S&P 500

Spies

Which platform should I use to start my investment journey? Are all platforms pretty much the same? Should I split funds into another index? 

george4064

Have a thorough read here and then ask any questions you may have.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/investment-beginners/

Spies

Is the financial crisis the biggest loss the S&P had?

I'm thinking of putting my 12 month bond in when it matures £3600+7% then adding £300 a month. 

ColdIron

You should be deciding what to invest in first and in what form (OEICs, Investment Trusts, ETFs etc), You should also decide what tax wrapper to use (ISA, SIPP etc). Only then will you be in a position to decide where to invest. Doing it the wrong way around could leave you in a position where what you want is not available or has high charges

BTW putting all you money into a single index of one geography would be a pretty poor choice especially at the 'start my investment journey' although you could learn a valuable but expensive lesson

EthicsGradient

Spies said:

Is the financial crisis the biggest loss the S&P had?

I'm thinking of putting my 12 month bond in when it matures £3600+7% then adding £300 a month. 

Over a short period of time (if you mean the financial crisis of 2008), yes, it probably was, since 1950 anyway. Here's a link to a logarithmic graph:

2560px-S&P_500_Index_Logarithmic_Chart_through_Jan_2021.svg.png (2560×1978) (wikimedia.org)

so the relative size of losses (eg "20%") are given by the height of the drop. The fall around 1974 was almost as big; the biggest fall of all was from the peak around 2000 to the trough around 2008. When inflation is taken into account (the black/red lines nearer the bottom), the drop from about 1968 to 1982 (about 70 to 25) was almost as big (about 210 to 70 for 2000 to 2008).

dunstonh

Is the financial crisis the biggest loss the S&P had?

Basically, if you are investing only in the S&P500 and as a Sterling based investor, you should expect periodic 50% losses with decade long recovery periods after they happen.

Single country investing is not good quality investing.  Especially when you are not based in the currency of the country you choose to invest in.

Spies

What other indexes would be good as a safety to counter any losses against the S&P if and when they happen? 

MX5huggy

A global index is the obvious answer it will still be about 65% North America so probably 50% S&P 500. 

dunstonh

What other indexes would be good as a safety to counter any losses against the S&P if and when they happen? 

Not if but when

Global tracker is the logical  choice for 100% equities for a UK investor.

Albermarle

Spies said:

What other indexes would be good as a safety to counter any losses against the S&P if and when they happen? 

If you invested 100% equity, then all markets will tend to fall at the same time, but by different amounts.
Even a global tracker can fall a lot in a general market slump.

If you are worried about big losses in the short/medium term you should not be 100% equities, but be invested in a multi asset fund. Long term ( > 10 years) you will probably sacrifice some growth but it will be a less rocky ride.

Rattusnorvegicus

hmm wierd i compared VWRL world tracker vs QQQ since 2009 in tradingview...

VWRL up 218.89%

QQQ up 1389.15%

Its not even close...Of course i'll consider any other gobal tracker to compare...

But i'm happy with dumping into the trip Qs , and broadly sell at break of the 9mo MA, and re-buy at the 55mo MA,and then dump every penny i can scrape together in at that time.

The question i have backtesting a portfolio is do i want a 200% increase or a 1300% increase in pot size...

So i'll stick with "bad investing". Its odd though i'm happy day trading s&p 500 e-minis with a good risk management plan ,and i dont seem to have a problem.

Broadly i'd say for beginners buy a global tracker for a base, but i'd pick a well performing market like the s&p 500 especially if you have a couple of decades to burn...

I'd also go with highly traded ETFs for liquidity, i had no problem dumping all mine at the start of covid, and waiting for the crash to re-buy. Theres no point buying highly illiquid stuff if you cant get rid speedily.

It doesnt really matter how much markets fall...its just an opportunity to double down and buy more.

The goal isnt how it performs week to week... it just matters what size the pot is when you come to draw on it, and how good any dividends are i.e. i like 100% YOY dividend return on my investment after a couple of decades.

Lots of reading, learning some risk management, and learning how to read charts should be an essential part of anyones start into the field.

Remember the value of investments can go down as well as down.

My MPT beta is 1.34 and my alpha is 3 ....so i'm not a great investor, but i do have a reasonable 5 year avg yearly rate of return currently running at 14%+

You'll get out more financially..usually, the more time you put in learning. Also following world news, and events help alot in informing trends on which to build hypothesis.