What trackers to invest in?

[Zippee]

I’m looking to put some cash away into various funds within my ISA as I don’t trust myself enough to make much money on individual stocks, though will still have the odd flutter.
Currently I have 2k in each of Woodfords 2 – Equity income & income focus. I want a couple of trackers as well – can anyone recommend some good ones? These will be very long term holds, maybe a UK 250 and a global of some sort?
Any advice as to which managers are in favour at the moment and offer good value for money in terms of charges? These will be held within my ISA at HL and approx 2k into each.

[bitchstewie]

Trackers are usually dirt cheap like 0.15% cheap - I'd suggest you'll pay HL more to "manage" it so maybe consider the provider you use if a cheap tracker is your choice

[bitchstewie]

Oh and Fidelity Index World is a global tracker.

[mart73]

Recently gone for the Legal & General International Index Trust (Class C) - H&L have a special discount on that one bringing it down to 0.08% !

It was the cheapest I could find on a global tracker.

[cbehagg242]

What's considered the smarter investment option with trackers?

1) Split investment across a UK tracker, a European Tracker (excluding UK) and a Asian market tracker

2) Invest in a global tracker

Assuming that all the funds have a low % based charge.

[Derek Chevalier]

mart73 said:

Recently gone for the Legal & General International Index Trust (Class C) - H&L have a special discount on that one bringing it down to 0.08% !

It was the cheapest I could find on a global tracker.

How much are you paying for the platform?
Did you deliberately exclude UK
Did you deliberately exclude small cap?

[mart73]

Derek Chevalier said:

How much are you paying for the platform?
Did you deliberately exclude UK
Did you deliberately exclude small cap?

I'm actually using the fund in my company SIPP. It's got a platform rate of 0.40% pa via H&L.

I'm aware that one is ex-UK, I'm using 5% of my contribution in the Marlborough UK Micro Cap in the mix & will probably add some FTSE 250 exposure too in the next few months via a cheap index tracker.
Believe me, I'm no expert in this, so I'm always prepared to listen to those wiser than me.

Any feedback gratefully received.

[Derek Chevalier]

mart73 said:

Derek Chevalier said:

How much are you paying for the platform?
Did you deliberately exclude UK
Did you deliberately exclude small cap?

I'm actually using the fund in my company SIPP. It's got a platform rate of 0.40% pa via H&L.

I'm aware that one is ex-UK, I'm using 5% of my contribution in the Marlborough UK Micro Cap in the mix & will probably add some FTSE 250 exposure too in the next few months via a cheap index tracker.
Believe me, I'm no expert in this, so I'm always prepared to listen to those wiser than me.

Any feedback gratefully received.

I'm not that familiar with HL but don't they charge 0.45% for a SIPP?

http://www.hl.co.uk/pensions/sipp/charges-and-inte...

Would be interested to hear your reasoning for current ~95% of your funds in a tracker and 5% in an active (and all the ensuing headache of fund monitoring and rebalancing) vs 100% tracker. What do you think the former gives you?

When selecting a "global" tracker it's worth working out exactly how global it is (i.e. developed AND emerging, all market caps). Morningstar is a good place to start.

Do you plan to hold 100% equity exposure indefinitely, or move into lower risk asset classes as you move closer to retirement? Are you happy to accept the potential volatility and won't sell when markets are choppy?

P.S. Like the photos on the website - reminds me of my days spent in Plymouth!

[mart73]

Derek Chevalier said:

I'm not that familiar with HL but don't they charge 0.45% for a SIPP?

http://www.hl.co.uk/pensions/sipp/charges-and-inte...

Would be interested to hear your reasoning for current ~95% of your funds in a tracker and 5% in an active (and all the ensuing headache of fund monitoring and rebalancing) vs 100% tracker. What do you think the former gives you?

When selecting a "global" tracker it's worth working out exactly how global it is (i.e. developed AND emerging, all market caps). Morningstar is a good place to start.

Do you plan to hold 100% equity exposure indefinitely, or move into lower risk asset classes as you move closer to retirement? Are you happy to accept the potential volatility and won't sell when markets are choppy?

P.S. Like the photos on the website - reminds me of my days spent in Plymouth!

To try & explain my logic (it's probably flawed!) - I watched these videos by Lars Kroijer - http://www.kroijer.com/
His logic of just finding the cheapest index tracker available for equity exposure seemed to make sense to me. Hence I opted for the L&G fund as it was the cheapest amongst the options available to me & had some emerging markets in the fund.
Knowing that it excludes the UK, I needed a little UK exposure in the mix. My wife's ISA has included the Marlborough fund for 4 years & performed very, very well indeed. It's performed significantly better than a passive FTSE tracker, again - my reasoning for including it in my SIPP. I like the fact it's Microcap as it's more of a niche sector & whilst the fund is being well managed, I'm comfortable keeping it in my portfolio.
I track the price daily on a spreadsheet & pay close attention to the detail.

I'll be adding some Government bonds over time to reduce my risk, but with at least 25 years to go, I'm not looking at more than 10% for a few more years. I'll be slowly increasing the mix to 50/50 as I get closer to retirement.

Again, any feedback is interesting to me, I'm still a novice in this area, but I find it all fascinating!

Thanks for the comment regarding my website, it's appreciated - Plymouth is a nice place when the sun shines !

[anonymous-user]

Interesting thread.

mart73 said:

My wife's ISA has included the Marlborough fund for 4 years & performed very, very well indeed. It's performed significantly better than a passive FTSE tracker

Which Marlborough fund Mart?

[bitchstewie]

Badda said:

Which Marlborough fund Mart?

Marlborough UK Micro-Cap Growth as a guess

https://www.marlboroughfunds.com/Uploads/FFS-MMCA....

[anonymous-user]

Nice one, ta.

[mikeiow]

mart73 said:

To try & explain my logic (it's probably flawed!) - I watched these videos by Lars Kroijer - http://www.kroijer.com/
His logic of just finding the cheapest index tracker available for equity exposure seemed to make sense to me. Hence I opted for the L&G fund as it was the cheapest amongst the options available to me & had some emerging markets in the fund.
Knowing that it excludes the UK, I needed a little UK exposure in the mix. My wife's ISA has included the Marlborough fund for 4 years & performed very, very well indeed. It's performed significantly better than a passive FTSE tracker, again - my reasoning for including it in my SIPP. I like the fact it's Microcap as it's more of a niche sector & whilst the fund is being well managed, I'm comfortable keeping it in my portfolio.
I track the price daily on a spreadsheet & pay close attention to the detail.

I'll be adding some Government bonds over time to reduce my risk, but with at least 25 years to go, I'm not looking at more than 10% for a few more years. I'll be slowly increasing the mix to 50/50 as I get closer to retirement.

Again, any feedback is interesting to me, I'm still a novice in this area, but I find it all fascinating!

Thanks for the comment regarding my website, it's appreciated - Plymouth is a nice place when the sun shines !

I also find the Lars Kroijer approach quite convincing.
I suspect the Vangard 100 LifeStrategy might not be a bad long-term punt. Does include UK mix.
Ongoing charge if you take it 'direct' looks like 0.22%, which I believe is pretty low. Obviously could be bundled into other platforms (eg HL) if you wanted other funds....I guess if it was your main (only for now!) fund, going direct makes more sense.

Considering helping our kids (okay, adults!) get a kick start on investing by suggesting they ISA it (with our help!).

Also welcome any views....

[bitchstewie]

mikeiow said:

I also find the Lars Kroijer approach quite convincing.
I suspect the Vangard 100 LifeStrategy might not be a bad long-term punt. Does include UK mix.
Ongoing charge if you take it 'direct' looks like 0.22%, which I believe is pretty low. Obviously could be bundled into other platforms (eg HL) if you wanted other funds....I guess if it was your main (only for now!) fund, going direct makes more sense.

Considering helping our kids (okay, adults!) get a kick start on investing by suggesting they ISA it (with our help!).

Also welcome any views....

It's a very convincing and totally logical approach which is why I watched the videos and purchased the book and then put my money into Fundsmith and Lindsell Train

This is a good read I think https://theescapeartist.me/2015/10/20/downton-abbe...

Highlights the power of the benefits of compounding when you're young.

LifeStrategy is cheap as hell, use somewhere like IWEB if you want cheap access to other funds and Investment Trusts.

[mart73]

bhstewie said:

Marlborough UK Micro-Cap Growth as a guess

https://www.marlboroughfunds.com/Uploads/FFS-MMCA....

Yes correct, that's the fund. UK Micro-cap Growth Class P

Been the best peforming fund amongst those in the portfolios of my wife & I over the last 4 years.

[mart73]

bhstewie said:

mikeiow said:

I also find the Lars Kroijer approach quite convincing.
I suspect the Vangard 100 LifeStrategy might not be a bad long-term punt. Does include UK mix.
Ongoing charge if you take it 'direct' looks like 0.22%, which I believe is pretty low. Obviously could be bundled into other platforms (eg HL) if you wanted other funds....I guess if it was your main (only for now!) fund, going direct makes more sense.

Considering helping our kids (okay, adults!) get a kick start on investing by suggesting they ISA it (with our help!).

Also welcome any views....

It's a very convincing and totally logical approach which is why I watched the videos and purchased the book and then put my money into Fundsmith and Lindsell Train

This is a good read I think https://theescapeartist.me/2015/10/20/downton-abbe...

Highlights the power of the benefits of compounding when you're young.

LifeStrategy is cheap as hell, use somewhere like IWEB if you want cheap access to other funds and Investment Trusts.

That's a great read - thanks for the link. Just wish I could roll back the clock to my late teens with my knowledge of compound interest!
At least my kids will get it drummed into them.