Possibly very basic question about Vanguard unit costs...

[User68490547903]

Hi,

I'm very new to investing, so please humour me if this is a very basic question!

I have invested small amounts per month in a Vanguard Lifestrategy 60% equity fund which I opened in June. At the time I invested, the price per unit was £223.50. Over the last 7 months or so, my investment has obviously gone up and down. At the moment, it is massively down (-5%) so I have lost money on my initial investment, but the unit price is £227.40.

I'm looking at this as a long term investment, so I'm not worried, but I don't quite understand why I am in the minus figures if the unit price is now higher than when I invested?

Sorry if this is a very basic question....

What are the fees?

I would think it's their fees

The fee is only 0.22%. I deliberately went with Vanguard because the fees are low.

I've paid £1.76 in fees so far...

The price per unit - is that what you remember it as or on the detailed investment view? As the delay between applying and buying the price would change.

Yes it's the detailed investment view - I'm looking at the graph showing performance, which also shows when I bought.

Oh no idea then. Hopefully someone else will know!

I've worked it out. My initial investment was at £223, but I've subsequently made more investments at higher prices. I knew it would be a basic question! Thanks anyway!

If you’ve made small monthly purchases, the unit price will have been different everytime, so some units you bought were probably at a higher price than the current cost.

You’ll be able to see the buy price in your transactions. If you’ve paid in monthly since June there will be 8 purchases at 8 different prices.

Oh cross-posted! Glad you worked it out.

Yes, it's dollar cost averaging.

The fact you can see how much you purchased at each month is good - it shows you that over time you’ll benefit from this approach because you’ll also be buying now (when the market is cheaper).