Investment Returns 2020

Cus

20% time weighted gain, 65- 70% equity share average.  15% exposure to UK.

Albermarle

Secret2ndAccount said:

The Vanguard LifeStrategy range

I think I would be a bit disappointed if I was in their 100% equity product. It participated fully (as you would expect) in the crash in March, but at year end is no better than the lower risk versions, with only +8% on the year. Perhaps too much focus on UK equities.

The bonds in the lower % equity versions did quite well this year , so that will have also contributed to the evening out of the performance.

Prism

Secret2ndAccount said:

Thrugelmir said:

Do these figures include dividends reinvested?

These are indices. The indices adjust themselves to account for the value of dividends paid out. So, in effect, yes.

They usually don't include dividends. The FTSE 100 with dividends reinvested was down 11.5% in 2020.

Sea_Shell

Secret2ndAccount said:

The Vanguard LifeStrategy range

I think I would be a bit disappointed if I was in their 100% equity product. It participated fully (as you would expect) in the crash in March, but at year end is no better than the lower risk versions, with only +8% on the year. Perhaps too much focus on UK equities.

Thanks for the that chart, very interesting.

Basically if you sat on your hands and did nothing you'd all be back to the same starting point regardless of fund.

Secret2ndAccount

BuildTheWall said:

When you say UK equities, are they heavy on FTSE 100? 

Stealing some nice charts from Trustnet here: This is VLS 100

So 25% UK when the UK is about 4% of the world's equity. Yes they are overweight UK. But also

They were low in tech, which is how they missed a lot of the gains from being in the US market.

Some would argue that tech has already achieved a lot of its gains, and that Financials / Consumer Discretionary / Health Care are great sectors to be in for the coming year. So VLS equities might do considerably better in the coming year.

That's what some would say. I have no idea.

Secret2ndAccount

Albermarle said:

Secret2ndAccount said:

The Vanguard LifeStrategy range

I think I would be a bit disappointed if I was in their 100% equity product. It participated fully (as you would expect) in the crash in March, but at year end is no better than the lower risk versions, with only +8% on the year. Perhaps too much focus on UK equities.

The bonds in the lower % equity versions did quite well this year , so that will have also contributed to the evening out of the performance.

Agreed. They did a fantastic job picking bonds and a terrible job picking stocks.

Prism

Secret2ndAccount said:

Albermarle said:

Secret2ndAccount said:

The Vanguard LifeStrategy range

I think I would be a bit disappointed if I was in their 100% equity product. It participated fully (as you would expect) in the crash in March, but at year end is no better than the lower risk versions, with only +8% on the year. Perhaps too much focus on UK equities.

The bonds in the lower % equity versions did quite well this year , so that will have also contributed to the evening out of the performance.

Agreed. They did a fantastic job picking bonds and a terrible job picking stocks.

It seems to me they did it purely for marketing reasons. They wanted to sell the funds to people who they believed wanted a UK bias.

NedS

I'm up 9.9% on the year. I was sat mostly in cash at start of year having taken profits in Dec/Jan. When the crash happened I started feeding back in (way too early in the case of RDSB), but not enough, and lost my nerve at the very depths of the crash in late March missing the bottom and was reluctant to pay more when prices started to rise. I did achieve a good overall price (I have a great position in CTY with good capital gains realised and a 5.8% dividend yield giving regular income) but am still sat on too much cash (my bonds proxy). Overall I am pleased (a) I adhered to the first rule of investing and didn't lose capital, and (b) didn't panic and sell. Next time I will hopefully have more confidence in my convictions and go all in when others are in full panic mode. You never quite now how you will react until it happens, hence why it's important to have a plan in advance as to what you will do, and then stick to it.

Johnnyboy11

I managed a paltry 9% before fees...

45% - Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity
10% - Vanguard FTSE Developed World  ex-UK Equity Index
15% - Fundsmith Equity
10% - Lindsell Train Global Equity
20% - Cash

Should have let Mr Terry look after all of it!

Moe_The_Bartender

I'm up around 15% over the year but as CGT and PNL are roughly half my pot and have grown 7% each, that means that the remainder is up by 20%+. I really only need annualised growth of 4% to maintain my status quo so a pleasing result.