Green and futureproof investments

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Hi
Apologies if this has been covered before, I've not found anything after a quick search.

I have a small amount (c£4K) in S&S ISA, LISA and SIPP with Hargreaves lansdown almost entirely in index funds on an accumulation basis. I put in circa £100-200 a month based on income fluctuations and expenses. It's the best I can do for now.

Looking ahead I want to invest in green energy, tech, and other futureproof investments. Reading about fossil fuel based market crashes got me thinking - what do you consider to be sustainable long term investments?

@TiddleTaddleTat yes it's the L&G index fund. Have also got Wisdom Tree AI ETF.

How does everyone go about choosing funds? I've been looking at top performers in equity growth as opposed to income and then going from there but so many to choose from, I feel overwhelmed and very indecisive most of the time.

I look at the 10 year charts, look at the holdings and the fund manager etc. But I feel like I'm just taking a stab in the dark most of the time.

I'm trying to diversify globally but feel I'm very highly invested in technology and not much in other sectors.

I've put the DCs JISAs into a S&P 500 tracker which seemed good but now I'm reading about US inflation and everything is overvalued and there might be a crash. I need to ignore the "noise" apparently but I can't seem to do it!

@Amboseli there's quite a lot of advice out there ... I'm old school so read a few beginners books , one was on investing in stocks, I've also read books on general personal finance as it's a nerdy interest or mine.
Then websites... can't remember the most useful re. Picking funds but overall I look at - is it active /passive, what are the charges , what is the sector / region etc that it covers, level of risk, etc. My investments are all long term as I'm about 25 yrs from retirement but the advice I've read suggests different strategies as you approach retirement , more focus on income and more bonds.
I'm not qualified to give advice though and the little I know has been gleaned from reading forums and websites and making many, many mistakes when I first started investing about 8yrs ago. My biggest mistakes have been where I've been too 'involved' and riddled with the investments by watching prices then taking them out and selling at a loss... duh... you need to just leave them.
If you create a Hargreaves lansdown account (or you may have one already) the watchlist function is great. You can put in hypothetical investments and see how they perform over time. I made a watchlist in about 2017 and it's grown 40% overall and gone up by several tens of thousand. Unfortunately my real investments are much smaller than that but you get the idea.

As an example this is what one watchlist has done since about 2014 (I think!)
Note - not necessarily green OR futureproof, and not recommendations !! (Past performance is no indicator of future returns - so important !)

I like INRG. Baillie Gifford Positive Change is also worth a look although it may not fit your criteria for sustainability.

@TiddleTaddleTat

As an example this is what one watchlist has done since about 2014 (I think!) Note - not necessarily green OR futureproof, and not recommendations !! (Past performance is no indicator of future returns - so important !)

Wow, love that watchlist! 😲

@Amboseli

How does everyone go about choosing funds? I've been looking at top performers in equity growth as opposed to income and then going from there but so many to choose from, I feel overwhelmed and very indecisive most of the time.

I look at the 10 year charts, look at the holdings and the fund manager etc. But I feel like I'm just taking a stab in the dark most of the time.

I'm trying to diversify globally but feel I'm very highly invested in technology and not much in other sectors.

I've put the DCs JISAs into a S&P 500 tracker which seemed good but now I'm reading about US inflation and everything is overvalued and there might be a crash. I need to ignore the "noise" apparently but I can't seem to do it!

I do similar to you, but like you say it does seem like taking a stab in the dark a lot of the time. I've made a few mistakes but also have made some good investments....it's a massive learning curve.

I'm heavy in the S&P500 after reading that Warren Buffet stipulated that 90% of his wife's money should be invested in an S&P tracker. I've gone for a vanguard etf for this. Over the past century the S&P500 has returned 10% a year on average. That's a great track record to me! Yes, there will be a correction(s) but long term I believe it will continue to do well

[quote TiddleTaddleTat]@GreenLunchBox quite shocked about how much Apple inc , Facebook , Shell etc appear on some of the funds marked ESG . I've got a shortlist now having looked through the accounts. I like the look of these.[/quote]
Thanks for sharing your shortlist. I'm definitely shocked Facebook is considered ESG. And I guess Shell... they must obviously be doing things I'm not aware of now. I'm so scared of emerging markets after having been stung by China, so that Vanguard one wouldn't be for me!

@GreenLunchBox yes I'm currently in the process of transferring a pension over to vanguard from a provider where it has done well but very high charges. Am planning to put it into the S&P 500 ETF and just leave it there for 10+ years. It's not a huge amount and as you say S&P has been a consistent performer over many many years.

Yes I read that quote from WB!

I've just come across Andrew Craig's books and think they could be useful in order to feel more confident about fund choices -

How to Own the World: A Plain English Guide to Thinking Globally and Investing Wisely
(This sounds more like a primer)

How to spend less, invest the rest
(Enjoying this as a free audible book so far)

I think confidence is absolutely key. I made a good choice in using a small inheritance to buy a range of index funds and heard gold was a good idea. The problem was that I hadn't got a strategy about how long to hold those investments and panicked when the value of gold halved and sold it. Stupid!

@TiddleTaddleTat yes

@TiddleTaddleTat I think my problem is I'm so indecisive. Eg S&P 500 or US equity index. They have actually performed equally well over 10 years but I can't decide which one to go for!

I feel there's too much information out there, it's overwhelming.

My dad has been investing for 40 years and when he started all

he had was the newspaper once a day and Teletext! So no info overload. He's done very well, shame I don't seem to have his skill even though he's always trying to help and explain things to me.