Advice on Index Funds

me107

 

1. The best global index fund to replicate the whole market, i.e. one which includes developed and emerging markets and contains a range of Small, medium and large companies across the world. Preference for an OEIC rather than an ETF due to the fees associated with ETF (will be pound cost averaging approx. £1,000 into it once a month, so would like to avoid a dealing fee each month)

2. Best emerging market index fund, again with a preference for OEICs over ETFs.

3. Best index fund for a variety of commodities (such as oil, grain, metals, minerals, coffee). Again OEIC over ETF.

4. Best free x-ray tool to establish diversity of existing portfolio.

eskbanker

How are you defining 'best' - lowest cost, highest number of holdings, lowest tracking error, etc?

Which indices are you aiming to track?

Dealing fees will be determined by your choice of platform as well as OEIC v ETF....

El_Torro

If you want to have exposure to small and medium companies then I suggest getting a fund dedicated to this, which doesn’t include large companies. I use abrdn global smaller companies, which has served me well over the years. It’s a managed fund, not a tracker. Arguably smaller companies funds work better this way. 

Albermarle

The best global index fund to replicate the whole market, i.e. one which includes developed and emerging markets and contains a range of Small, medium and large companies across the world

By its nature a global equity index tracker, will be made up of large companies.

Some will be massive like Apple or Google or Exxon, but all will be pretty large.

I have a mid cap index tracker, but even the companies in this are not really what I would call medium sized.

barnstar2077

me107 said:

 

1. The best global index fund to replicate the whole market, i.e. one which includes developed and emerging markets and contains a range of Small, medium and large companies across the world. Preference for an OEIC rather than an ETF due to the fees associated with ETF (will be pound cost averaging approx. £1,000 into it once a month, so would like to avoid a dealing fee each month)

2. Best emerging market index fund, again with a preference for OEICs over ETFs.

3. Best index fund for a variety of commodities (such as oil, grain, metals, minerals, coffee). Again OEIC over ETF.

4. Best free x-ray tool to establish diversity of existing portfolio.

I'm not sure if it meets all of your criteria, but I use Vanguard's FTSE Global All Cap Index fund (accumulation.)

I am sure there are many other similar funds that maybe slightly cheaper, but I am happy with it's weightings and I use Vanguard's platform for my ISA and SIPP as I am happy to use only their funds (It stops me from tinkering, which I used to do a lot before I switched over to Vanguard.) 

xylophone

https://monevator.com/low-cost-index-trackers/

https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

may be worth a read.

me107

eskbanker said:

How are you defining 'best' - lowest cost, highest number of holdings, lowest tracking error, etc?

Which indices are you aiming to track?

Dealing fees will be determined by your choice of platform as well as OEIC v ETF....

I guess i mean the best for replicating the global market, e.g. the percentage of US stocks reflecting the size of the US market, the percentage of Russian stocks reflecting the proportion of the Russian share of the market. I haven't expressed that very articulately but hopefully you get the picture. 

Also measuring best by lowest tracking error.

Prism

Vanguard FTSE all cap OEIC includes smaller and micro cap companies and is global.

Fidelity, Vanguard, iShares and L&G all have an OEIC emerging markets tracker at around the same price.

For commodities you will need an ETF. Funds cannot hold commodities directly and use contracts instead. Invesco and iShares are the biggest and have the same charge. CMOP and COMM.

me107

Thanks all.

Any thoughts/suggestions on the X-Ray tool or the commodities tracker?

me107

xylophone said:

https://monevator.com/low-cost-index-trackers/

https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

may be worth a read.

Thanks for this. This is probably a daft question but is there a difference between a low cost index tracker and a global tracker (why the two articles)? I thought they were the same thing.

me107

Prism said:

Vanguard FTSE all cap OEIC includes smaller and micro cap companies and is global.

Fidelity, Vanguard, iShares and L&G all have an OEIC emerging markets tracker at around the same price.

For commodities you will need an ETF. Funds cannot hold commodities directly and use contracts instead. Invesco and iShares are the biggest and have the same charge. CMOP and COMM.

Thanks. Very helpful.