vanguard ETF troubles, or not, some heavyweight advice needed

Linton

wolves1976 said:

just to recap, think i recofused the board.  this is where i have about 20k from the 120k put so far.  the % are not where they are once all the money has been allocated.
i could do with some advice on the % for each ETF

FTSE Emerging Markets UCITS ETF (VFEM)   1.99%    
FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (VUKE)  2.99%  

FTSE 250 UCITS ETF (VMID) 2.00% 

FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (VWRL) 4.91% 

FTSE Developed Europe ex UK UCITS ETF (VERX) 1.94%  

S&P 500 UCITS ETF (VUSA) 2.98%

The All World fund will already contain reasonable %s of the contents of all the other more focussed funds.  What do you hope to gain by adding them?  Do you have a good reason for tweaking the All World's % allocations to the various countries/regions?

wolves1976

Linton said:

wolves1976 said:

just to recap, think i recofused the board.  this is where i have about 20k from the 120k put so far.  the % are not where they are once all the money has been allocated.
i could do with some advice on the % for each ETF

FTSE Emerging Markets UCITS ETF (VFEM)   1.99%    
FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (VUKE)  2.99%  

FTSE 250 UCITS ETF (VMID) 2.00% 

FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (VWRL) 4.91% 

FTSE Developed Europe ex UK UCITS ETF (VERX) 1.94%  

S&P 500 UCITS ETF (VUSA) 2.98%

The All World fund will already contain reasonable %s of the contents of all the other more focussed funds.  What do you hope to gain by adding them?  Do you have a good reason for tweaking the All World's % allocations to the various countries/regions?

my thinking was/is, in nutshell, weighting the more focussed funds based on markets as they stand now, for the next 2-3 years and adopting that approach over the course  - only ever adding to the focussed funds not selling for next fad.
1:FTSE 100 UCITS ETF  - whilst the uk ftse is about 5% of global  - due to its poor performance (20%ish) drop over its peak, that it can build up and gain this over long term - so i want to gain on this, knowing adding more increases the risk of holding more of it.
2: FTSE 250 UCITS ETF  - this is the real UK economy vs ftse 100 and i want to gain on its increase
3:FTSE All-World UCITS ETF  - want this to spread risk but its doesnt have small caps
4: FTSE Developed Europe ex UK - europe is important as UK to be invested in, at little more heavy at time over the course over the all-world fund.
5: S&P 500 UCITS ETF - same as point 4.
6: ditto

the other ETFs give me more 'number of stocks' in total to allocate into.   
is this sounding a little too much like shotgun in dark approach?

Audaxer

wolves1976 said:

Audaxer said:

wolves1976 said:

Audaxer said:

wolves1976 said:  

at first i wanted to put the money into LS100 & LS 80, now after further reading, learning and unleaning, i want to reduce the heavy home bias on the UK.  

I think your first idea of putting it all in a well structured global multi asset fund is a much better option than trying to build a portfolio from various ETFs. If you want less UK bias than VLS100 or VLS80, then HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic would be an option worth looking into, but of course you would have to transfer to a different platform. I think IWeb or Halifax Share Dealing would be much cheaper than Vanguard for a large ISA amount like £102,000, especially if you plan to just leave it untouched for 20 years.

thank you for response. 
1:first idea might have been the best but i didnt know about this home bias.
2:my SIPP is with VG also (as cash) about £145000 and i want to get idea what i am doing frist then worry about costs.   i dont mind the higher costs and for the last 20 dark years i have been paying over 1% on my pensions as i wasnt educated about costs then/only really started to look at costs now.
3: i will be moving my childs JISA into VG and want to keep method clean for now.

If you want to stick with the Vanguard platform that's fine, but I don't think you are likely to get the best portfolio by putting small percentages of your pot in lots of different ETFs. You would also have the extra decision making about annual rebalancing. It would be best to put it all in one or two multi assets funds, or to avoid UK bias, maybe a couple of the global ETFs suggested by george4064 above.

audaxer - thank for post.  
i am trying to break to loop of low corrertion, spread the risk out,  i could do with some help in what percentages in each ETF to be honest and if i need 2 or more.  annual reblance i want to carry out until i really get into set it and forget it.
any more thoughts on % into each etf/number of ETFs.

If you have a number of ETFs or funds covering different sectors, you will always need to rebalance if you want to keep to your original percentages, after you decide what they are. Whereas if you pick one good low cost globally diversified ETF or multi asset fund, this would be all you need, as it would be a professionally structured portfolio all in the one ETF or fund. Why would you think by choosing various ETFs and your own percentages, even after asking for help with that on here, would give you a better portfolio than a good, well-structured, globally diversified multi asset fund? You could pick two similar ETFs or funds if you don't want to put all your eggs into the one fund basket.  

Grogged

For me personally for the above I'd invest 5% in VMID, 45% in VWRL and 50% in VEVE.
My SIPP has these. I feel this is a good balance between being globally invested, whilst keeping the fund costs reasonable and is easy to maintain.
It also gives reasonable regional coverage, so you don't need VUKE, VUSA or VFEM.

wolves1976

If you have a number of ETFs or funds covering different sectors, you will always need to rebalance if you want to keep to your original percentages, after you decide what they are. Whereas if you pick one good low cost globally diversified ETF or multi asset fund, this would be all you need, as it would be a professionally structured portfolio all in the one ETF or fund. Why would you think by choosing various ETFs and your own percentages, even after asking for help with that on here, would give you a better portfolio than a good, well-structured, globally diversified multi asset fund? You could pick two similar ETFs or funds if you don't want to put all your eggs into the one fund basket.  

as i read and think i have a solution the more it seems off piste. Posting on forums yield different points on the same problem and i am after these views.   can you (if you have time) help with what VG funds would make you think you have its settled in your mind and on paper so i can review and use it as a guide to close this problem out.  thank you for time so far

Grogged

The "Insights" tab on the Investment screen on VG gives you a consolidated overview of your portfolio by region. I believe VWRL gives you the closest approximation for a well balanced regional and sector diversification.
If you want slight biases against that then buy the regional ETF.
For the UK stick with VMID.
Everyone has given good advice, but you need to decide your strategy and then build your portfolio around that and follow the advice you feel most comfortable with.
So, forget what you have today, start with a blank sheet and take it from there.

csgohan4

- FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (4.0% UK) OCF 0.22%
- FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF (4.4% UK) OCF 0.12%
- FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund (3.9% UK) OCF 0.23%

the ones above all replicate each other tbh

Have you considered VWRA the accumulating version?

Having a small portion in EM is reasonable.

But I would keep it simple and put it in as few funds as possible for  now. Unless you plan on diversifying further in sectors or geography in the future

As above have a strategy and stick to it or have a reason to change it

Alexland

If you have over £100k in an ISA wrapper and want 100% equities (although it might not be suitable for your risk tolerance if you are going to get upset when markets are low, make behavioural mistakes of selling low, etc) then consider the HSBC FTSE All World accumulation fund (OCF of only 0.13% and includes some EM exposure) which unlike an ETF would have FSCS protection up to £85k (obviously not for normal investment ups and downs) and for platform consider iWeb for £25 setup and £5 per trade (or maybe Halifax Share Delaing could be cheaper if making regular scheduled purchases).

Vanguard Investor's platform charges are better suited for smaller accounts and their All World/Cap products are not cheap so with enough money you are better going to a fixed fee platform and having more choice to find better value products.

wolves1976

Alexland said:

If you have over £100k in an ISA wrapper and want 100% equities (although it might not be suitable for your risk tolerance if you are going to get upset when markets are low, make behavioural mistakes of selling low, etc) then consider the HSBC FTSE All World accumulation fund (OCF of only 0.13% and includes some EM exposure) which unlike an ETF would have FSCS protection up to £85k (obviously not for normal investment ups and downs) and for platform consider iWeb for £25 setup and £5 per trade (or maybe Halifax Share Delaing could be cheaper if making regular scheduled purchases).

Vanguard Investor's platform charges are better suited for smaller accounts and their All World/Cap products are not cheap so with enough money you are better going to a fixed fee platform and having more choice to find better value products.

now i am committed to put money into the market, i accept the risks and now look to buy when the price has dropped as its a saving.  i thank all for comments and will change my holding to 2-3 ETFS. as suggested above.  

cloud_dog

For the ISA, if you are a buy and hold type investor (little trading in/out) then you may want to consider iWeb or Halifax.

If you are comfortable with investing in ETFs, or at least not needing to hold OIECs, then for the pension Fidelity SIPP or AJ Bell YouInvest SIPP may be worth considering.