Vanguard Life Strategy performance

jicms

I have held Vanguard LS 60% and 80% equity acc ISAs for over two years. They are still down around 1.2% and have never performed well.  Can't seem to find any recent information on them. They were always considered one of the safer options. Any advice on whether I should just cut my losses and move elsewhere. 

El_Torro

I’m not a fan of VLS, mainly because of the high UK weighting in the equities. I do use VLS, but also use HSBC Global Strategy and Fidelity Multi Asset Alllocator to dilute the UK equities. 

If you are happy with VLS’s composition then don’t make changes, if you’re not happy with it then do. I wouldn’t base your decision on the performance of the last 2 years though, especially since you don’t seem to have compared the performance with other similar multi asset funds.

tacpot12

The last two years have been very poor for equities. I would stick with your VLS holdings a bit longer; at least another couple of years. 

Albermarle

jicms said:

I have held Vanguard LS 60% and 80% equity acc ISAs for over two years. They are still down around 1.2% and have never performed well.  Can't seem to find any recent information on them. They were always considered one of the safer options. Any advice on whether I should just cut my losses and move elsewhere. 

Investing is a long term game, two years is not long term .
Not sure where you have been looking for info on them. If you search google you will get loads of direct hits.

Bostonerimus1

The Vanguard Life Strategy series are popular for a reason; they are relatively inexpensive and give you a diverse portfolio of stocks and bonds in a single fund. The last two years have been tough, VLS 60 and 80 have done better than many funds that had more bonds so be thankful you are not down 20%. Stick with them and get back in 10 years time.

ColdIron

Markets go up, markets go down, sometimes they just go sideways. You've had a bit of the last two

Presumably you invested with a long term in mind? Two years is not long enough

daveyjp

I can't understand why anyone would have two VLS accounts which are so similar. 

25_Years_On

daveyjp said:

I can't understand why anyone would have two VLS accounts which are so similar. 

Sometimes new investors are not sure what their risk tolerance really is. I put some into a VLS40 and a VLS60. After a while I switched it all to VLS60. Then new investments went into VLS80. Although I left the VLS60 investment. And when I sold (making no loss) to put some into fixed rate bonds I sold VLS60.

Bostonerimus1

daveyjp said:

I can't understand why anyone would have two VLS accounts which are so similar. 

So you can make VLS50

dunstonh

 They are still down around 1.2% and have never performed well.  

That is not actually correct.  What you mean is that the very short period you have invested, they have not returned what you expected.      They have performed well and in line with expectation.

 They were always considered one of the safer options. 

VLS60 is moderate risk and VLS80 is moderate to adventurous.    Broadly speaking, VLS60 is capable of a 25-30% loss in 12 months whilst VLS80 is capable of a 35-40% loss.

Any advice on whether I should just cut my losses and move elsewhere. 

Investing is for the medium to long term.  An economic cycle is around 15 years.  So, that is the ideal minimum length.  However, over most 5 year periods, you would expect to be in profit.     You have been in just two years and one of those was a negative year.   So, what are you expecting?

Surely you knew there would be negative periods?   The risk warning show it?  The fund data shows it?  (2020 had the third biggest loss in the last 25 years prior to 2022.   2018 was negative.  2015/16 had a fairly large negative. 2008 had the biggest negative in the last 25 years.  2000-2002 was three negative years in a row).

So, you get one negative year and you are only down 1.2% and you are thinking about changing.

As it stands, it is not the funds that are the problem.  Its your knowledge.    So, what you should do is read and learn about investing.

Beddie

jicms said:

I have held Vanguard LS 60% and 80% equity acc ISAs for over two years. They are still down around 1.2% and have never performed well.  Can't seem to find any recent information on them. They were always considered one of the safer options. Any advice on whether I should just cut my losses and move elsewhere. 

The bond part of each fund had a bad 2022, as bonds were affected by rate rises.Share have been a bit flat too over the last 2 years. So it's to be expected. These funds are by definition average, so you might do better or you might not, should you switch. I prefer active funds, so my choices would be different, e.g. BNY Mellon Multi-Asset Balanced, but others will have their own opinions. If you don't like the ups and downs of investing then a cash ISA might be a better choice for you.

Information about your funds:

https://www.trustnet.com/factsheets/o/acdt/vanguard-lifestrategy-80-equity

https://www.trustnet.com/factsheets/O/ACDQ/vanguard-lifestrategy-60-equity-a-shares-acc