The Lemon Fool

BarrenWuffett wrote:I think mainly their own index funds and the odd ETF. Here's an article on Monevator which may be of interest.
http://monevator.com/using-vanguard-lif ... unds-life/

Thanks BW, I see now that it is indeed a mix -

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/inve ... folio-data

In the Motevator link that you or someone posted, there is a query about the yield; it was then something like 1.5% on the LS fund but 2.45% on the underlying funds. This was sort of brushed aside but it's something I would look into in more detail.

Cheers,

Leither.

Dod101 wrote: I would also be very nervous about running a portfolio for someone else. It is one thing doing my own thing and I am happy to stand or fall by own decisions with my own money but for someone else?

Dod

No intention of doing so Dod! At a time when I'm looking to simplify my own investments I certainly don't wish to take on anyone else.

Regards,

Leither.

GJHarney wrote:
One easy way to do the IT approach though in my opinion would be though Baille Gifford as their savings plan (or ISA) has no charges (only the standard charges for each IT you hold in it), no charges for the regular investments (other than the standard stamp duty levy) and automatic and free divi reinvestment (you also get their rather good regular magazine with regular offers of free tickets to literary festivals, if they are into books that could swing it!), and with a single monthly DD you can split it a number of very interesting ways into their different IT's (minimum £30 per fund), so a 4 or 5 way split and you have a great ready made basket that could include Scottish Mortgage, Monks, SAINTS, one of their two Japanese funds, and perhaps Edinburgh Worldwide (for small cap growth) and/or Pacific Horizon. As a one-stop fire and (almost) forget shop with no platform charges I think you (and they) would struggle to find better.

Interesting GJ. I saw you'd posted similarly elsewhere. I can remember Baillie Gifford from the days they had their office in Charlotte Square and I was in an accountancy practice opposite. And of course their Scottish Mortgage IT has done well for me.

Regards,

Leither.

I have no wish to be controversial and I like Baillie Gifford and also hold Scottish Mortgage. As an investment house they are better than most I think if for no other reason that they are one of the very few independent partnerships left. However I would not look to them as my only IT managers. They have good and not so good products and in any case would not put all my eggs in their basket.

Choose the product, and not the manager.

Dod

I think though Dod that if you are looking to recommend some products for people that may not be very interested in the investment anorak stuff that we are then you need to keep it simple, and a one stop shop approach is a good starting point for that. Both Vanguard and a selection of IT's from BG would do that (and I think that a SM, Monks, SAINTs and Jap fund BG combo is overall pretty hard to better elsewhere), but they also do it cheaply. As soon as you start multiplying the investment locations in the portfolio you add both complexity and risk higher charges and so while I used to recommend F&C and their IT's in the same way, but now their platform charges that were introduced a few years ago are not good in my view (and particularly not good for those that might not know any better) so I no longer do.

There are other alternatives for new investors of course. Fundsmith gets a lot of mentions normally, although while I like his investment style very much, the charges are way too high and I really fear for the value of the enterprise given it is so identified with one person, and what happens when Terry eventually goes to the great investment market in the sky? At least with the non-'big names' investment team approach of the BG funds that is never going to be a problem, likewise for the Vanguard ETF approach, and that is important for something that is probably going to be a 'fire and forget' investment.

I would choose a world equity index tracker or equivalent e.g. one or more global equity investment trusts that are benchmarked against the MSCI World Equity Index.

Financial education is the key - market history, compound interest, re-investment of dividends, pound-cost averaging,...etc. A simple approach that doesn't require any tinkering should delivery more than satisfactory returns.

I don't give the children investment advice. If I did it would be to alter their portfolio allocations from their current split between international equities and "bonds" to a three way split: a little gold would be added.

I take a gloomy view of gilts and so on; I think their choice of premium bonds is rather a crafty place to hold the conservative part of a portfolio though I think there's also a decent case for TIPS. The other thing I might recommend for the conservative part of a portfolio is paying down a mortgage, depending on the terms of the loan.