so i have an isa - which fund?!
Discussion
petemurphy said:
so any tips for a beginner. have 20k to play with. dont want it too risky that I could lose it all but at the same time am not totally risk averse. where to start?!
Some resources for a DIY investorhttps://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Your ISA provider (HL, whoever) will have a list of funds you can invest in.
Chose a selection you like the look of, reflecting your appetite for risk, and ensuring your portfolio is diversified across regions and sectors unless you have a particular interest and expertise in one area.
Look for funds with lower fees.
There is a lot of information out there, everyone has their own view on what is good advice and what is not. For someone starting out, Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Chose a selection you like the look of, reflecting your appetite for risk, and ensuring your portfolio is diversified across regions and sectors unless you have a particular interest and expertise in one area.
Look for funds with lower fees.
There is a lot of information out there, everyone has their own view on what is good advice and what is not. For someone starting out, Keep It Simple, Stupid.
petemurphy said:
so any tips for a beginner. have 20k to play with. dont want it too risky that I could lose it all but at the same time am not totally risk averse. where to start?!
Work on understanding your appetite for risk.Making money is great, losing it less so.
Perhaps an obvious statement but one which I think is sometimes forgotten - savings and investments are two different things.
Look at your timescales and understand clearly if you need to be able to go to the pot within those timescales and be sure that the amount you put in it is still there.
The linked thread has some really good stuff.
There are various online tools that help you think about your attitude to risk, for example:
https://www.standardlife.co.uk/c1/guides-and-calcu...
The result of this might help you decide what type of investment to make.
I don't think you can beat Vanguard to start with. Low cost, and simplicity of the Life strategy funds. I'm avoiding putting any more money on the HL platform because of the costs. (no choice on my SIPP, as all company contributions have to go via HL) I'm only beginning to realise now how those platform costs compound over the years.
Edited by BlackG7R on Tuesday 25th June 10:48
orangesrule said:
I'm with vanguard also, which seems to be doing okay.
Don't lump the whole 20k in at once unless you are confident you are buying at a low point. Spread the payments overtime (maybe over 18 months - £1.1k monthly), this will minimise exposure to market fluctuations.
Except doing that you wouldn't get your £20k into 1yrs ISA allowance. Don't lump the whole 20k in at once unless you are confident you are buying at a low point. Spread the payments overtime (maybe over 18 months - £1.1k monthly), this will minimise exposure to market fluctuations.
petemurphy said:
so any tips for a beginner. have 20k to play with. dont want it too risky that I could lose it all but at the same time am not totally risk averse. where to start?!
Don't. At least, not yet. I'm more and more of the belief that there needs to be a minimum level of financial literacy (understanding what you are doing and why) before diving in - even with a passive investment fund. Another poster stated in another thread that investing is 80% psychological and 20% technical.
You need a base level of understanding - which isn't too hard - but the hardest part is psychological i.e. one's own emotions and behaviour. I'd start with:
Daniel Kahneman - 'Thinking, Fast and Slow'
Charlie Munger's speech on 'The Psychology of Human Misjudgement'
In fact, I devour most things espoused by Charlie Munger:
A Lesson on Elementary Wisdom - note: follow the link to 'Mental Models' (probably more appropriate for Derek's DIY Investor thread in terms of improving one's decision making).
In theory, it's incredibly simple: pick a passively managed fund (say MSCI Global Index tracker) that accumulates dividends i.e. reinvests them, and drip feed your £20k over a period of time i.e. a specific chunk every month or quarter and do something else with your life for the next 10-20 years plus.
In practice, we over-complicate things and are psychologically incapable of sitting on our hands - we feel that we must do something; when in fact, all that is required is a huge dollop of patience over the long-term. We want instant gratification, instant wealth, and numerous other things that interfere and ruin our (basic) investment plan.
I believe that what is needed - and what I certainly could have learned from many years ago - is basic advice that transforms how we view and think about money i.e. Robert Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad', or George S. Clason's 'The Richest Man In Babylon' (I have yet to read either book so cannot offer a personal recommendation).
I write this without condescension, especially as I am frequently adding to my learning and understanding, but because I am seeing numerous threads from posters with next to no financial [investment] literacy, willing to immediately dive-in. This way mini-bonds and binary options (and other instruments of financial destruction) lie.
Thinking about it, is there a book and/or site that provides a good all-round introduction to investments, financial and investing concepts, timeframes, risk identification, evaluation and management, investor psychology, etc that covers the basics? What would be people's recommendations for the OP and others like him? Hell, I'm all ears because I'd be interested in reading to take a view on recommending to others in my social circle, as well as reading myself.
Edited by putonghua73 on Tuesday 25th June 13:59
putonghua73 said:
petemurphy said:
so any tips for a beginner. have 20k to play with. dont want it too risky that I could lose it all but at the same time am not totally risk averse. where to start?!
Don't. At least, not yet. I'm more and more of the belief that there needs to be a minimum level of financial literacy (understanding what you are doing and why) before diving in - even with a passive investment fund. Another poster stated in another thread that investing is 80% psychological and 20% technical.
You need a base level of understanding - which isn't too hard - but the hardest part is psychological i.e. one's own emotions and behaviour. I'd start with:
Daniel Kahneman - 'Thinking, Fast and Slow'
Charlie Munger's speech on 'The Psychology of Human Misjudgement'
In fact, I devour most things espoused by Charlie Munger:
A Lesson on Elementary Wisdom - note: follow the link to 'Mental Models' (probably more appropriate for Derek's DIY Investor thread in terms of improving one's decision making).
In theory, it's incredibly simple: pick a passively managed fund (say MSCI Global Index tracker) that accumulates dividends i.e. reinvests them, and drip feed your £20k over a period of time i.e. a specific chunk every month or quarter and do something else with your life for the next 10-20 years plus.
In practice, we over-complicate things and are psychologically incapable of sitting on our hands - we feel that we must do something; when in fact, all that is required is a huge dollop of patience over the long-term. We want instant gratification, instant wealth, and numerous other things that interfere and ruin our (basic) investment plan.
I believe that what is needed - and what I certainly could have learned from many years ago - is basic advice that transforms how we view and think about money i.e. Robert Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad', or George S. Clason's 'The Richest Man In Babylon' (I have yet to read either book so cannot offer a personal recommendation).
I write this without condescension, especially as I am frequently adding to my learning and understanding, but because I am seeing numerous threads from posters with next to no financial [investment] literacy, willing to immediately dive-in. This way mini-bonds and binary options (and other instruments of financial destruction) lie.
Thinking about it, is there a book and/or site that provides a good all-round introduction to investments, financial and investing concepts, timeframes, risk identification, evaluation and management, investor psychology, etc that covers the basics? What would be people's recommendations for the OP and others like him? Hell, I'm all ears because I'd be interested in reading to take a view on recommending to others in my social circle, as well as reading myself.
Edited by putonghua73 on Tuesday 25th June 13:59
Apparently the best investors are dead ones who can't fiddle with their portfolios, closely followed by people who totally forgot about their various pots.
I've "made" more money with Fundsmith and Vanguard in the last 3 months, than i've ever made on anything in my life. My fingers are itching to skim off / consolidate this "profit" in some way, because I feel it can't carry on like this for much longer. But following John Bogle's advice, I am trying very hard to resist.
BlackG7R said:
It's very true that it's almost impossible to just leave it alone to compound and grow over the years. (Which has been proven many times to be the best way long term)
Apparently the best investors are dead ones who can't fiddle with their portfolios, closely followed by people who totally forgot about their various pots.
I've "made" more money with Fundsmith and Vanguard in the last 3 months, than i've ever made on anything in my life. My fingers are itching to skim off / consolidate this "profit" in some way, because I feel it can't carry on like this for much longer. But following John Bogle's advice, I am trying very hard to resist.
This is me too, also with Vanguard and Fundsmith. At the beginning of the year I was reading about USA equities being expensive but also read about Warren Buffet advising to track the S&P 500 which is working so far.Apparently the best investors are dead ones who can't fiddle with their portfolios, closely followed by people who totally forgot about their various pots.
I've "made" more money with Fundsmith and Vanguard in the last 3 months, than i've ever made on anything in my life. My fingers are itching to skim off / consolidate this "profit" in some way, because I feel it can't carry on like this for much longer. But following John Bogle's advice, I am trying very hard to resist.
Mazinbrum said:
This is me too, also with Vanguard and Fundsmith. At the beginning of the year I was reading about USA equities being expensive but also read about Warren Buffet advising to track the S&P 500 which is working so far.
UBS S&P 500 0.09% AMC, I invested a small amount of money in this fund via HL platform so overall 0.54% PA, currently up 83% over the last 3 years.Ridealong said:
UBS S&P 500 0.09% AMC, I invested a small amount of money in this fund via HL platform so overall 0.54% PA, currently up 83% over the last 3 years.
I'm in S&P 500 UCITS ETF (VUSA) on the Vanguard platform - OCF 0.07%Past Performance
30 Jun 2014
-
30 Jun 2015
+14.29%
30 Jun 2015
-
30 Jun 2016
+19.59%
30 Jun 2016
-
30 Jun 2017
+18.73%
30 Jun 2017
-
30 Jun 2018
+11.24%
30 Jun 2018
-
30 Jun 2019
+11.15%
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