Best tracker funds for Isa

Guildfordmover

I Have a Stocks and shares is a through Halifax and looking for thoughts on potential passive or active funds (accumulation). Looking for a Few funds with UK and Global focus. My active funds haven’t been brilliant over the last few years so looking for long term growth. Any tips would be excellent. 

ColdIron

That's a very small question for a very big subject. We know nothing about you circumstances or objectives (beyond 'growth') so it's impossible to say

Your title says you want trackers but the body of you post says 'passive or active funds'. Which is it? They can't be both

Adding more detail would help people help you

Albermarle

 Any tips would be excellent. 
One tip would be to spend some time scrolling through the forum, reading various threads about investments etc.
Another one would be to have a look at this site.Monevator - Make more money, invest profitably, retire early
Plus as above supply a bit more detail .

bostonerimus

Just buy one of the many multi-asset funds made up of several index funds with an asset mix appropriate to your circumstances. An example is the Vanguard LifeStrategy (VLS) range, but HSBC, iShares etc all have them. 

ChilliBob

Passive, global focus, super cheap? Fidelity Index World P Acc.

Without knowing any more that's my recommendation  

JohnWinder

Here's a good account on a podcast, 40 min. Or just scan the transcript looking for what you want, and it's sensible stuff.

https://www.bogleheads.org/blog/2022/05/06/bogleheads-live-episode-03-picking-index-funds/

EdSwippet

JohnWinder said:

Here's a good account on a podcast, 40 min. Or just scan the transcript looking for what you want, and it's sensible stuff.

https://www.bogleheads.org/blog/2022/05/06/bogleheads-live-episode-03-picking-index-funds/

... although with the proviso that none of the specific funds or ETFs mentioned will actually be available to the average UK retail investor. Everything mentioned is US domiciled, and UK/EU PRIIPs regulations put these items effectively out of reach. Also, the tax motivations for US fund investors differ from those of UK investors.

Probably not a productive use of 40 minutes then (or less, if scanning the transcript). Much better to stick to UK based resources, such as Monevator.

Band7

Link to Monevator: https://monevator.com/

JohnWinder

although with the proviso that none of the specific funds or ETFs mentioned will actually be available to the average UK retail investor.

Good point, but one might expect readers to get the most from some information if they're given an understanding of how the world works, rather than simply accepting a specific recommendation. I think Ferri gives you the former, and Motevator gives it nicely set out because it's a written piece, not a conversation on a podcast. Here are useful, disjointed extracts I got from that podcast to indicate I think it has some value in UK (please yourself whether it's 40 minutes worth):

‘I just named – I don’t know – five or six different (the total stock market index funds), what sounded like all the same fund. But, they’re not. Every one of them is different. Why are they different? They’re different because the underlying index for each one of those things, each one of the funds that I announced, is different.’

‘the Fidelity Total Stock Market Index only has about 2,672 stocks, which is about 1,400 fewer stocks than their other total stock market index file. So which one is the total stock market?’

‘I want the most complete total stock market index fund that I can find, the one that has the most stocks in it. ‘

‘One can understand the underlying indices first. Then, find those funds (if they’re available) that follow the index that is the broadest. The next step is availability: what’s out there? ‘
‘What funds or ETFs are available that follow that index? And then who is the fund sponsor? Is it a big company, like a Fidelity, or a Vanguard or a Schwab? I’d rather have a big company name so that I have billions of dollars in the fund. That ensures liquidity. ‘
‘What’s the underlying fee of the fund? ‘
‘And then whether it’s a fund or it’s an ETF is important as well.’
‘Liquidity is an essential consideration in selecting a fund. You could pay a bigger bid-ask spread if you’re not cautious about that. That is a fee when investing. ‘
‘So if you’re going to look at these things from a performance standpoint and say, “well, I’m going to pick my total stock market index fund based on performance,” …….Understanding how the underlying indexes work and what’s in them will tell you a lot.’
‘There was a formula for picking stocks, then another formula for weighting stocks, and then another formula for rebalancing and reconstitution of the index that he was calling an index. But, it was not an index.’
‘Once you decide to do some factor investing, how do you go about selecting funds? I think a multifactor approach works best……..there’s price-to-earnings, price-to-cash flow, price-to-revenue, return on equity, enterprise value. Then there are multifactor ways of figuring out how to do value.’
‘Rather, such funds own the entire market, as defined by their index. (That’s why they’re called index trackers.)

And from Monevator:

‘If you want to hold global equities, you simply buy a global tracker fund that follows an appropriate index. For example the FTSE All-World index, which represents the global stock market.’
‘Expenses as measured by Total Expense Ratio (TER) or Ongoing Charge Figures (OCF) – Lower is better.
Number of holdings – Higher is better. More securities equals more diversity and less chance that you’re taking unrewarded risk.
Average market cap – If you want exposure to small caps then obviously a fund that holds smaller sized companies is better.’
‘To increase exposure to the value factor, compare your trackers on the key ratios:
Price/earnings
Price/book
Price/sales
Price/cash flow
‘ A low-trading fund racks up fewer dealing expenses.’
‘Bid-offer spread – ‘
‘Tracking error ‘
‘Performance – Sure, higher is better but asset classes rise and fall like empires. Today’s sick man could well be tomorrow’s dominant power.
Look for the annualised return in the Total Returns section of a product’s Morningstar profile and pay no heed to less than five years worth of data.
Sharpe ratio – Higher is better. The Sharpe ratio is a risk-adjusted measure of investing performance. It enables you to compare whether the risk taken is worth the return. A ratio of 1 is good, 2 is very good and 3 is excellent.

All good points.

JohnWinder

Here's another checklist of how to identify a good tracker:

https://www.evidenceinvestor.com/what-to-look-for-in-an-index/

And while you're there you've come across another good website for investing guidance.

george4064

What’s wrong with the multiple responses from your previous thread asking the exact same question?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377553/investment-trackers/p1