Help me splitting the money wisely - Lump sum + regular investing - which platform/fees

Alexland

mustiuc said:

Alex seems to have quite some knowledge. Good to have him around

Unfortunately our regular forum boffin bowlhead99 has gone AWOL for a bit so the rest of us are having to step up to cover.

mustiuc

alright so my strategy started not to chase returns but to invest steady and regularly any extra money left at the end of the month. As I said, I do not have a large income to satisfy all the life's needs/wants and I had to choose the best thing for me/us-wife
slowly by slowly, I started to get cheeky and to chase returns, to look after "specific" funds and investments - later I realized I deviated from my initial plan and I got investment fever - also, putting all the fees(funds)/charges together I noticed on a long period of time a large portion of my income will be eaten by fees.
Just to add something which I haven't said until now, I do not have kids/large expenses (cars/loans/etc) (yet) and the first 40k lump sum will be kind of a "safe pot" if life is getting harder/crude and I will not be able to save a penny in the years to come. Secondly, based on what I've said above, when regular investing, I need a flexible platform which doesn't charge me if I miss a monthly DD or invest less than initial sum - there might be 8 months of regular DD but  them I might choose the other 4 months to keep them cash/buy something/go on a quick vacation/etc.
Saying so, I will do like this:
- lump sum investment will go to Iweb (initially) due to almost no costs (once I invested, they will stay there/no matter what) - thinking on : Global Technology Index, S&P500 or All shares North America, All world index and US small cap - 5 funds/ETF's maximum (I have to find another one).
- regular investment will do with Vanguard (reasons above - flexibility, low costs) - VLS100, S&P 500 or US index, FTSE Dev World, one of Vanguard's Emerging markets ETF's (haven't got time to check them/research). 
Once Vanguard will get bit enough, it will be transferred to Iweb - If Iweb starts to be weird/have "problems" or the post is large more than 75/100k, everything will be transferred to ii due to it's fixed fee.

what are your thoughts?

HCIMbtw

My thoughts are, I wouldn't personally go with those funds for your lump sum investment (please note I say this without detailed research on those specific funds)...Looks like you would just be pinning all your lump sum on one countries markets, or a specific type of industry. The benefit of putting into a global ETF is that you get global and industry diversification built in. But this is ultimately your choice and to take based on the risk and markets you want to expose your investment to. 

Otherwise your logic seems fine. 

You probably just need to think through tax wrappers for phasing the lump sums though.. can only get £20k in an ISA wrapper each year 

Alexland

So you started with a good plan, got distracted by some specialist funds, realised that's not what you were trying to do but are kinda doing it anyway with the lump sum you wanted to keep sensible and now want to know what we think??
Step back and ask yourself what path gives the highest probability of achieving your objectives? As you say this money could be part of the foundation for a future family so don't let greed drive you into taking excessive risk. There will always be a fund, sector or geographic area that has done well recently but that doesn't mean it will do well going forward.

ColdIron

Alexland said:

mustiuc said:

Alex seems to have quite some knowledge. Good to have him around

Unfortunately our regular forum boffin bowlhead99 has gone AWOL for a bit so the rest of us are having to step up to cover.

Banned 3rd November

Linton

Splitting a pot with different funds on separate platforms can be a serious pain.  Suppose you wanted to rebalance between the two.  Transferring cash can be a hassle, were they to be in ISAs or pensions it would be practically impossible.  Why all this concern over a few £.  I suggest one chooses the best platform for one's total portfolio and when that becomes too expensive move somewhere else.

II and iweb are not connected.  iWeb is owned by Lloyds, II by a private equity group.

badger09

ColdIron said:

Alexland said:

mustiuc said:

Alex seems to have quite some knowledge. Good to have him around

Unfortunately our regular forum boffin bowlhead99 has gone AWOL for a bit so the rest of us are having to step up to cover.

Banned 3rd November

  

I've obviously missed something of great importance. Head buried in house sale & purchase. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful.

Do I need to sign a petition or something?  

ColdIron

No idea why

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/profile/bowlhead99

badger09

Weird.

Some strange goings on on the forum recently. I was subjected to a totally unfounded personal attack, which having calmly pointed out to the perpetrator, I merely shrugged off. A few hours later, the whole thread, which had contained a lot of useful information and perfectly valid exchanges of opinion, had disappeared.

Hope our friend is subject only to a brief, temporary ban.

NottinghamKnight

Seems to be the way things have gone, all you can do is put people on ignore, but the difficulty is then that the misleading information remains.