S&S ISA VANGUARD FUNDS

Holls_dad

Looking to open a ss isa with Vanguard , various funds available 
 
Plan to retire in 7 years time and happy to take a moderate risk rating

Only wish a small if any uk stocks

Any advice on which fund to take ?

Linton

Normally one first decides what one wants to invest in, then what funds to use and finally which platform.

However the fund that seems to match your requirement is FTSE  Global All Cap. However, this is 100% equity and so it could be a bumpy ride. If you are planning to use this money gradually when you retire then this could be OK since you could be investing for perhaps 30-40 years. However if you intend to spend it in soon after you stop working something less volatile may be better.

grumiofoundation

'Moderate risk rating' can mean different things to different people

If you are looking for simple, buy and forget multi-assest funds, vanguard offers a couple of different options.

Lifestrategy which have a fixed % of shares/bonds (Do have a ~25% UK wrighting so may not be what you are looking for). 
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-lifestrategy-funds

You could also replicate these yourself without the UK weighting (with a tiny bit more work) with an all world index fund (100% shares) and a bond fund(s) win the appropriate percentages and then rebalance periodically yourself (or go with different provider if don't like vanguards offerings). 

Another option are the target retirement funds which automatically 'de-risk' as you approach target. You wouldn't have to set the year as the year that you want to retire if you might not want to (or be sensible to) reduce your risk as much as they suggest (depending on other pension provision etc). 
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-target-retirement-funds
 

There are other funds available from other providers that you may prefer, if you don't want to restrict yourself to vanguard....

The level of risk you 'should' take will depend primarily on your attitude to risk but also on your wider financial situation. e.g. other pensions, mortgage, savings/other investments, projected costs in retirement 

VXman

Personally - for a simple and reliable invest and forget option I'd go for a . life strategy. With 7 years you could go risky 80 or even 100. Then maybe move safer as you get nearer to retirement. 60 in a few years, 40 or 20 for the last year or 2. 

Albermarle

Then maybe move safer as you get nearer to retirement. 60 in a few years, 40 or 20 for the last year or 2. 

This would only be sensible if the OP intended to use most of the money quite quickly after retirement .

If they intended to use it gradually then a derisk to VLS20 , or even 40 .  would not be a good move .

Another_Saver

VLS 80 seems a sensible balance. If you're investing for all of retirement you want something that can grow to last the course, but with a bit of stability.
Don't knock the UK, the recent underperformance is all since the Brexit referendum, IMHO I think the VLS UK weighting is fine.

dunstonh

Only wish a small if any uk stocks

Which probably means you shouldn't be using Vanguard if you are referring to their multi-asset funds. As it won't meet that objective.  If you are using their single sector funds and building your own portfolio, then the amount you allocate to any country/region is up to you.

Another_Saver

dunstonh said:

Only wish a small if any uk stocks

Which probably means you shouldn't be using Vanguard if you are referring to their multi-asset funds. As it won't meet that objective.  If you are using their single sector funds and building your own portfolio, then the amount you allocate to any country/region is up to you.

20-25% is hardly not meeting the objective of a small UK equity allocation, and the op hasn't given their reasons so we can't comment on that.
And it does save a lot of admin and rebalance automatically.

eskbanker

Another_Saver said:

dunstonh said:

Only wish a small if any uk stocks

Which probably means you shouldn't be using Vanguard if you are referring to their multi-asset funds. As it won't meet that objective.  If you are using their single sector funds and building your own portfolio, then the amount you allocate to any country/region is up to you.

20-25% is hardly not meeting the objective of a small UK equity allocation, and the op hasn't given their reasons so we can't comment on that.
And it does save a lot of admin and rebalance automatically.

But if OP is making a point of specifying a desire to underweight UK stocks, then choosing a product that overweights them significantly is unlikely to be appropriate....

Another_Saver

eskbanker said:

Another_Saver said:

dunstonh said:

Only wish a small if any uk stocks

Which probably means you shouldn't be using Vanguard if you are referring to their multi-asset funds. As it won't meet that objective.  If you are using their single sector funds and building your own portfolio, then the amount you allocate to any country/region is up to you.

20-25% is hardly not meeting the objective of a small UK equity allocation, and the op hasn't given their reasons so we can't comment on that.
And it does save a lot of admin and rebalance automatically.

But if OP is making a point of specifying a desire to underweight UK stocks, then choosing a product that overweights them significantly is unlikely to be appropriate....

They said small if any.
Depending on the amount, HSBC global strategy dynamic held on iWeb may be more appropriate/cheaper. But no numbers or reasons for minimising the UK % have been given.

eskbanker

Another_Saver said:

eskbanker said:

Another_Saver said:

dunstonh said:

Only wish a small if any uk stocks

Which probably means you shouldn't be using Vanguard if you are referring to their multi-asset funds. As it won't meet that objective.  If you are using their single sector funds and building your own portfolio, then the amount you allocate to any country/region is up to you.

20-25% is hardly not meeting the objective of a small UK equity allocation, and the op hasn't given their reasons so we can't comment on that.
And it does save a lot of admin and rebalance automatically.

But if OP is making a point of specifying a desire to underweight UK stocks, then choosing a product that overweights them significantly is unlikely to be appropriate....

They said small if any.
Depending on the amount, HSBC global strategy dynamic held on iWeb may be more appropriate/cheaper. But no numbers or reasons for minimising the UK % have been given.

Indeed, but while OP hasn't felt the need to justify their position, that shouldn't in itself be seen as a rationale to ignore it and assume that we know better, although I agree with Linton's response that it's odd to start with platform choice ahead of investment selection!