Investing in current times

chiang_mai

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81942877#Comment_81942877

I did say that I wanted to use an extreme example, in order to make my point!

Once again I'm sorry if individuals have not understood where I live, it also has been mentioned repeatedly, along with my age, in the course of past discussions about global investments, over several years.

….predict "significant" economic events, apologies for my omssion.

badger09

WARNING OFF TOPIC POST

Totally irrelevant to your thread but hope you enjoy your week in Hong Kong. My son lived & worked there for 10 years & we visited at least once a year, but often more than once. One of my favourite places but sadly, doubt we’ll ever return, unless on a cruise.

Bostonerimus1

What should you do in troubled times? Well consider parking some money in cash. If the markets continue to fall you can be consoled that you put something on the side lines and if the worst doesn't happen and you end up making some losses you can be happy that we are all still here.

Alternatively doing nothing is an option if you have a sensible asset allocation for your circumstances.

chiang_mai

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81943770#Comment_81943770

Thanks, I also lived there for seven years, it's always great to return and rediscover, the place has barely changed since I left in 2002.

I am very nearly at the end of my financial year, my target for the year was only 11% but I ended up making 15%. It would have been 20% had it not been for the ME thingy but what can be said. The best part for me is that I did that using only 50% equities, subsequently reduced to 40% in the home straight. I'm happy enough with the years work and the outcome plus most of it has been good fun and a great learning experience.

For the past three weeks I've been making all my candidate funds reapply for their jobs for the comming year, sadly, some of those contracts wont be renewed. When I decide on the final line up I will post them for inspection and comment, just as I did for the current year. My current year saw increased use of MA funds which now account for about 35% of my total equities, the Orbis and PM funds performed extremely well in both up and down markets so I will likely expand their use in the comming year. I suspect the over performance of the Smartgarp funds may be past their peak so they will need very caregful thought, GEMS and UK returned over 35% each and have done very well, as has Japan. Bonds on the other hand will need some very very careful thought! Finally, I had parked 7 years income in cash, which is not only unproductive it's almost wasteful, that also will need careful thought.

chiang_mai

As previously said, I've had seven years income parked in cash anyway but that's an unexciting and uninteresting deployment, money needs to work harder than what's currently on offer in MM rates plus I'm cash heavy outside of my investment portfolio anyway. It may sound like a nice problem to have but of course it isn't.

InvesterJones

"I've had seven years income parked in cash anyway but that's an unexciting and uninteresting deployment, money needs to work harder than what's currently on offer in MM rates"

Inflation is an unlikeable bed fellow that's for sure. Problem for those short term investors is the only asset that's done better than cash over the last month or so is oil, and that's definitely on the volatile side ;)

Bravepants

With the start of the new financial year I have setup a monthly drip-feed into my preferred Global Index fund again. My income is secure and independent of this as I'm semi-retired anyway. I want to catch the ups and downs of the next year or so.

If you're new to investing and thinking long term you actually WANT a recession to take place. I often tell people that if it wasn't for the 2008 Global Financial Crisis I wouldn't have been able to retire early as that's the year I hit 40 and began to seriously think about investing and retiring. I just stuck a monthly drip into an AVC (which became my SIPP) and an ISA.

One of the best things I ever did, and I didn't think "Oh there's a crisis I shall take advantage of it", I'm not that clever. It was pretty much coincidence but I gained from the bull market that followed.

When you're accruing money through drip-feeding your investments, volatility is your friend.

chiang_mai

For info purposes - Vanguard's equities forecast model for the next decade is for a 4%-6% anualised return on US equities. Their asset class performance model is contained in the link below.

https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/vemo/vemo-return-forecasts.html

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81942903#Comment_81942903

If you're posting comments that require an understanding of the context of your age and location, then it would surely be better to confine these to your own threads, rather than doing so in those started by others with different investing profiles? Obviously it's legitimate to discuss relevant generic matters anywhere, but it's unfair on the likes of OP to expect them to familiarise with your own personal situation by reading other threads…

chiang_mai

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81944482#Comment_81944482

The OP has asked for comments about whether it is advisable to invest in current times. Unlike almost every other member who replied, I have suggetsed that now may not be the best time, because of the ME situation. One member has asked why I have that seemingly contrarian view and to explain further, to which I have described local conditons resulting from the oil crisis. I have further explained that older investors are at higher risk of permanent loss currently, because they may not have sufficent years remaining for markets recovery.

Neither of the two elements described above require further research into my profile or previous posts, one is a unique standalone observation that has been explained fully and the second is a well understood aspect of investing in later years. One poster has made an unecessarily big deal out of both points claiming those things should have been decalred at the outset, to which I say nonesence!

I had never imagined that my age and where I live have anything to do with the subjects being discussed, obviously if I felt that was the case I would have either refrained from commenting or would have made those things clear at the outset. In all the years I have participated in the forum, those issues have only ever been raised once, by the poster in this thread, which I suspect are more red herrings than anything else! I am a UK investor who invests in the same funds as everyone else in this forum and am subject to the same rules and constraints as everyone else. The fact that I don't live in the UK should be totally irrelvent. That said, now that you have raised the issue, I will withdraw from the forum and extend my apologies to the OP, if he feels they are required..