IFA or DIY - any thoughts appreciated

BritishInvestor

short_bread said:

Got directed here from the more recent "to use an IFA or not" thread. The debate seems to have run its course, but I know Vanguard do have a FTSE UK Equity income fund. But with the UK market-cap indices yielding so high anyway Vs global indices, is there an argument that you could get plenty of UK equity income (emphasis on the income) exposure via a FTSE 100 or FTSE all share tracker, or even the FTSE 250 going off current yields.

You might want to consider the potential downsides of a UK equity income approach
https://www.vanguard.co.uk/documents/adv/literature/total-return-investing.pdf

Prism

mark13 said:

If you happy to check funds, shares, trusts etc then I would say DIY.  Its fairly simple to find information on the internet and to build a portfolio of funds to generate income and growth. By comparison my IFA managed portfolio is still down YTD and my own ISA portfolio is considerably up . DIY  for me   gives me greater focus and flexibility and doesn't require too much tinkering .

I think quite a few portfolios - IFA or DIY - are still down or flat for the year. VLS 80 is -0.7% and VLS 60 is at +1.2%. Some would blame the higher UK weighting of something like the VLS range and possibly some IFA run portfolios but it doesn't have to be that way. I have around a 20% UK allocation and that part is positive for the year.