S&S ISA Portfolio help please 10 March at 2:17PM edited 10 March at 2:21PM in Savings & investments 32 replies 2.4K views

Expotter

jimjames said:

Expotter said:

There's no doubt that your timing wasn't great, but what really annoys me is that these are the type of funds sold as low risk, even as 'safer' investments; under 'normal' circumstances perhaps that's the case, but the reality has been that they have returned the worst performance for the past year due mostly to their high bond allocation.

I'm not sure a 6% drop is the "worst performance". You might want to look at Scottish Mortgage trust A 6% drop is still at the low risk level.

You're absolutely right, it is not the worst performance. But I wasn't talking about the OP's specific funds, I was generalising about these type of funds with high % of bond allocation. I guess we can maybe agree that, in general, they haven't delivered good results for the last year and mostly worse than funds with higher equity allocation.

Albermarle

jimjames said:

Expotter said:

There's no doubt that your timing wasn't great, but what really annoys me is that these are the type of funds sold as low risk, even as 'safer' investments; under 'normal' circumstances perhaps that's the case, but the reality has been that they have returned the worst performance for the past year due mostly to their high bond allocation.

I'm not sure a 6% drop is the "worst performance". You might want to look at Scottish Mortgage trust A 6% drop is still at the low risk level.

Looking again at the OP, I am surprised that these funds have not dropped more than indicated.
The OP said they were 'Down since January 2022'
If you look at the data , the funds mentioned are down significantly more that the OP said from January 1st 2022 ( >5% more) so if they invested late in January they maybe partly dodged a bullet, as values of shares and bonds fell significantly during January.

Neversurrender

Albermarle said:

jimjames said:

Expotter said:

There's no doubt that your timing wasn't great, but what really annoys me is that these are the type of funds sold as low risk, even as 'safer' investments; under 'normal' circumstances perhaps that's the case, but the reality has been that they have returned the worst performance for the past year due mostly to their high bond allocation.

I'm not sure a 6% drop is the "worst performance". You might want to look at Scottish Mortgage trust A 6% drop is still at the low risk level.

Looking again at the OP, I am surprised that these funds have not dropped more than indicated.
The OP said they were 'Down since January 2022'
If you look at the data , the funds mentioned are down significantly more that the OP said from January 1st 2022 ( >5% more) so if they invested late in January they maybe partly dodged a bullet, as values of shares and bonds fell significantly during January.

Tbh I think we may have topped each fund up a bit since original opening investment

Linton

Albermarle said:

jimjames said:

Expotter said:

There's no doubt that your timing wasn't great, but what really annoys me is that these are the type of funds sold as low risk, even as 'safer' investments; under 'normal' circumstances perhaps that's the case, but the reality has been that they have returned the worst performance for the past year due mostly to their high bond allocation.

I'm not sure a 6% drop is the "worst performance". You might want to look at Scottish Mortgage trust A 6% drop is still at the low risk level.

Looking again at the OP, I am surprised that these funds have not dropped more than indicated.
The OP said they were 'Down since January 2022'
If you look at the data , the funds mentioned are down significantly more that the OP said from January 1st 2022 ( >5% more) so if they invested late in January they maybe partly dodged a bullet, as values of shares and bonds fell significantly during January.

It makes quite a difference when in January 2022 the OP first invested.

silvercue

I am in a similar boat.  Started a S&S ISA in Dec 21 with Moneyfarm and it has been downhill ever since!   They are a bit different as I don't choose funds.  I know markets have been tough, but the fact they charge me every month to lose my money is annoying!

I will use next year's ISA allocation to start a Vanguard S&S ISA and see which performs better before consolidating.

So, basically I am going to carry on with S&S ISA and hope things improve...currently banking fears are not helping me sleep at night though!!!

Luckily most of my investments are in crypto which I always finds makes me more money.  The funny thing is people say Crypto is risky and volatile yet Banks are losing 98% of their value and going out of business..

dunstonh

Expotter said:

jimjames said:

Expotter said:

There's no doubt that your timing wasn't great, but what really annoys me is that these are the type of funds sold as low risk, even as 'safer' investments; under 'normal' circumstances perhaps that's the case, but the reality has been that they have returned the worst performance for the past year due mostly to their high bond allocation.

I'm not sure a 6% drop is the "worst performance". You might want to look at Scottish Mortgage trust A 6% drop is still at the low risk level.

You're absolutely right, it is not the worst performance. But I wasn't talking about the OP's specific funds, I was generalising about these type of funds with high % of bond allocation. I guess we can maybe agree that, in general, they haven't delivered good results for the last year and mostly worse than funds with higher equity allocation.

Most funds will perform within their normal expectation around 95% of the time.   5% of the time they will be outside of their norm (upwards or downwards).  2022 suffered two events that would fall within that 5%.      Or putting that another way, 95 out of 100 years would see normal returns but 5 would not.   The same applies to equities.   Sooner or later, there will be a 90% drop on equities.   It has happened before.  It will happen again.    

Luckily most of my investments are in crypto which I always finds makes me more money.  

Except when they don't or will not.  Anything, where the price goes up or down, will go through a period when the price balloons and the price crashes.

DiamondLil

If you're young enough @Neversurrender, stick with the mantra "investment is for the long term". I have, what is for me, a large holding in Scottish Mortgage and I am still in profit on it.

silvercue

Luckily most of my investments are in crypto which I always finds makes me more money.  

Except when they don't or will not.  Anything, where the price goes up or down, will go through a period when the price balloons and the price crashes.

Yup, for sure.   Otherwise we would all be rich...though that can't work.  But the best performing asset in the last 10 years....and in my experience it is so much easier and more reliable way to make money on investments in so many ways.  

But we don't want to veer off topic for too long.  

Back to OP.   I guess a decision for you - is do you think this year and the next will improve?  If not there are safer options.

Albermarle

Back to OP.   I guess a decision for you - is do you think this year and the next will improve?  If not there are safer options.

The OP, me or you have no idea what the next year or two will bring as we can not see into the future, and any opinion on what the future might hold is usually proved wrong.

So deciding whether to invest or not, should not be based on some vague feeling about how things might go in future.

It should be about long term goals.

silvercue

Albermarle said:

Back to OP.   I guess a decision for you - is do you think this year and the next will improve?  If not there are safer options.

The OP, me or you have no idea what the next year or two will bring as we can not see into the future, and any opinion on what the future might hold is usually proved wrong.

So deciding whether to invest or not, should not be based on some vague feeling about how things might go in future.

It should be about long term goals.

Yes, it should be about goals but also about appetite for risk.  So, personal standpoint should impact that.  If you want a lower risk with a likley lower potential reward, because of how things have gone recently, you can use a CASH ISA or something rather than a S&S ISA.     At no point did I say don't invest, I suggested there are safer options that can also be considered.