FTSE100 tracker
Discussion
sidicks said:
Aren't you basically just updating the latest FTSE rise and falls?
Quite possibly, but I guess the difference is I'm turning those bald figures into what that means relative to amounts invested. If I hear on the news that the FTSE100 is up (or down!) xx points, that doesn't translate to real money very well for me, and maybe not for other people.
Totally agree. Classic example was having a few hundred quid in and seeing it go up and imagining what I would have 'earned' had it been a few thousand. Logic told me that if it was riding high then it was probably not a good time to put a hefty chunk in, but I cracked and put £5K in only for it to drop instantly. I knew it could happen and I also know full well that it's only a real loss when either it's all gone (somehow) or you cash out, but it didn't make me feel like a canny investor.
If it were to dive (say during or after Brexit), will I be able to look at my losses and think 'good time to buy' and stick another £5K in? If it goes up more will I be able to resist putting more in at what's probably a bad time to buy?
I'm bandying around these £5K figures like it's nothing, but to be clear, it's big chunks of my meagre savings.
If it were to dive (say during or after Brexit), will I be able to look at my losses and think 'good time to buy' and stick another £5K in? If it goes up more will I be able to resist putting more in at what's probably a bad time to buy?
I'm bandying around these £5K figures like it's nothing, but to be clear, it's big chunks of my meagre savings.
sidicks said:
Do you mean an actively managed equity fund (i.e. one that aims to outperform a specific market index) or a managed fund (which typically allocates across a variety of different asset classes (aiming to diversify exposure and outperform a composite benchmark)?
Honestly, I don't really know. I guess where you pay someone to invest your money for you in their fund in the hope of out performing the market, but not familiar enough to be more specific.But some interesting answers further down.
xeny said:
When I'm on a good run I start looking at my daily expenditure on breakfast cereal and thinking how much that could return if I invested it instead. Investing when I started probably made me more money from not spending to invest than the actual investment return.
Interesting, and I know what you mean. 
zubzob said:
That's an extremely interesting read! GT03ROB said:
Ari said:
Remember the value of investments, and any income from them, can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Finished this week at -£66.80, personal rate of return -3.33% since account opened.
Could be worse, think if you'd invested 200k rather than 2k Finished this week at -£66.80, personal rate of return -3.33% since account opened.
Still dropping, currently -£157.17
On the upside, my monthly £250 buy in will have bought more units than it would have had it gone up...
And my Vanguard cash account that sits alongside it has swelled by 8p although I'm not sure why (and can't seem to find anything that relates to it). A dividend payment perhaps?
Quick edit:
Looked some more and under 'investments' there is a line called 'income' which is showing 10p. Since 2p appeared on the cash side once before and I just added it on to a payment from cash to unit trust thing, that makes sense, so I guess it is a dividend (if that's the right word?)
On the upside, my monthly £250 buy in will have bought more units than it would have had it gone up...
And my Vanguard cash account that sits alongside it has swelled by 8p although I'm not sure why (and can't seem to find anything that relates to it). A dividend payment perhaps?
Quick edit:
Looked some more and under 'investments' there is a line called 'income' which is showing 10p. Since 2p appeared on the cash side once before and I just added it on to a payment from cash to unit trust thing, that makes sense, so I guess it is a dividend (if that's the right word?)
Edited by Ari on Friday 2nd February 12:51
I put a 'buy order' in of £200 (high finance - I knew you'd be impressed! ) today - figure if I'm going to be dripping money in, now is as good a time to drip as any. Possibly...
Current investment total is £6,010.10, personal rate of return -14.05%, change -£398.04.
If it goes back up next week I can feel smug, and if it goes down I'll probably drip some more in...
Mind you, I did it at 8am and it's still showing 'pending' so I'm not entirely sure when the 'buy' gets made.
) today - figure if I'm going to be dripping money in, now is as good a time to drip as any. Possibly...Current investment total is £6,010.10, personal rate of return -14.05%, change -£398.04.
If it goes back up next week I can feel smug, and if it goes down I'll probably drip some more in...
Mind you, I did it at 8am and it's still showing 'pending' so I'm not entirely sure when the 'buy' gets made.
Thought I'd update this one for anyone who is interested.
So since my last update it's been on autopilot, so just dripping the £250 I have set up at the beginning of each month.
Currently then there is £6,250 invested which is worth £5,910.08 which is a loss of £350.08, that's a return of -9.75%
I really did time that £5,000 buy in very badly - there's a lesson there somewhere.
Anyway, I console myself that it's a long term investment, and the lower it goes, the more I'm getting for my £250/month so we press on.
If it dips much again I'll be tempted to drop another extra chunk in again though.
So since my last update it's been on autopilot, so just dripping the £250 I have set up at the beginning of each month.
Currently then there is £6,250 invested which is worth £5,910.08 which is a loss of £350.08, that's a return of -9.75%
I really did time that £5,000 buy in very badly - there's a lesson there somewhere.
Anyway, I console myself that it's a long term investment, and the lower it goes, the more I'm getting for my £250/month so we press on.
If it dips much again I'll be tempted to drop another extra chunk in again though.
b
hstewie said:
hstewie said: I think you have to get used to the fact it's a long term thing.
I've filled my ISA allowance with a mix of funds and IT's and a couple of weeks in it's £130 down but it's interesting to see which individual funds/IT's have gone up and down.
Ironically the main one losing me money at the moment is Scottish Mortgage Trust but the key point is that shouldn't be a concern after 2 weeks because it's supposed to be what it's worth in 5-10 or more years that counts.
I'd still diversify from just the UK FTSE 100 but that's just me
Absolutely. This isn't the place for short term savings and my hope is that in the long term, including dividends (which are annual so I won't see any till the end of the year) it will prove a good investment. Time will tell.I've filled my ISA allowance with a mix of funds and IT's and a couple of weeks in it's £130 down but it's interesting to see which individual funds/IT's have gone up and down.
Ironically the main one losing me money at the moment is Scottish Mortgage Trust but the key point is that shouldn't be a concern after 2 weeks because it's supposed to be what it's worth in 5-10 or more years that counts.
I'd still diversify from just the UK FTSE 100 but that's just me
btdk5 said:
Can I just ask what is it about the UK economy that you believe is going to perform well in the short to medium term? Just a bit perplexed why you chose a FTSE 100 index tracker instead of another index??
I chose the FTSE100 because it is made up of the biggest and arguably most solid UK companies. The only way to lose all of my money invested would be for the biggest ones to fail, in which case we've probably got bigger issues to worry about.Why, what should I have done?
Is there a graph that follows a global tracker in the same way that you can Google FTSE100 and get a graph over any time period up to present day you like?
Totally accepting that past performance, no indication, etc. But it's interesting to see what it's done, and what it's doing once you're in it.
Totally accepting that past performance, no indication, etc. But it's interesting to see what it's done, and what it's doing once you're in it.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: Closer to down 5% as of today
Such is life.
Ari does appear to be posting on other threads so clearly hasn't hurled himself from a window at his losses.
Haha, no, still here! Such is life.
Ari does appear to be posting on other threads so clearly hasn't hurled himself from a window at his losses.
I have £6,660 invested, currently worth £6,197.44 which is a -10.75% return, in cash that's £462.56 down.
C'est la vie - investments can go down as well as up, and in the meantime my £250/month buy ins are buying more than if it had gone the other way, so hey ho.
I really really did manage to make my 'big' (relatively at least) buy right at the very very peak in January though, I don't think I could have timed it any worse!
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