#88663
Postby GJHarney » October 16th, 2017, 6:25 pm
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.