Aviva Pensions - Choice of Available Funds

mither_2

Albermarle said:

Here is an article about Passive Investing that could be of interest .
Passive investing Archives - Monevator

Regarding active funds , just be aware there are thousands of them so difficult to make a generalised comment.

Thanks - there does seem to plenty of useful info there. I'll have a read.   

cfw1994

dunstonh said:

Well, opinions are indeed like a**holes - everyone has one!
Mine is that you'd be mad to bet against the might of the FAANG stocks. 

Possibly.  However, people were saying the same about the mighty tech companies just over 20 years ago before they went on to fall 90%.   Many of those mighty tech companies of the day are minnows or no longer exist now.

Tech companies can be destructive which is great for them when it pays off but they are also at high risk of a competitor doing it to them.    They are also at risk of fashion changes.     

Have you been steering your clients away from those behemoths?

They remain in the vanguard of technology.  AI/ML/DL - all areas that will bring massive change to our lives in the next 20 years, & that itself will drive growth.
Sure, there will be startups that will develop new cool stuff….& if you can pick and invest in those at the right time: great!   

…..but as the OP put it, there is a VERY high chance those behemoths will suck them up: have you seen how much cash they have?!

Yes, there will be bumps along the way: I mentioned elsewhere how the place I worked at went from 150 to 6 inside a year around 2000….maybe I was at one of those you are referring to!
That said….6 months before it spiralled up to 150, it was around 17…. a year later, back above 20.    Now?  A multi $Bn heavyweight.    Not everyone is Lehman Bros!

Are they over-valued?  By normal metrics, I would say so….but the world today is not the world of 1990….I feel sure one chirpy poster will be along to point out how dangerous that suggestion is - you know who you are - but I would suggest it is dangerous to ignore what is happening….

mither_2

cfw1994 said:

dunstonh said:

Well, opinions are indeed like a**holes - everyone has one!
Mine is that you'd be mad to bet against the might of the FAANG stocks. 

Possibly.  However, people were saying the same about the mighty tech companies just over 20 years ago before they went on to fall 90%.   Many of those mighty tech companies of the day are minnows or no longer exist now.

Tech companies can be destructive which is great for them when it pays off but they are also at high risk of a competitor doing it to them.    They are also at risk of fashion changes.     

Have you been steering your clients away from those behemoths?

They remain in the vanguard of technology.  AI/ML/DL - all areas that will bring massive change to our lives in the next 20 years, & that itself will drive growth.
Sure, there will be startups that will develop new cool stuff….& if you can pick and invest in those at the right time: great!   

…..but as the OP put it, there is a VERY high chance those behemoths will suck them up: have you seen how much cash they have?!

Yes, there will be bumps along the way: I mentioned elsewhere how the place I worked at went from 150 to 6 inside a year around 2000….maybe I was at one of those you are referring to!
That said….6 months before it spiralled up to 150, it was around 17…. a year later, back above 20.    Now?  A multi $Bn heavyweight.    Not everyone is Lehman Bros!

Are they over-valued?  By normal metrics, I would say so….but the world today is not the world of 1990….I feel sure one chirpy poster will be along to point out how dangerous that suggestion is - you know who you are - but I would suggest it is dangerous to ignore what is happening….

From my research so far these companies are in so many funds that it could be quiet difficult to specifically exclude them. My view is to put my pension into some different funds. This will mean that I have some exposure to these companies but in smaller amounts. I would assume that they still have room to grow further via acquisitions but that their growth will slow vs that of the last 5 + years.   

dunstonh

Have you been steering your clients away from those behemoths?

I don't make recommendations on shares like most IFAs.   However, my US equity satellite fund is heavier in US tech than the US core fund.   

Not everyone is Lehman Bros!

You mean a major international company that everyone thought was too big to fail