How to compare portfolio performance?

kimwp

Is there a relatively easy way to compare the performances of several portfolios?

My colleague at work has put roughly the same amount into his pension as I have, but his has quadrupled and mine has only almost doubled*. He's convinced that it's because he has 25% of his portfolio in AV MyM Blackrock Aq Connect US equity index and that that has been a powerhouse behind his equities performance, and is trying to persuade me to invest in it. I suspect that mine has not done so well due to part of my portfolio being in an ethical fund that has barely held its value and a larger proportion of my contributions being more recent than his.

*Just double checked and got this totally wrong - his has doubled his contributions and mine has gone up by a quarter of my contributions.

dunstonh

My colleague at work has put roughly the same amount into his pension as I have, but his has quadrupled and mine has only almost doubled. 

Its relatively straightforward at the moment and the main differences are likely to be risk.

Bonds have recently gone through their worst period in over 100 years.   Equities have gone through a very strong period, mainly on the back of tech stocks in the US.

Over a 7 year period, equities have broadly doubled.   Bonds are broadly flat. (went up and back down again).

He's convinced that it's because he has 25% of his portfolio in AV MyM Blackrock Aq Connect US equity index and that that has been a powerhouse behind his equities performance, and is trying to persuade me to invest in it.

The thing with past performance is that it is in the past.  From 2012 to 2024, US equities has outperformed global equities (ex US).    From 1999 to 2012, global equities (ex US) outperformed the US.        In 2025, global equities has outperformed the US.

Global (ex US) vs US tend to cycle.   Some believe that Trumps actions will see the cycle return to Global (ex US) being the best.  In 2025, it has but only time will tell.

. I suspect that mine has not done so well due to part of my portfolio being in an ethical fund that has barely held its value and a larger proportion of my contributions being more recent than his.

Historically, ethical funds under perform relative to same risk/asset mix conventional funds.  You put your money where views are when you invest ethically.

kimwp

Thanks @dunstonh

Both portfolios have been 100% equities. 
I agree that past performance does not predict future performance, but I'm trying to understand why (in the past), the portfolios performed differently. I'm not going to use it to make future investing decisions.

dunstonh

kimwp said:

Thanks @dunstonh

Both portfolios have been 100% equities. 
I agree that past performance does not predict future performance, but I'm trying to understand why (in the past), the portfolios performed differently. I'm not going to use it to make future investing decisions.

If both are 100% equities, then it will be down to ethical (which has always lowered returns), and it will be down to lower US equities.  It will also be down to when the contributions were made.   

Tell us what funds you are in. 

Newbie_John

With such big difference, what does "roughly" the same amount mean? £300 and £400? Also, have you both been consistent with payments, have they changed over years equally on both sides?

EthicsGradient

kimwp said:

I suspect that mine has not done so well due to part of my portfolio being in an ethical fund that has barely held its value and a larger proportion of my contributions being more recent than his.

If only 25% of you colleague's pension is in the US fund (perhaps meaning "25% of his contributions go into it" - or do they rebalance to keep it at 25% of the total value?), I don't think it can have been responsible alone for the quadrupling.

"a larger proportion of my contributions being more recent than his" complicates this a lot. Even if you'd chosen identical investments, then, with them gradually growing over the years, you would expect later investment to have grown less.

Trustnet may have figures for the funds; here, for instance is "BlackRock Aquila Life US Equity Index Pn S2" compared with "OMR Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Pn" (chosen just because it's global and "sustainable"): https://www2.trustnet.com/Tools/Charting.aspx?typeCode=FGDST,FP7XG

You can then add other funds to the chart, or alter the period for the chart, to get an idea of when the differences in performance may have happened. The Trustnet figures for the BlackRock fund above only go back to 2018; you may have to search for an equivalent if you want to see before that.

Eyeful

1. Put simply, it is just because he was lucky enough to pick a fund that did well over the time period you mentioned and yours did not.

2. This is the graph for his fund shown on MorningStar.co.uk
https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=VAUSA0LEXC&tab=13&InvestmentType=SA

3. Now compare that graph over different time periods with the two simple World Index Funds mentioned below.
HMWO
VWRL

4. You will see that over the 10 year period shown, your colleague's fund is well behind.

5. It is very hard to constantly beat a fund that simply tracts a Major World Index.
https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

Hoenir

kimwp said:

and a larger proportion of my contributions being more recent than his.

Over what time period is this?  Could have a significant bearing on the outcome and make direct comparisons meaningless. 

Over 25 years the FTSE 250 (with dividends reinvested) has comparable performance to the SP500.  All you read on socia media is how badly UK equities perform.  Recencey bias gets ingrained into many investors outlooks. 

EthicsGradient

Eyeful said:

1. Put simply, it is just because he was lucky enough to pick a fund that did well over the time period you mentioned and yours did not.

2. This is the graph for his fund shown on MorningStar.co.uk
https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=VAUSA0LEXC&tab=13&InvestmentType=SA

3. Now compare that graph over different time periods with the two simple World Index Funds mentioned below.
HMWO
VWRL

4. You will see that over the 10 year period shown, your colleague's fund is well behind.

5. It is very hard to constantly beat a fund that simply tracts a Major World Index.
https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

The Morningstar graph you link to is for a global equity fund ("The underlying fund has approximately 10% invested in the shares of UK companies, 10% in the shares of companies in the Emerging Markets. The remaining 80% is invested in overseas companies split in equal weights between the following three regions: US, Europe ex-UK, and Japan & Pacific Rim") , not a US equity one.

I think this is the one mentioned in the OP:
Life and Pension Fund Prices and Performance|Aviva Pension MyM BlackRock US Equity Index Tracker Pension Fund|ISIN:GB00B714XL11
which is about 4 times its 2015 value, compared to 2.3 for the "10:80:10" global one.

Eyeful

EthicsGradient said:

Eyeful said:

1. Put simply, it is just because he was lucky enough to pick a fund that did well over the time period you mentioned and yours did not.

2. This is the graph for his fund shown on MorningStar.co.uk
https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=VAUSA0LEXC&tab=13&InvestmentType=SA

3. Now compare that graph over different time periods with the two simple World Index Funds mentioned below.
HMWO
VWRL

4. You will see that over the 10 year period shown, your colleague's fund is well behind.

5. It is very hard to constantly beat a fund that simply tracts a Major World Index.
https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

The Morningstar graph you link to is for a global equity fund ("The underlying fund has approximately 10% invested in the shares of UK companies, 10% in the shares of companies in the Emerging Markets. The remaining 80% is invested in overseas companies split in equal weights between the following three regions: US, Europe ex-UK, and Japan & Pacific Rim") , not a US equity one.

I think this is the one mentioned in the OP:
Life and Pension Fund Prices and Performance|Aviva Pension MyM BlackRock US Equity Index Tracker Pension Fund|ISIN:GB00B714XL11
which is about 4 times its 2015 value, compared to 2.3 for the "10:80:10" global one.

We will only know for sure, if the OP can supply us with the ISIN number of the fund he mentioned in their first post.

Bostonerimus1

Don't fall into the trap of comparing portfolio performance with friends and colleagues. You should have an asset allocation appropriate to your circumstances and goals and a target annual growth that will get you where you want to be with the minimum risk. What your mate is doing is irrelevant and might actually be dangerous if their greater growth also comes with greater risk.