Nutmeg, Vanguard Lifestrategy or Ready-Made Portfolio?

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  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 17,064
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    The whole purpose of Nutmeg is to set up a portfolio for you that matches a set of simple (some might well say simplistic) requirements to a portfolio. Its a bit pointless if you want to over-ride Nutmeg's choices with some fund that your happened to think might be a good idea as this may well invalidate the whole portfolio.

    If you want to choose your own funds use a platform designed for this such as the DIY ones such as HL, iii, etc etc.

    If you want someone else to choose a set of funds that meets your specific requirements consult an IFA. However unless you have a significant amount of money in your pot, say £50K+, this may well not be economical.

    Your next choice is to choose, at least whilst your portfolio is small, one fund that provides a reasonably broad coverage of the total investment market. The VLS funds are often quoted. Barring global catastrophes after which your investments will be the least of your problems you will never lose everything investing in such funds. Technically it can be argued that the VLS funds are not the best at their job, but if your pot is small which broad fund you choose probably doesnt matter very much. Choosing a VLS fund is very much better than.....

    The worst thing you can do, except for educational purposes, is to buy a random set of funds and shares perhaps on the basis of friend's suggestions, tips in the press or what you thought seemed a great idea at the time. Going down this route could lose all your money, or at least a very large fraction of it.
  • Pincher
    Pincher Posts: 6,552
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    lucyonline wrote: »
    1. I am clueless and don't have the time or understanding to research and choose between individual funds.

    So the question is, for a complete clueless person who wants to pretty much just put the money somewhere and leave it and have it do better than it would in Savings/Cash ISA, what would be the best option?

    2. Once a decision has been made, is it better to then buy the thing in one big go (to maximise the use of the money that is currently sitting in savings) or drip feed to avoid buying when the market is high?

    All classic "I need a new boiler but I don't want to know the details" thinking. From dealing with my mother and sister all my life, I now understand the best thing to do is to find a man who for god knows what reason will dutifully do all the chores and look after the details for you. Even better, marry a rich man who will exploit subcontractors and not pay them, like Donald Trump.

    Either you roll up your sleeves and get involved, and pay attention, or you can start with a rock solid company like Equitable Life, and end up with mush, like Equitable Life. Vanguard appears to be the elixir of life, and really hot with everybody, but just remember that's what people thought endowment policies were. You were supposed to pay off your mortgage, and still have a big lump sum when you retire. Look at Volkswagen, rock solid ,or rotten to the core? Toyota is beginning to feel dodgy, so does Samsung.

    You either know what is going on, or somebody you trust knows what is going on, AND KEEP AN EYE ON THINGS.

    With investment, there is no buy it and leave it.
  • matt1983
    matt1983 Posts: 39
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    Ive been educatinf myself on investing over the last month or so and have set up a stocks and shares ISA via HL. I have the following:

    Legal and General International Index Trust Accumulation

    Vanguard Lifestrategy 20% equity accumulation

    Vanguard lifestrategy 40% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 60% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 80% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 100% equity acc

    My money is more or less spread equally between these 6.

    Some questions i have:

    Are these good choices? Have read so many recommendations for the Vanguards in particular, so seemed like a good idea to spread my money between all 5 risk categories, but . . .

    Does it make sense to do this or is it pointless? Is there something im missing and have made an amateur mistake?

    Any advice would be really welcome as im now considering what to do in April with my next ISA allocation.

    Thanks in advance.
  • justme111
    justme111 Posts: 3,508
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    (20+40+60+80+100): 5=60 (%)
    You may as well just chose vanguard 60 as that what the result of your choice is. Unless you interested to see how those 5 perform in different economic circumstances for educational purposes( then if you are you may as well search the info online but may be more illustrative on your own money) and do not have to pay additionally for having 5 funds instead of 1.
    The word "dilemma" comes from Greek where "di" means two and "lemma" means premise. Refers usually to difficult choice between two undesirable options.
    Often people seem to use this word mistakenly where "quandary" would fit better.
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 23,068
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    matt1983 wrote: »
    Are these good choices? Have read so many recommendations for the Vanguards in particular, so seemed like a good idea to spread my money between all 5 risk categories, but . . .

    Does it make sense to do this or is it pointless? Is there something im missing and have made an amateur mistake?
    Why on earth would you do this? What are you trying to achieve? It seems like some more education is needed (maybe you could start here). You should be able to reduce this mixture to one fund.
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 23,068
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    justme111 wrote: »
    ...and do not have to pay additionally for having 5 funds instead of 1.
    There won't be any difference in cost if held at HL, but it just makes things unnecessarily complex.
  • Savings_Dave
    Savings_Dave Posts: 81
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    edited 19 March 2017 at 7:36PM
    matt1983 wrote: »
    Ive been educatinf myself on investing over the last month or so and have set up a stocks and shares ISA via HL. I have the following:

    Legal and General International Index Trust Accumulation

    Vanguard Lifestrategy 20% equity accumulation

    Vanguard lifestrategy 40% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 60% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 80% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 100% equity acc

    My money is more or less spread equally between these 6.

    Some questions i have:

    Are these good choices? Have read so many recommendations for the Vanguards in particular, so seemed like a good idea to spread my money between all 5 risk categories, but . . .

    Does it make sense to do this or is it pointless? Is there something im missing and have made an amateur mistake?

    Any advice would be really welcome as im now considering what to do in April with my next ISA allocation.

    Thanks in advance.

    As already mentioned having all these funds is going against the purpose of the individual allocation (there is a hint in their names).

    Each of the Vanguard funds has a different % mix of equities and bonds depending on your attitude to risk/return and time frame. You should only require one Vanguard LS fund. Bonds and equities perform differently over time.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,040
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    One of the funniest mix of funds I have seen.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • jdw2000
    jdw2000 Posts: 418
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    matt1983 wrote: »
    Ive been educatinf myself on investing over the last month or so and have set up a stocks and shares ISA via HL. I have the following:

    Legal and General International Index Trust Accumulation

    Vanguard Lifestrategy 20% equity accumulation

    Vanguard lifestrategy 40% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 60% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 80% equity acc

    Vanguard lifestrategy 100% equity acc

    My money is more or less spread equally between these 6.

    Some questions i have:

    Are these good choices? Have read so many recommendations for the Vanguards in particular, so seemed like a good idea to spread my money between all 5 risk categories, but . . .

    Does it make sense to do this or is it pointless? Is there something im missing and have made an amateur mistake?

    Any advice would be really welcome as im now considering what to do in April with my next ISA allocation.

    Thanks in advance.

    Spreading your money evenly between those Vanguard products is exactly the same as putting it all into Vanguard 60%.


    HOWEVER: What you need to id decide which level of risk you are happy with. VLS60 is considered middle of the road. But if you are risk averse and prone to having a heart attack if there is a stock market crash, then you may wish to consider VLS20 or VLS40.
  • economic
    economic Posts: 3,002 Forumite
    Pincher wrote: »
    All classic "I need a new boiler but I don't want to know the details" thinking. From dealing with my mother and sister all my life, I now understand the best thing to do is to find a man who for god knows what reason will dutifully do all the chores and look after the details for you. Even better, marry a rich man who will exploit subcontractors and not pay them, like Donald Trump.

    Either you roll up your sleeves and get involved, and pay attention,



    or you can start with a rock solid company like Equitable Life, and end up with mush, like Equitable Life. Vanguard appears to be the elixir of life, and really hot with everybody, but just remember that's what people thought endowment policies were. You were supposed to pay off your mortgage, and still have a big lump sum when you retire. Look at Volkswagen, rock solid ,or rotten to the core? Toyota is beginning to feel dodgy, so does Samsung.

    You either know what is going on, or somebody you trust knows what is going on, AND KEEP AN EYE ON THINGS.

    With investment, there is no buy it and leave it.


    nicely put. and completely agree. nothing goes up long term. there are always cycles.
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