Baillie Gifford American B Acc - What To Do?

older_and_no_wiser

GSP said:

I’ve been meaning to look at the few investments that have been discarded in the past because of poorer performance, then to see how they have done recently.

Oh yes. I would also be really interested to see what you find from that!

older_and_no_wiser

I also invest with BG American. Again it's a small percentage of my portfolio. It was larger when I first invested just over a year ago but I couldn't take the volatility and sold a fair bit of it when it got back into positive numbers for me. 

It's down around 40% for me but I can leave it several years or more as I don't need access to the money. The belief is the same for me in that I believe the fund managers can find some value but these things will work in cycles over several year periods. It's a bumpy ride but interesting to watch it because it's only a small...ish amount.

aroominyork

Wow! Easy to read - harder to stomach.

GazzaBloom

csgohan4 said:

writing was on the wall for sometime for the US markets. Glad I dumped at some profit last year, same with China as well

Are you expecting terminal decline with no recovery?

GazzaBloom

I held BG American through 2020 into summer 2021 and sold it before the major drop this year. Some friends of mine still hold it in their ISA and if I did, I would ride it out. Have a look at the 20 year history on Citywire and while it's looking in the rear view mirror and no indication of the future it may put the current drop in perspective

https://citywire.com/funds-insider/fund/baillie-gifford-american-fund/c37074

older_and_no_wiser

The risks of a concentrated managed fund. Large percentage holding in Netflix as an example shows how vulnerable this can be.
BG also invested early in Tesla and the fund skyrocketed as a result mainly from that. 
Can they do the same in future - and find great value companies at the right time?

I made the newbie mistake of getting seduced by past performance numbers and investing based on that. After a lot of further learning (mainly on here!), I realised this wasn't the best approach. 

I will hang on to what I have left in that fund and hope the next few years see an improvement.

dunstonh

aroominyork said:

Wow! Easy to read - harder to stomach.

It isn't that bad.  
Here is from 2020:

The things that pushed it up have unwound.

JohnWinder

Good lesson: the impact of starting and finishing dates must be considered when appraising investment performance.

GSP

dunstonh said:

aroominyork said:

Wow! Easy to read - harder to stomach.

It isn't that bad.  
Here is from 2020:

The things that pushed it up have unwound.

Seeing these types of investments (equities) can have the same cyclical themes, it does make you wonder when you see growth like this should you take your profit when it reaches a certain number, whatever that is for people?

As can be seen, the good times aren’t going to last forever!

masonic

GSP said:

dunstonh said:

aroominyork said:

Wow! Easy to read - harder to stomach.

It isn't that bad.  
Here is from 2020:

The things that pushed it up have unwound.

Seeing these types of investments (equities) can have the same cyclical themes, it does make you wonder when you see growth like this should you take your profit when it reaches a certain number, whatever that is for people?

As can be seen, the good times aren’t going to last forever!

The good times never last for ever, but it is impossible to predict when they will start or end. Every positive day could be the last for a while, likewise for each negative day. Investing throughout the ups and downs (in accordance with your risk tolerance) is a fairly reliable way to make a positive return over the long term. Investing regularly improves those odds.

If you rebalance your holdings when they move considerably out of line from your original allocations, then that will itself take care of such extreme moves. Would have involved selling up to 50% of the BG fund near its peak, meaning you'd now be buying some more units near your original price using those profits.