Would you feel comfortable...

sixpence.

k6chris said:

So is there a better "single fund" than VLS for diversification purposes??

Honestly. If you are investing in GBP / based in the U.K, I don't think there is. Will wait to see what those who know more than me say, but the more I learn about investing, the more this passive and rational approach seems best.

barnstar2077

sixpence. said:

k6chris said:

So is there a better "single fund" than VLS for diversification purposes??

Honestly. If you are investing in GBP / based in the U.K, I don't think there is. Will wait to see what those who know more than me say, but the more I learn about investing, the more this passive and rational approach seems best.

I have a VLS fund on the Vanguard platform, because I think it is "good enough" and pretty cheap, the platform restriction of only using Vanguard funds seriously inhibits me from gambling on other funds or shares too.  I say gambling, because I am relatively new to investing but I like to dabble, which is stupid.  So my setup suits me perfectly.

eskbanker

sixpence. said:

k6chris said:

So is there a better "single fund" than VLS for diversification purposes??

Honestly. If you are investing in GBP / based in the U.K, I don't think there is. Will wait to see what those who know more than me say, but the more I learn about investing, the more this passive and rational approach seems best.

There are plenty of other global multi-asset funds (of funds) offering diversification across asset classes and markets - which ones are better than others is impossible to say without knowing the basis of the comparison (assuming that investors aren't literally looking for the widest diversification in terms of aggregate number of underlying stocks held!) but, for example, HSBC Global Strategy doesn't have VLS's disproportionate UK bias and is available at a lower OCF, although other characteristics (such as property inclusion) might be seen as a positive or a negative when conducting a Top Trumps-style evaluation.  There's a handy comparison between the leading options at https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

AlanP_2

sixpence. said:

So, what I'm getting from this conversation is that most people wouldn't feel anxious about having 6-7 figures in a VLS BUT they might not be comfortable with it for other reasons... mainly, it seems, for diversification reasons. 

Whether it is VLS or any other fund / funds / investments is almost irrelevant in my mind to the original question as for some people it might be just a few active funds / ITs they invest in.

 I wouldn't want to have all my assets on one platform just in case their is a major IT failure or a black swan event affects the platform. Having access to an alternative source of money is where I would be diversifying. The TSB isue from a couple of years ago got resolved but not without a lot of people being inconvenienced to some extent or another.

bowlhead99

AlanP_2 said:

sixpence. said:

So, what I'm getting from this conversation is that most people wouldn't feel anxious about having 6-7 figures in a VLS BUT they might not be comfortable with it for other reasons... mainly, it seems, for diversification reasons. 

Whether it is VLS or any other fund / funds / investments is almost irrelevant in my mind to the original question as for some people it might be just a few active funds / ITs they invest in.

 I wouldn't want to have all my assets on one platform just in case their is a major IT failure or a black swan event affects the platform. Having access to an alternative source of money is where I would be diversifying. The TSB isue from a couple of years ago got resolved but not without a lot of people being inconvenienced to some extent or another.

Yes, if you might need access to the money it wouldn't make sense to hold six or seven figures all in one place from a 'potential disruption' point of view, although there are economies of scale with platform costs   .

My SIPP is only a few hundred thousand and is all in one place but I can't draw it for over a decade anyway so I could handle a disruption or lack of access from time to time. However my ISA there is something that I might want to access from time to time and there would be a risk of disruption if something went wrong with the platform, so if it was a bigger proportion of my overall liquid resources I would consider having a different ISA with someone else as well (whether invested in same underlying products or different ones).

Swipe

This is why it's important to have a 3-6 month emergency fund. That way, you can keep it all in one place and not worry too much.

sixpence.

Yeah I hear what people are saying. How long do we think a "disruption" at Vanguard might last?

I prefer a 1-1.5 year emergency fund to be honest, but I'm a more anxious personality. 

EthicsGradient

sixpence. said:

Yeah I hear what people are saying. How long do we think a "disruption" at Vanguard might last?

I prefer a 1-1.5 year emergency fund to be honest, but I'm a more anxious personality. 

I think the general feeling of the thread is that a "disruption" at Vanguard would have to be part of the biggest failure of commerce and capitalism the world has ever seen, so longer than the 16 or so years it took to recover from the Great Depression (and that was with a world war to get things re-organised), if you're the anxious type.

sixpence.

I guess if that happens I'll be living off stale bread and baked beans, like everybody else. 
Off topic, but relevant to the article that @eskbanker helpfully shared: does any know if there is a gold or physical metals tracker fund in GBP? Just curious really. 

bowlhead99

sixpence. said:

I guess if that happens I'll be living off stale bread and baked beans, like everybody else. 
Off topic, but relevant to the article that @eskbanker helpfully shared: does any know if there is a gold or physical metals tracker fund in GBP? Just curious really. 

Wisdomtree's Physical Precious Metals  (platinum, palladium, silver, gold) is an ETC traded on London and other European/Japanese stock exchanges.  Its ticker is PHPM quoted in USD or PHPP quoted in GBP.