Stocks & Shares ISAs - Seriously Worried about Losses

Thrugelmir

DoneWorking said:

talexuser said:

I've been investing for well over 30 years. My personal high was last November, now I am 9% down in the ISA and 10% down in the non ISA funds. That is nothing. If you don't need the money hang on for a recovery, it may be less than a year, it could be a year or two. Selling at a loss now will put your money in cash losing a further 6 or 8 % a year in inflation for the near future.

The only advice I would give is read up on investments because there is a good chance you could be in better funds than banks or Hargreaves which could give a better return for the same or better risk for lower costs.

Can someone recommend a good book on investments

I have heard this is good

Smarter Investing 
By Tim Hale

Written in 2013

I'd recommend 

Harriman's New Book of Investing Rules: The Do's and Don'ts of the World's Best Investors

Easily digestable and will open your eyes to a whole range of views.  From which you can start to research further and ultimately formulate your own style. 

ranciduk

tebbins said:

ranciduk said:

I was new to investing last year and my vanguard 60 was doing fine

Until Putin started a war

then I bailed - took it all out 

im aware of the fluctuations in the stock market etc and it’s a long game

but WAR? Nope, it could go on for years and I’m not sitting back watching my hard earned erode week after week

Since WWII the world has enjoyed the longest relative peace in human history. Through WWII both the FT30 and S&P index rose. Why haven't you reacted the same way to Yemen, the Philippines, Colombia, ISIS, the Arab Spring, the Turkish-Kurdish civil war, the Sri Lankan civil war, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia's invasion of Georgia, the neverending Pakistan/India border and Kashmir conflict, China expanding into the South China Sea/Africa...
Name a single calendar year when there were no wars on.

As I stated - I only started last year

masonic

ranciduk said:

I was new to investing last year and my vanguard 60 was doing fine

Until Putin started a war

then I bailed - took it all out 

im aware of the fluctuations in the stock market etc and it’s a long game

but WAR? Nope, it could go on for years and I’m not sitting back watching my hard earned erode week after week

What are you doing that will prevent your "hard earned" erode week after week?

LHW99

The other way of looking at a drop in the markets is - can I buy a fund I want at "sale" price?

Thrugelmir

LHW99 said:

The other way of looking at a drop in the markets is - can I buy a fund I want at "sale" price?

Buying the DIp may have worked well as a strategy in a bull market. In a bear market very easy to slice the tops of your fingers off when attempting to catch falling knives. 

ChilliBob

There could be merit in switching your funds..

1. Managed funds tend to have higher costs
2. Most managed funds tend to be beaten by passive alternatives in the long run.

It depends on the fund you are in. Yes, you'd be selling on a loss but if you buy something similar, which has also had a loss recently, not difficult at the moment, you may just be switching to something lower cost and a bit more likely to do well in the long run

DireEmblem

morriJ said:

the reason for the panic is quite simply world events that have happened

Dont do anything too hasty.  Apart from the 8% loss, what drew you to the two products, and has anything changed about them aside from short term performance?  Similarly if you dont need easy/quick access to your funds, then as you will see in general a lot of markets are down.  Have a look back at how the markets reacted with previous global 'crisis' as a good example that time in market, not timing the market is generally key.

End of day no-one has a crystal ball.

ChainsawCharlie

ChilliBob said:

There could be merit in switching your funds..

1. Managed funds tend to have higher costs
2. Most managed funds tend to be beaten by passive alternatives in the long run.

It depends on the fund you are in. Yes, you'd be selling on a loss but if you buy something similar, which has also had a loss recently, not difficult at the moment, you may just be switching to something lower cost and a bit more likely to do well in the long run

EXACTLY :-)

Albermarle

DoneWorking said:

eskbanker said:

dunstonh said:

Can we assume that you looked at the loss potential of your chosen funds before you invested?

That was probably a rhetorical question, but where would you recommend private investors access such data, in reasonably quantified form?

Also is information always available to ensure investors know whether they are buying at the top or the bottom of the market

Or is this only available in retrospect

If we could have this info in advance, then none of us would be sat here on an internet forum . We would be on the sundeck of our Billion Pound yacht(s) in the Bahamas.

About three or four years ago all the talk was that the market had grown unsustainably , especially in the US. Many people withdrew funds thinking the US market was at a peak ( including me ...) Since then the S&P 500 grew over 70% , although it has dropped back about 12% this year.

CheekyMikey

ranciduk said:

tebbins said:

ranciduk said:

I was new to investing last year and my vanguard 60 was doing fine

Until Putin started a war

then I bailed - took it all out 

im aware of the fluctuations in the stock market etc and it’s a long game

but WAR? Nope, it could go on for years and I’m not sitting back watching my hard earned erode week after week

Since WWII the world has enjoyed the longest relative peace in human history. Through WWII both the FT30 and S&P index rose. Why haven't you reacted the same way to Yemen, the Philippines, Colombia, ISIS, the Arab Spring, the Turkish-Kurdish civil war, the Sri Lankan civil war, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia's invasion of Georgia, the neverending Pakistan/India border and Kashmir conflict, China expanding into the South China Sea/Africa...
Name a single calendar year when there were no wars on.

As I stated - I only started last year

That was unfortunate timing…