Reviewing My S&Ss Account

Albermarle

JPin said:

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Apologies for the vagueness of my original post, from the replies I have received I have done some research on what I have and I continue to keep this going. 

I am 39 and this is something I setup to give me a good return in future life - hopefully around mid-50s. As I was late to investing I opted for the high risk strategy of 100% equity, however, as the years go on I will hope to dial this down to include bonds, I assume this is possible and if so are there any ramifications to my overall portfolio? 

Normally if you are accumulating funds for later in life, then pension should be your main means of investing, due to the tax relief.
Do you have a pension with your employment? Often contributing more to that is a good option.

JPin

Albermarle said:

JPin said:

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Apologies for the vagueness of my original post, from the replies I have received I have done some research on what I have and I continue to keep this going. 

I am 39 and this is something I setup to give me a good return in future life - hopefully around mid-50s. As I was late to investing I opted for the high risk strategy of 100% equity, however, as the years go on I will hope to dial this down to include bonds, I assume this is possible and if so are there any ramifications to my overall portfolio? 

Normally if you are accumulating funds for later in life, then pension should be your main means of investing, due to the tax relief.
Do you have a pension with your employment? Often contributing more to that is a good option.

A fair point, I do have a company pension, contributing around 9% of my salary and the employer contributes 11.5%. This was something additional I wanted to do to grow my finances, not necessarily for my retirement but to make things more comfortable in the future if that makes sense?

Exodi

As comes up fairly regularly on this forum:

1. VLS100 'Active' Fund vs a global 'Index' Fund (like VWRL or FTSE Global All Cap).
2. Home weighting of VLS - specifically that the UK makes up ~25% of VLS100, but only about ~4% of global market capitalisation. Some are happy with this, some are unaware.

Personally, because of the above I don't see any sense in investing in VLS100 instead of something like VWRL or the FTSE All Cap. It is my belief the fund only exists to complete the VLS20, VLS40, VLS60, VLS80 collection. Others may hold a different view.

jimjames

JPin said:

InvesterJones said:

JPin said:

 I assume this is possible and if so are there any ramifications to my overall portfolio? 

Yes and yes - the ramifications are that you'll have more bonds and fewer equities That means the performance characteristics will change - on average bonds would lower volatility and overall return, making them more suitable for short-medium term timescales, but that's not guaranteed - bonds are a different type of asset and react to different things than equities. Bond funds add another layer of complexity as now it's the price of the bond (it's worth to someone else) that's usually key rather than just the underlying yield. But as you're researching you'll be able to research this in plenty of time

Bonds are a little more stable and better suited to portfolios closer to retirement etc?

Retirement often isn't a fixed date as it might have been in the past when buying an annuity for example. In which case there may not be the same requirement to switch to bonds as you get older as you could still want to have a portfolio that grows. There may be a need to reduce volatility but sufficient accessible cash might have the same effect.

Sg28

JPin said:

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Apologies for the vagueness of my original post, from the replies I have received I have done some research on what I have and I continue to keep this going. 

I am 39 and this is something I setup to give me a good return in future life - hopefully around mid-50s. As I was late to investing I opted for the high risk strategy of 100% equity, however, as the years go on I will hope to dial this down to include bonds, I assume this is possible and if so are there any ramifications to my overall portfolio? 

If your plan for that money is give you a return in your mid 50s then you should be using a SIPP rather than an ISA. 

You can buy the same fund in the SIPP but you will get tax relief on your contributions meaning paying in £200 will give you £250 (assuming basic rate taxpayer) a month to invest. But you wont have access until 57. 

Albermarle

JPin said:

Albermarle said:

JPin said:

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Apologies for the vagueness of my original post, from the replies I have received I have done some research on what I have and I continue to keep this going. 

I am 39 and this is something I setup to give me a good return in future life - hopefully around mid-50s. As I was late to investing I opted for the high risk strategy of 100% equity, however, as the years go on I will hope to dial this down to include bonds, I assume this is possible and if so are there any ramifications to my overall portfolio? 

Normally if you are accumulating funds for later in life, then pension should be your main means of investing, due to the tax relief.
Do you have a pension with your employment? Often contributing more to that is a good option.

A fair point, I do have a company pension, contributing around 9% of my salary and the employer contributes 11.5%. This was something additional I wanted to do to grow my finances, not necessarily for my retirement but to make things more comfortable in the future if that makes sense?

If the 'future' means around 58 years old, or later, then makes sense to use a pension for investing for the tax relief.
In any case you should make sure you know how your workplace pension is invested ( in case you do not already )and look at your personal finances as a whole, and not just each part separately as many people do.
For example it would not normally make sense to be considering a 100% equity fund outside the pension, and something completely different inside the pension.

Eco_Miser

Pension is good for income at 57 or later, but if by mid-50s you mean 54-ish you need an ISA to cover the gap between when you want to start taking an income and when your pension will allow one.

You can of course have both.