Unit trust in which country

sevenhills

When buying shares or unit trusts, the timing is very important. If you bought shares on the FSTE in March 2020 your shares would be performing very well, if you bought in January 20020 quite the opposite.

Shares are still lower than most of 2019 despite the recent increase. So they are at a historically low price, but they probably carry more debt and the outlook is uncertain.

If I was to buy a unit trust that concentrated more on one sector or country that was in a better position, which country would that be?

dunstonh

When buying shares or unit trusts, the timing is very important.

In the long term, it isn't really.

Shares are still lower than most of 2019 despite the recent increase.

Some, not all.

So they are at a historically low price, but they probably carry more debt and the outlook is uncertain.

Some, not all.

If I was to buy a unit trust that concentrated more on one sector or country that was in a better position, which country would that be?

Just as investing only in UK equity would be bad quality investing, then investing in one other country would be bad quality investing as well.

You need to have a better strategy and model or you need to stop trying to be an armchair fund manager and let the fund house get on with it via a multi-asset fund or global equity tracker.

ColdIron

Do you mean the FTSE? You are looking at it from a very short term PoV. In 10 or 20 years time you will struggle to see the Jan/Mar 'blip'

If I was to buy a unit trust that concentrated more on one sector or country that was in a better position, which country would that be?

Most people will be best served by having a well diversified portfolio and not being overly concentrated in any sector or country

JohnWinder

dunstonh said:

When buying shares or unit trusts, the timing is very important.

In the long term, it isn't really.

At first sight, contradictory views; but it's a matter of degree surely, which we could quantify. If the share price wobbles between £95 and £100, and we manage to buy it the last time it ever hits £95 thereafter staying at £100 and pays a 2% dividend forever, then our dividend would be 2.1% rather than 2%. I suppose one pleases oneself as to whether that's a 'very important' difference. But it's academic isn't it, if we don't have a way of ensuring we buy for £95 rather than £100?

sevenhills

ColdIron said:

Do you mean the FTSE? You are looking at it from a very short term PoV. In 10 or 20 years time you will struggle to see the Jan/Mar 'blip'

If I look back at the FTSE all share, I would like to buy in March 03, Jan 09, Feb 16 and Dec 18

eskbanker

sevenhills said:

ColdIron said:

Do you mean the FTSE? You are looking at it from a very short term PoV. In 10 or 20 years time you will struggle to see the Jan/Mar 'blip'

If I look back at the FTSE all share, I would like to buy in March 03, Jan 09, Feb 16 and Dec 18

If it was possible to invest on the basis of hindsight, we'd all be a lot richer!

sevenhills

eskbanker said:

If it was possible to invest on the basis of hindsight, we'd all be a lot richer!

It was a response to Coldron who said that you could not look back. In this country some investors would have bought more shares after the COVID, credit crunch and the referendum crash.

There must be similar crashes in other countries, but they are not big news stories here. Currencies also suffer a similar fate.

eskbanker

sevenhills said:

eskbanker said:

If it was possible to invest on the basis of hindsight, we'd all be a lot richer!

It was a response to Coldron who said that you could not look back. In this country some investors would have bought more shares after the COVID, credit crunch and the referendum crash.

There must be similar crashes in other countries, but they are not big news stories here. Currencies also suffer a similar fate.

Sure, but the fundamental point remains that timing the market would be great if it could be done reliably and successfully, so it's much easier to spot the buying (and selling) opportunities retrospectively.  Difficult enough in your home market but if you believe that it's viable to research all other countries' markets in sufficient detail to spot these in real time, then good luck with that!

sevenhills

eskbanker said:

Sure, but the fundamental point remains that timing the market would be great if it could be done reliably and successfully, so it's much easier to spot the buying (and selling) opportunities retrospectively.  Difficult enough in your home market but if you believe that it's viable to research all other countries' markets in sufficient detail to spot these in real time, then good luck with that!

When buying a unit trust you can choose a European focus, Asia Pacific, Japan, USA or with or without UK.

So if one region has been having a bull market for 3/4 years, you might choose a different country/region?

eskbanker

sevenhills said:

eskbanker said:

Sure, but the fundamental point remains that timing the market would be great if it could be done reliably and successfully, so it's much easier to spot the buying (and selling) opportunities retrospectively.  Difficult enough in your home market but if you believe that it's viable to research all other countries' markets in sufficient detail to spot these in real time, then good luck with that!

When buying a unit trust you can choose a European focus, Asia Pacific, Japan, USA or with or without UK.

So if one region has been having a bull market for 3/4 years, you might choose a different country/region?

You might, but you'd still generally be better using more sensible and realistic portfolio construction processes rather than taking a punt in that way....

bostonerimus

sevenhills said:

When buying shares or unit trusts, the timing is very important. If you bought shares on the FSTE in March 2020 your shares would be performing very well, if you bought in January 20020 quite the opposite.

Shares are still lower than most of 2019 despite the recent increase. So they are at a historically low price, but they probably carry more debt and the outlook is uncertain.

If I was to buy a unit trust that concentrated more on one sector or country that was in a better position, which country would that be?

If you are cost averaging and thinking over the long term then timing of any one purchase becomes a trivial factor. 
The only individual country I would worry about might be the country where I live if I have a domestic bias.