ETF's, can't decide between S&P500 or All World

Albermarle

Domnhallaich said:

Hi All,

I created my own thread but was directed here - hope you don't mind be hijacking as I have a very similar query and have been reading through this thread.

I am a 45 yo who has decided to start investing, so that I have more money to enjoy in retirement or, leave it to my kids if I pop it before I get to enjoy it.  But I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the options.

One thing that seems to be a no brainer is the setting up of a Stocks and Shares ISA and investing in Accumulating ETFs, so that any dividends automatically get re-invested which should help with compound interest.  My understanding is that there will be no tax to pay because its under the ISA.

Assuming I am not mistaken (and please correct me if I am) my first challenge is deciding where to invest.  So far I have heard two things:

1. S&P 500 has performed incredibly well over the past 10-15 years.

2. You should not put all yours eggs in the S&P 500 basket.

What is the best approach here? And what else should I be looking at, besides stocks/ETFs because I saw someone say that to be risk diverse, you need to look at alternatives, like metals, bonds, gilts etc.

Please help.

If you are investing for retirement, then investing via a pension is normally better due to the tax benefits.
Do you have a pension? Are you employed ?

Middle_of_the_Road

Albermarle said:

Domnhallaich said:

Hi All,

I created my own thread but was directed here - hope you don't mind be hijacking as I have a very similar query and have been reading through this thread.

I am a 45 yo who has decided to start investing, so that I have more money to enjoy in retirement or, leave it to my kids if I pop it before I get to enjoy it.  But I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the options.

One thing that seems to be a no brainer is the setting up of a Stocks and Shares ISA and investing in Accumulating ETFs, so that any dividends automatically get re-invested which should help with compound interest.  My understanding is that there will be no tax to pay because its under the ISA.

Assuming I am not mistaken (and please correct me if I am) my first challenge is deciding where to invest.  So far I have heard two things:

1. S&P 500 has performed incredibly well over the past 10-15 years.

2. You should not put all yours eggs in the S&P 500 basket.

What is the best approach here? And what else should I be looking at, besides stocks/ETFs because I saw someone say that to be risk diverse, you need to look at alternatives, like metals, bonds, gilts etc.

Please help.

If you are investing for retirement, then investing via a pension is normally better due to the tax benefits.
Do you have a pension? Are you employed ?

Poster has their own thread active -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6651187/new-to-investing-seeking-advice#latest

tigerspill

Domnhallaich said:

Hi All,

I created my own thread but was directed here - hope you don't mind be hijacking as I have a very similar query and have been reading through this thread.

I am a 45 yo who has decided to start investing, so that I have more money to enjoy in retirement or, leave it to my kids if I pop it before I get to enjoy it.  But I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the options.

One thing that seems to be a no brainer is the setting up of a Stocks and Shares ISA and investing in Accumulating ETFs, so that any dividends automatically get re-invested which should help with compound interest.  My understanding is that there will be no tax to pay because its under the ISA.

Assuming I am not mistaken (and please correct me if I am) my first challenge is deciding where to invest.  So far I have heard two things:

1. S&P 500 has performed incredibly well over the past 10-15 years.

2. You should not put all yours eggs in the S&P 500 basket.

What is the best approach here? And what else should I be looking at, besides stocks/ETFs because I saw someone say that to be risk diverse, you need to look at alternatives, like metals, bonds, gilts etc.

Please help.

When might you hope to retire - investment direction will be partly informed by timescales.
Do you have any other retirement vehicles - defined benefits pension, State pension, other pensions?

Domnhallaich

Postik said:

Domnhallaich said:

Hi All,

I created my own thread but was directed here - hope you don't mind be hijacking as I have a very similar query and have been reading through this thread.

I am a 45 yo who has decided to start investing, so that I have more money to enjoy in retirement or, leave it to my kids if I pop it before I get to enjoy it.  But I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the options.

One thing that seems to be a no brainer is the setting up of a Stocks and Shares ISA and investing in Accumulating ETFs, so that any dividends automatically get re-invested which should help with compound interest.  My understanding is that there will be no tax to pay because its under the ISA.

Assuming I am not mistaken (and please correct me if I am) my first challenge is deciding where to invest.  So far I have heard two things:

1. S&P 500 has performed incredibly well over the past 10-15 years.

2. You should not put all yours eggs in the S&P 500 basket.

What is the best approach here? And what else should I be looking at, besides stocks/ETFs because I saw someone say that to be risk diverse, you need to look at alternatives, like metals, bonds, gilts etc.

Please help.

Same boat as me really.

I went with S&P500 at first because it's what seemed to be recommended online, but I think there is a fair amount of American bias online.  If we lived in America it would probably be a no brainer investing in your own country.

I have gone with an All-World ETF instead which is still 60% USA, and the remainder rest of world.

As I understand, both the S&P and All-World have always gone up over the last 100 years, and any dips and crashes have been recovered from in the longer term.

Until I know more about what I'm doing I will invest regular amounts in my All-World fund for the time being.  I am doing this via the Trading212 app which has made it incredibly easy to get started.

I will only buy individual shares for fun, not as an attempt to get rich.

Are you only investing in the world ETF now or do you plan to look at others to help supplement it?

Domnhallaich

Albermarle said:

Domnhallaich said:

Hi All,

I created my own thread but was directed here - hope you don't mind be hijacking as I have a very similar query and have been reading through this thread.

I am a 45 yo who has decided to start investing, so that I have more money to enjoy in retirement or, leave it to my kids if I pop it before I get to enjoy it.  But I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the options.

One thing that seems to be a no brainer is the setting up of a Stocks and Shares ISA and investing in Accumulating ETFs, so that any dividends automatically get re-invested which should help with compound interest.  My understanding is that there will be no tax to pay because its under the ISA.

Assuming I am not mistaken (and please correct me if I am) my first challenge is deciding where to invest.  So far I have heard two things:

1. S&P 500 has performed incredibly well over the past 10-15 years.

2. You should not put all yours eggs in the S&P 500 basket.

What is the best approach here? And what else should I be looking at, besides stocks/ETFs because I saw someone say that to be risk diverse, you need to look at alternatives, like metals, bonds, gilts etc.

Please help.

If you are investing for retirement, then investing via a pension is normally better due to the tax benefits.
Do you have a pension? Are you employed ?

Yes to both but I am not investing solely for retirement.  I want to invest to help improve my wealth but being 45 means in 20 years time I would be due for retirement. Perhaps some decent investment choices will help me retire early - pension funds are locked until a certain age I think.  And besodes if I want to cash out in say 10 years time, I want to have a choice there - so I will consider more pension contributions but I do want to look at stocks and shares ISA.

Domnhallaich

Middle_of_the_Road said:

Albermarle said:

Domnhallaich said:

Hi All,

I created my own thread but was directed here - hope you don't mind be hijacking as I have a very similar query and have been reading through this thread.

I am a 45 yo who has decided to start investing, so that I have more money to enjoy in retirement or, leave it to my kids if I pop it before I get to enjoy it.  But I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the options.

One thing that seems to be a no brainer is the setting up of a Stocks and Shares ISA and investing in Accumulating ETFs, so that any dividends automatically get re-invested which should help with compound interest.  My understanding is that there will be no tax to pay because its under the ISA.

Assuming I am not mistaken (and please correct me if I am) my first challenge is deciding where to invest.  So far I have heard two things:

1. S&P 500 has performed incredibly well over the past 10-15 years.

2. You should not put all yours eggs in the S&P 500 basket.

What is the best approach here? And what else should I be looking at, besides stocks/ETFs because I saw someone say that to be risk diverse, you need to look at alternatives, like metals, bonds, gilts etc.

Please help.

If you are investing for retirement, then investing via a pension is normally better due to the tax benefits.
Do you have a pension? Are you employed ?

Poster has their own thread active -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6651187/new-to-investing-seeking-advice#latest

I do, sorry for the double post - someone there suggested I post here.

Domnhallaich

tigerspill said:

Domnhallaich said:

Hi All,

I created my own thread but was directed here - hope you don't mind be hijacking as I have a very similar query and have been reading through this thread.

I am a 45 yo who has decided to start investing, so that I have more money to enjoy in retirement or, leave it to my kids if I pop it before I get to enjoy it.  But I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the options.

One thing that seems to be a no brainer is the setting up of a Stocks and Shares ISA and investing in Accumulating ETFs, so that any dividends automatically get re-invested which should help with compound interest.  My understanding is that there will be no tax to pay because its under the ISA.

Assuming I am not mistaken (and please correct me if I am) my first challenge is deciding where to invest.  So far I have heard two things:

1. S&P 500 has performed incredibly well over the past 10-15 years.

2. You should not put all yours eggs in the S&P 500 basket.

What is the best approach here? And what else should I be looking at, besides stocks/ETFs because I saw someone say that to be risk diverse, you need to look at alternatives, like metals, bonds, gilts etc.

Please help.

When might you hope to retire - investment direction will be partly informed by timescales.
Do you have any other retirement vehicles - defined benefits pension, State pension, other pensions?

I want to retire ASAP ofc but realistically it will be 65-67 I think.  My works pension is a defined benefots pension (I think).  That is pretty much as I have atm but have been investing into it for about 15 years or so.

Nurse2047

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https://youtube.com/@makingmoneypodcast?si=_OufAPduzmLmlFun