnt look any further as i was getting deeper and deeper into it.  appreciate it

Thrugelmir

If you've a fixed time window, i.e. 10 years. Then you may find yourself selling in a dip or worse. Likewise investment returns are generally made in the longer term. Some of your future contributions aren't going to have much time to make an impression. 

The broader the index you invest in, the more constrained the return is likely to be. Holding several thousand shares will result in the exceptional performers being diluted. There's no free lunch when investing. 

pete1975

Thrugelmir said:

If you've a fixed time window, i.e. 10 years. Then you may find yourself selling in a dip or worse. Likewise investment returns are generally made in the longer term. Some of your future contributions aren't going to have much time to make an impression. 

The broader the index you invest in, the more constrained the return is likely to be. Holding several thousand shares will result in the exceptional performers being diluted. There's no free lunch when investing. 

thanks, i just thought i'd rather try to use that money rather than pay the mortgage off,  the bank will allow overpayments as long as it doesnt pay the whole mortgage off. 

Prism

pete1975 said:

Thrugelmir said:

If you've a fixed time window, i.e. 10 years. Then you may find yourself selling in a dip or worse. Likewise investment returns are generally made in the longer term. Some of your future contributions aren't going to have much time to make an impression. 

The broader the index you invest in, the more constrained the return is likely to be. Holding several thousand shares will result in the exceptional performers being diluted. There's no free lunch when investing. 

thanks, i just thought i'd rather try to use that money rather than pay the mortgage off,  the bank will allow overpayments as long as it doesnt pay the whole mortgage off. 

Its very likely the right thing to do - I don't overpay the mortgage but do pay into ISAs. Just be flexible about the 10 year date. Be prepared to continue with the mortgage at that point if that seems the best option, or maybe pay off early if equity returns have been good and it looks like the mortgage rates have gone up for your renewal.