My S&S diary - investing from February 2026

seacaitch

»»» For big indexes like regions, you know in the long-term it should go back up. But the speculations on company shares or single commodities like oil when they are in red, the heart does sink. «««

Hopefully you've studied market history a little and so are aware that a country or regional index might take YEARS before it returns to previous highs. If you were really unlucky, it might take a decade, or longer. 😉

Attempting to hold on through such a prolonged drawdown, without capitulating and selling low, can be a tough and demoralising experience. What helps you stay disciplined for the long term is having conviction in your investing approach, and this conviction comes from the knowledge that your strategy is sensible and appropriate. If instead your "strategy" largely comprises guesswork, punting and gut-feel for what might go up this week, you'll have no conviction in it, and in the face of a prolonged drawdown it's almost inevitable that you'll capitulate and sell low.

Capitulation selling at lows is the crime that destroys long-term returns, so your strategy should try to "design out" this risk. For many people this may mean removing themselves as much as possible from the investment process, as it's their own behaviour - triggered by the emotions they feel - that over the long term is probably the riskiest part of what they're doing.

If you're feeling thrills, disheartened, excitement, fed up - daily emotional ups & downs - due to how your investments or trading positions are performing, that's probably a sign you're too close, too involved and one day you risk making a big mistake should you respond to these emotions impulsively at a time of high stress. Invest with your future-self in mind: today, you're the custodian of the capital that they will one day rely upon, so treat it with respect.

LL_USS

@cloud_dog exactly what I think. Normally I would take the money (even just £20) and run a long way - but my plan for my method is to see what happens to this on Monday. Will put a limit sell order for Monday. Will see how much I have to pay for this lesson/ curiosity 😏.

LL_USS

@seacaitch thank you for your words.

I gradually do feel better and not as involved after about 5 weeks from the start (even though I still have a negative return in total). Whatever we are told, we still get emotionally involved at some level as we start. I would tell others to start from small, so you get yourself slowly (and with less consequences) into investing. Doing T212 trials without real money is not the same. I did it, and still was completely blown when I started to use real money.

My Dodl pot is lifetime ISAs so I won't be able to use it till 14 years later - a long enough typical cycle.

PS: you're right - I'll be more careful with my plan "buying in more Emerging Markets if it is still cheap, and if buying more then gradually replacing it with US index when I have more confidence in the US index". It could take a long time to EM to go back to normal - who knows. Perhaps it's not a disaster to keep the money reserved for the US in cash (3.8% interest for cash holding at the moment on Dodl).

LL_USS

Unlike bigger orders of mutual funds (not ETFs) on Dodl, typically not completely going through in the same day even though orders are in before 10am for the orders to be processed in the day, my two trial orders for UK and EU went through just after 6pm, same day. The prices are not updated any where yet, just can only be seen in the invoices.

For example now it's the end of 13 March:
- the price I pay for today's order is 475.59
- the price for Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe ex UK equity index fund GBP Acc on Dodl app is still the price of 12 March

-the price on MSN is even worse, of 11 March

Still downward, day after day. The lowest for all area these indexes were on Monday 9 March, then mostly went back a bit, then down down down again.

Dodl is actually good for beginners as there are often so many similar options on other platforms: Acc (accumulation) vs Dist (distribution), same fund but in USD/ GBP/ EU, listed in LSE or NYE, what company sizes included in the fund…. I could not even find Vanguard Europe on MSN before.

Basically Dodl have chosen those with low fees, in GBP for area indexes, accumulation so the dividends are put back in and invested within the investor's portfolio.

If I have a choice I would also choose ETFs over mutual funds like those of Vanguard's, Fidelity's…. so it's more flexible and easier to check and react to price changes (or perhaps that would be too tempting to do some trading).

Definitely I am having a break for the weekend now !

InvesterJones

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922138#Comment_81922138

Yeah, best not to be reactive when it comes to investing. However vanguard do offer ETFs as well as OEICs. If you're really keen to see what the price of an OEIC is likely to be before you buy it (and you're concerned about a day's variance) then look for which index the OEIC tracks (assuming you're going for an index fund) and look at the price of that directly or an ETF which tracks the same/similar. For the one you mention, Vanguard even offer an ETF version of the same, so you can very easily see how the price has changed since the last OEIC valuation point.

LL_USS

@InvesterJones great tips, thank you very much, I will look out for these. I still want to learn, even though I can see I look at daily prices less and less for those index funds in my long-term pot.

Monday 16 March

T212 pot: enough about IJPH ishares MSCI Japan GBP hedged. The projection is still down anyway - last Friday the fund is still positive in my pot, but I guessed if I place a Market Order, the first momentum in the market at 8am Monday would be down. Market closed on Friday at 159.21, 8am, right away down a bit to 158.937 for the first second of the new day. I waited till it is a clear positive (even still very little - definitely a waste of time if just for money) then I sold to get back the fund. Will need to gather all the cash that I can outside of fixed rate saving accounts, to add to my own LISA because a change in my plan, giving away what I earmarked for LISA and ISA this coming Apr 6th. My son came back from uni for Mothers' Day. I have decided to gift him 4K to add to his £100 Dodl lifetime ISA for this fiscal year, and another 4K for him to add after 6 April. We opened this account for him when he turned 19 (not sure then if he would need LISA but just in case). I say he can keep 8K + 2K government bonus on his Dodl LISA, make sure not to withdraw, save it in cash for now. But it's not a bad idea to hold cash in this volatile market.

Brent oil: price standing still at p6,007.5 as market-close mark last Friday, for a few minutes - as if people watching one another what to do - then from 8:05 it just kept climbing up, reaching p6,200 very briefly, then it calmed down again towards 9am. It seems to consolidate around the p6,130 mark then down a bit more after. Will look at this again at 3 then close to 4:30 - again purely curious to see what happens to an up-going index between 8-9, during the day, 3-4:30 (I watched the down-going Emerging Market one last week - not pretty as I have my stake in it)

Back to my paid job for now :-).

4:30 - T212 the market was highest first thing in the morning then downward trend to lowest after lunch, ending up lower than yesterday close then down down down till 4:15 and all the way up to about the same level as market closed yesterday at p6,008.8. Enough of me watching movements in a day of an rising and a downgoing stock. Sold ishares MSCI Japan and WisdomTree brent crude oil today - put back 1,7K in the pot, ready to move to LISA on 6 Apr, closing a chapter of learning.

eskbanker

But it's not a bad idea to hold cash in this volatile market.

It's not particularly volatile really, in that it's still in single-digit percentage movement territory, unlike the tariff-induced dip last April and the many larger events before that.

LL_USS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81925181#Comment_81925181

I meant more about the time ahead @eskbanker. I suppose what's happening is only a little distraction (many region indexes are only down a bit to the same level of 1-2 months before). We are still waiting to see if the main problems such as with AI over-investments, private credit loans really break out.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81925275#Comment_81925275

Not sure that's an accurate characterisation (are private credit loans really that big an issue, especially relative to the much-discussed AI bubble?) but there's always speculation about future market directions, and anything known to small-scale private investors will already be factored into stock valuations. Essentially, though, there are always reasons not to invest, but the old adage of 'time in the market, not timing the market', while obviously not guaranteed, is a sensible approach, at least for investors if not traders.

LL_USS

@eskbanker true. And as you said, the dip last April (8 April I think) Liberation Day was a lot bigger - and for that nobody could time buying or selling as the next day it was the strongest jumping back up too.

I entered investment just 4 weeks before this hiccup in the market and have spent 2/3 of my fund buying indexes. For my nerve I feel it's better to be more cautious, and having cash ready in case there is a bigger dip (and even then not all-in). If nothing happens, the cash can be deployed again easily anyway, dripping back in gradually as usual.