My proposed portfolio, or keep it simpler?

TelescopicWombat

I've drawn-up what I consider a fairly diversified portfolio for my £70k plus investment.

Is it diversified enough though, or too elaborate?

I know everyone will have a different opinion.

45 %   Vanguard S&P500 ETF (VUSA)
  9 %   Scottish Mortgage IT (SMT)
  9 %   Chrysalis PE (CHRY)
  9 %   BlackRock Smaller Companies IT (BRSC)
  9 %   Shin Nippon IT (BGS)
  9 %   Pacific Horizon IT (PHI)
  5 %   iShares Electric Vehicle & Driver Tech ETF (ECAR)
  5 %   WisdomTree Commodity ETF (WCOB)

Or keep it more simpler:

90 %   Lyxor Core MSCI World ETF (LCWL)
  5 %   iShares Electric Vehicle & Driver Tech ETF (ECAR)
  5 %   WisdomTree Commodity ETF (WCOB)

SMT, ECAR + WCOB are ETF's I'd just like to add into the mix. WCOB not likely to be a long-term holding. I just think commodities have a bit more to give in terms of performance over the next few months.

LCWL does not hold any EM's (well, hardly any), but I could always chop the WCOB ETF in at some point for a China/EM ETF.

The top portfolio will have dividends to re-invest, whereas the bottom portfolio has all accumulations and would be a lot more self-sufficient, but where would the fun be in that?

csgohan4

your very brave to invest 45% in USA.

Have you considered HMWO, VWRA/ vwrl as alternatives as your got to global tracker?

No right or wrong to be honest, depends on your own risk and what your strategy

barnstar2077

csgohan4 said:

your very brave to invest 45% in USA.

Have you considered HMWO, VWRA/ vwrl as alternatives as your got to global tracker?

No right or wrong to be honest, depends on your own risk and what your strategy

45% puts it about the same or below a global tracker doesn't it?  I suppose it would depend on the investors age and how long until they need the money.

Nebulous2

We go round this regularly. Where is the money now? 

I did the same several months ago. New money, from a house sale. I've never had a decent sum invested before. 4 maxed ISAs, two for me and two for my wife, one each at the end of the financial year the other at the beginning. I split up the first two 50% in a global index tracker with the other 50% split into different funds. Part of the thinking was to reduce weighting in the US of A.  I put £4k in a Japanese fund.  By the time I came to put the money in the second ISA I was fed up trying to pick funds and all £40k went into index trackers.

The evidence so far is that the wise heads on here who asked me what I knew that the market didn't were right. None of the 6 funds I picked has beaten the index. The Japanese fund is the only one we have which is losing money. Early days of course, but so far the sceptical views I had here and the passive low cost approach is winning. 

Albermarle

barnstar2077 said:

csgohan4 said:

your very brave to invest 45% in USA.

Have you considered HMWO, VWRA/ vwrl as alternatives as your got to global tracker?

No right or wrong to be honest, depends on your own risk and what your strategy

45% puts it about the same or below a global tracker doesn't it?  I suppose it would depend on the investors age and how long until they need the money.

Yes you are right that a typical global tracker is >50% USA , some at 60%.

I presume csgohan4's comment is a reflection of their opinion on the outlook for the US market.

TelescopicWombat

csgohan4 said:

your very brave to invest 45% in USA.

Have you considered HMWO, VWRA/ vwrl as alternatives as your got to global tracker?

No right or wrong to be honest, depends on your own risk and what your strategy

If you invest in HMWO, VWRA  etc you are investing in the same companies as the S&P 500. The USA dominates the global trackers in terms of the top holdings. The Vanguard S&P500 is just a bit more concentrated, but it trumps the trackers' ongoing costs of just 0.07%, compared to HMWO at 0.15 & VWRA at 0.22. Over a decade, that adds up to a pretty penny!

TelescopicWombat

Nebulous2 said:

We go round this regularly. Where is the money now? 

I did the same several months ago. New money, from a house sale. I've never had a decent sum invested before. 4 maxed ISAs, two for me and two for my wife, one each at the end of the financial year the other at the beginning. I split up the first two 50% in a global index tracker with the other 50% split into different funds. Part of the thinking was to reduce weighting in the US of A.  I put £4k in a Japanese fund.  By the time I came to put the money in the second ISA I was fed up trying to pick funds and all £40k went into index trackers.

The evidence so far is that the wise heads on here who asked me what I knew that the market didn't were right. None of the 6 funds I picked has beaten the index. The Japanese fund is the only one we have which is losing money. Early days of course, but so far the sceptical views I had here and the passive low cost approach is winning. 

The money's in a cash ISA.

Care to share the 50% split into different funds, including the Japanese fund?

I must admit I've picked a few Baillie Gifford satellite funds, as they could be a safe bet of decent returns.  History has proved that, but history is history, and BG could be the next decade's duds of course.

Thrugelmir

TelescopicWombat said:

Is it diversified enough though, or too elaborate?

I know everyone will have a different opinion.

45 %   Vanguard S&P500 ETF (VUSA)
  9 %   Scottish Mortgage IT (SMT)
  9 %   Chrysalis PE (CHRY)
  9 %   BlackRock Smaller Companies IT (BRSC)
  9 %   Shin Nippon IT (BGS)
  9 %   Pacific Horizon IT (PHI)
  5 %   iShares Electric Vehicle & Driver Tech ETF (ECAR)
  5 %   WisdomTree Commodity ETF (WCOB)

Too elaborate. Which results in correlation rather than diversification. For example. 

VUSA, SMT and ECAR ~ All hold Tesla
VUSA, SMT ~ Both hold Amazon


High exposure to US $. 

Minimal exposure to Europe and the UK (Other than UK smaller companies) ? 

Nebulous2

TelescopicWombat said:

Nebulous2 said:

We go round this regularly. Where is the money now? 

I did the same several months ago. New money, from a house sale. I've never had a decent sum invested before. 4 maxed ISAs, two for me and two for my wife, one each at the end of the financial year the other at the beginning. I split up the first two 50% in a global index tracker with the other 50% split into different funds. Part of the thinking was to reduce weighting in the US of A.  I put £4k in a Japanese fund.  By the time I came to put the money in the second ISA I was fed up trying to pick funds and all £40k went into index trackers.

The evidence so far is that the wise heads on here who asked me what I knew that the market didn't were right. None of the 6 funds I picked has beaten the index. The Japanese fund is the only one we have which is losing money. Early days of course, but so far the sceptical views I had here and the passive low cost approach is winning. 

The money's in a cash ISA.

Care to share the 50% split into different funds, including the Japanese fund?

I must admit I've picked a few Baillie Gifford satellite funds, as they could be a safe bet of decent returns.  History has proved that, but history is history, and BG could be the next decade's duds of course.

My one had £10k in fidelity index world fund p acc up 9.77% 
£4k in Janus Henderson Japan opportunities down 1.83%
£2k in Lindsell train UK equity up 7.95% 
£2k in Liontrust UK smaller companies up 5.01% 
£2k still in cash, which hasn't been used. 

The other had £10k in in HSBC FTSE all world up 7.84%
£2k in Fidelity special situations W acc up 4.16%
£2k in Janus Henderson European small cos acc up 1.04
£3k in Jupiter UK mid cap ACC  up 0.45% 
£3k still in cash. 

TelescopicWombat

Thrugelmir said:

Too elaborate. Which results in correlation rather than diversification. For example. 

VUSA, SMT and ECAR ~ All hold Tesla
VUSA, SMT ~ Both hold Amazon


High exposure to US $. 

Minimal exposure to Europe and the UK (Other than UK smaller companies) ? 

Yes, duplication in some areas as you have rightly pointed out, but difficult to get 100% diversification.

SMT is an obvious IT most people go for, but really I should swap that for a European fund (with a UK holding within it) if I can find one. That would make more sense I guess?

TelescopicWombat

Nebulous2 said:

My one had £10k in fidelity index world fund p acc up 9.77% 
£4k in Janus Henderson Japan opportunities down 1.83%
£2k in Lindsell train UK equity up 7.95% 
£2k in Liontrust UK smaller companies up 5.01% 
£2k still in cash, which hasn't been used. 

The other had £10k in in HSBC FTSE all world up 7.84%
£2k in Fidelity special situations W acc up 4.16%
£2k in Janus Henderson European small cos acc up 1.04
£3k in Jupiter UK mid cap ACC  up 0.45% 
£3k still in cash. 

It's always interesting to see what people plumb for in the end.

The Janus Henderson Japan is an interesting one - why did you go for that one? The Fidelity Index World has Japan as the second largest country in it's holding at 6.79%, but maybe you knew that?