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Balance of investments in a portfolio

34 replies

Clockface222 · 25/09/2025 12:19

Does anyone know what a good balance of investments is in a SIPP with a medium term outlook (retirement in 15 or so years)?

Does this look ok?

Cash (MMF) - 10%
Gold ETF -6%
Global equities - 49%
Global income -10%
UK equities - 10%
Tech ETF and stock - 15%

I am mainly using Vanguard funds for low fees.

I appreciate my tech exposure will be more like 25-30% due to exposure through global equity funds. Is this too high?

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NoBinturongsHereMate · 25/09/2025 14:17

Is 'global income' bonds or dividend stocks?

Why cash?

There's no right answer really - depends on your risk appetite, total pot.size, other assets etc. And, of course, the right answer can only be determined with hindsight.

Clockface222 · 25/09/2025 14:48

There is 10% in global income etf and the UK allocation is also in income funds.

To be honest I don't really understand bonds, I looked at the vanguard lifestrategy which has a bond allocation compared to the 100% equity one and it seems to ave underperformed both in strong and weak markets.

The cash is in a mmf getting close to 5%. The plan is to use it in a correction or crash.

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Clockface222 · 25/09/2025 14:54

Sorry didn't really answer your question. These are the funds

Tech
Alphabet Inc Class A
L&G Global Technology Index I Acc

Cash
Royal London Short Term Money Mkt Y Acc

Global income
Vanguard global equity income
artemis global income

Global equities
Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity A Acc
Vanguard FTSE Dev Wld ex-UK Eq Idx £ Acc
Fidelity Index World P Acc

UK equity income
Vanguard FTSE UK Eq Inc Idx £ Acc
gold

Gold ETF ( iShares Physical Gold SGLN)

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SlipperyLizard · 25/09/2025 14:56

What made you choose that mix? That should tell you whether it is right for you. I’m also confused by the cash allocation, if you don’t need the money for 10 years+ why is it cash?

I’ve got a 10-15 year time horizon to retirement and my Vanguard SIPP is 100% in a FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund. Only time will tell whether there might have been a “better” mix (no one can predict the future, though, so no one can say now that anything else will perform better) but I’m comfortable with the level of risk & the fees.

Hitchens · 26/09/2025 08:32

SlipperyLizard · 25/09/2025 14:56

What made you choose that mix? That should tell you whether it is right for you. I’m also confused by the cash allocation, if you don’t need the money for 10 years+ why is it cash?

I’ve got a 10-15 year time horizon to retirement and my Vanguard SIPP is 100% in a FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund. Only time will tell whether there might have been a “better” mix (no one can predict the future, though, so no one can say now that anything else will perform better) but I’m comfortable with the level of risk & the fees.

I'm the same. don't know why people make things more complicated. the global all cap covers everything most people need

Hitchens · 26/09/2025 08:36

Clockface222 · 25/09/2025 14:54

Sorry didn't really answer your question. These are the funds

Tech
Alphabet Inc Class A
L&G Global Technology Index I Acc

Cash
Royal London Short Term Money Mkt Y Acc

Global income
Vanguard global equity income
artemis global income

Global equities
Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity A Acc
Vanguard FTSE Dev Wld ex-UK Eq Idx £ Acc
Fidelity Index World P Acc

UK equity income
Vanguard FTSE UK Eq Inc Idx £ Acc
gold

Gold ETF ( iShares Physical Gold SGLN)

feels overly complex. how did you select these funds and how did you decide the % allocations.

I'm on a similar timeframe to you and I'm 100% equities in the vanguard global all cap. I have no further insight into what sectors or countries are going to perform over the next 15+ years, so this covers pretty much al bases for me.

Why would you have an allocation of cash?

Cornishclio · 26/09/2025 17:01

Why have you gone for UK equities and tech separately. Surely global diversified covers it all? It depends totally on your appetite for risk. A lot of it is equities rather than bonds so could be volatile. Not sure about the cash or gold either. Personally I would just do global equities or global bonds or a fund which includes both like the Vanguard mixed

Mumski45 · 26/09/2025 21:54

I am planning to retire much sooner than you and my split is roughly as follows:
Global - 41%
US specific - 6%
UK - 12%
Europe - 6%
China - 3%
Japan - 3%
Other Asia - 3%
Gold/Silver - 8%
Thematic experiments (eg blockchain/defence/AI/Rare earths - 3%
Bonds - 15%

This may seem complicated to some compared to a Global tracker but I like a mix of Active/Passive and I like to see the movement separately.

I only started DIY management 8 months ago but have done very well so far (might just be luck and a fair wind) I tweak a little bit now and then in response to market movements but I'm not going to change much.

My bonds allocation is for the same purpose as your MMF so I do get that. However, the Royal London fund you use is one which takes time to sell. On the platform I use it can take 2 days from order to dealing which in a crash situation might be too slow. I would consider moving this to an ETF which you can move more quickly. Have a look at CSH2 or ERNS which is bonds but these are both ETF's which can also be sold instantly.

I have the L&G Global tech and the Artemis Global Income - both are very popular on the investing forum I follow. I also have kids funds in Vanguard Lifestrategy 100% which is a good all rounder for the long term.

Gold is also very popular at the moment due to the potential for a correction in the near to mid future. I would also consider adding silver and or some miners to complement your physical gold fund. I have Jupiter Gold and Silver plus SILG Silver miners.

One more thing to add is have a look at your global diversification. Quite a few global funds are very US focused especially if they are index trackers. See if you can work out your overall US exposure, you might be surprised at how high it is. If your platform has an X-ray facility then you can usually use this to find out.
Artemis Global Income isn't one of these as it is deliberately different. If you like this one have a look at Ranmore Global Equity which is another active fund which is popular at the moment.

Obviously all the above is just my limited experience, I am not a financial adviser so please do your own research.

Clockface222 · 27/09/2025 10:26

@Mumski45 thank you so much, this is really helpful. That is interesting about the MMF, currently it seems to sell pretty quickly, same or next day which is the same for the ETFs I hold. Does it operate differently in a crash to an ETF? I really don't understand bonds, they seem to give lower interest than MMFs. Some bonds seem to go up and down a lot like equities and others pay out like cash, are there different types?

I have been looking at Artemis Global Income. It scares me a bit just becuase it has gone up so much already this year. It does look good for diversification away from tech/us though and the fund manager really seems to be very skilled so I was wondering about dripping a bit into it. I have held rathbone in the past and agree it is a good fund but maybe a bit too similar to what I already hold.

Does you have any recommendations for gold? I was thinking about the iShares Physical Gold SGLN which seems fairly low cost.

I ran my allocation through chatgbt to look at global diversification and excluding the cash it is 56% US, 16% UK, 15% Europe, 7% emerging, 7% gold.

May I ask which investing forum do you use?

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Simplegazette · 27/09/2025 10:45

I wouldn't personally count gold as an Investment, it's more a speculation. I wouldn't have it as part of pension planning which is too important, but then I wouldn't have it at all as part of a balanced portfolio either unless you like a bet on a random commodity, crypto, art or a vintage wine for that matter.

Clockface222 · 27/09/2025 10:54

@Simplegazette I thought the purpose of gold in a portfolio was as a hedge against inflation/currency weakness and to offer some diversiation as it often rises when equities fall?

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Simplegazette · 27/09/2025 11:19

That was the traditional thinking about gilts and bonds in the last crash - everything went south!
My problem with gold is there's no income from it and no reinvestment or compounding from dividends as there aren't any. Also no-one really knows really what it's value is based on; it's all largely sentiment, although some will say there's a finite supply so that underpins it's value.
I've held gold and seen it crash and stay low for decades - it's just not my cup of tea for funds I'd want to access at some time, it's fine for a speculative bet, I've made money on it before but no Idea how I done it😁

Clockface222 · 27/09/2025 11:21

@Simplegazette So do you just hold 100% equities or use something else as a hedge?

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Simplegazette · 27/09/2025 11:40

Roughly 20% global government bonds is the hedge and used to buy in a dip.
The rest at the moment is roughly 30% global small companies,
5% global emerging markets
45% global large and mid sized.
I only invest in funds, and only for the purpose of a secure pension or income in the future - no fancy market trading for me!

Clockface222 · 27/09/2025 11:51

@Simplegazette Please may I ask what global government bonds you hold and in the advent of a crash are these easy to sell? Do they provide a fixed rate of interest and is there any risk of them dropping? Sorry for all the questions but I really am clueless about bonds.

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Simplegazette · 27/09/2025 12:11

They're in a global fund so I guess I own loads all over the planet.
I believe they're no different to many other funds that automatically reinvest income in the fund.

It's just a trade on the platform - usually 4 days to complete. The fund is a big one always easy to sell.
Everything is at risk of falling (which it has done in the past), I only have funds not individual bonds or gilts, and there is absolutely no guarantee. Only a belief they are lower risk compared to say shares in a company.

Clockface222 · 27/09/2025 12:25

What advantage would bonds have over say a money market fund? The one I am using gets close to 5% at the moment with no risk yet bonds seems to have averaged 1-2% a year over the past 5 years with downside risk. Am I missing something?

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Mumski45 · 27/09/2025 13:53

I will come back with more detail later but my first thought is that if you have a fund which is distributing you need to look at the yield as well as the growth. These funds make regular distributions which should be taken into account when assessing performance.

Mumski45 · 27/09/2025 16:01

@Clockface222 The bond fund you are looking at is fairly typical of bond funds and most if not all of them took a dive in 2022. As I mentioned earlier you also need to look at the distributions to see overall return.

You are right in that the historical trend of bonds going the opposite way to equities and therefore being a good hedge has not been true more recently
Have a look at ERNS, this is an ETF so you can sell immediately if you need to when there is a downturn/crash and you want to 'buy the dip'. Alternatively CSH2 (also an ETF) is more of alternative to an MMF with approx 5% return over the last year. As I said ETF's can be sold immediately like a company share rather than at a later date or time like a fund. Are you sure your existing ETF's don't transact immediately. The only reason for that would be if you place an order when the markets are closed. If you place one when the markets are open you will know exactly what price you will get.

I have the following funds which follow the Gold/Silver price although SGLN is a popular one.

  • Blackrock Gold and General (miners) - held for about 8 months and currently 60% up
  • Jupiter Gold and Silver - bought just over a month ago and already 30% up
  • Global X Silver miners ETF - only bought this week but already up.

I agree that there is some similarity between Artemis Global Income and Ranmore Global Equity. I do like the Artemis one (26% in the last 8 months and with a good long term track record) and I don't want to be too heavy in US for now so it still appeals to me. Your global allocation looks good to me although I am nervous of US at the moment so am at about 35% across SIPP and ISA's according to the x-ray report.

My SIPP is with Interactive Investor who have their own forum called ii community, you probably need to have an account with ii in order to join it. I find it really useful as it's full of very knowledgeable and experienced investors who are happy to share their thoughts and tips. You also have access to view any other members portfolio and performance (% not value but does include names of stocks/funds) and what they are buying and selling which is really helpful and in some cases a bit of an eye opener. There is a really wide variety of investors including some like me who stick to funds and others who trade daily (some of them too much in my opinion).
As I said last time please do your own research, I am a novice at this and not a financial advisor.

gianfrancogorgonzola · 27/09/2025 16:17

Too complicated for me. With a 15-25 yr time line I’m around 8% cash (emergency fund) and 92% global all cap. In ten years or so I might move into bonds although after the last couple of years might avoid altogether!

SevenHundredandFortyThreeThree · 27/09/2025 16:29

Also not clear on what your cash is for. Yes, there are good arguments for holding cash in retirement (in which case you'll probably want a lot more cash than that) but that's 15 years away. Surely what you'd do now if there were a crash is...nothing? Unless the idea is that you're keeping cash to buy the dip, but you're missing out on a lot of potential growth while you wait.

Bonds tend to move in the opposite direction to shares in low inflation environments. If you also have high inflation in the mix, bonds and shares can drop together (as we saw in 2022). Bonds are also generally down over the last 5 years because BEBR has risen (making cash more attractive than it was previously).

Please may I ask what global government bonds you hold and in the advent of a crash are these easy to sell? Do they provide a fixed rate of interest and is there any risk of them dropping? Sorry for all the questions but I really am clueless about bonds.

A gilt fund can certainly drop significantly (look at https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/i/ishares-ii-plc-core-uk-gilts-ucits-etf for example). A fund pays dividends rather than a fixed interest rate. If you want something that pays you a fixed interest rate and you don't need to worry about selling, you could consider buying short dated gilts which you then hold to maturity (so no concerns about drops, only inflation). However in the current environment you may as well hold cash or a MMF.

I think your equities look fine. My main comment would be that you seem a bit unclear on whether you are in the growth stage or the run up to retirement and your portfolio seems neither one thing nor the other. With 15 years to go, it's very early to be derisking. I'd be 100% equities at your stage of life.

iShares II plc (IGLT) Core UK Gilts UCITS ETF share price | IGLT

The latest iShares II plc share price (IGLT). View recent trades and share price information for iShares II plc and other shares.

https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/i/ishares-ii-plc-core-uk-gilts-ucits-etf

SevenHundredandFortyThreeThree · 27/09/2025 16:33

Also not clear on what you mean by "easy to sell".

JamDisaster · 28/09/2025 07:08

Whether you’ve chosen exactly the right spread of equities is an impossible question to answer. A better question is what you think the role of each asset class and equity holding should be and whether what you have reflects your longer term plans and appetite for risk. You also need to think about your portfolio in the context of other savings/investments, your housing situation, your partner if you have one etc. (For example, if you own a house outright and have a partner with a pension, you could take more risk than if you and single and renting.)

As pp say, with 15 years to go you are still growing your portfolio. It is too early to be moving significantly into cash/bonds/commodities. I would suggest that you give some consideration to what you plan to do on retirement- stay invested? Buy an annuity? A mix of both? If you are staying invested you need a suitable structure to your portfolio (two of the main ways to do it are by building a cash flow ladder or taking the natural yield- each needs a different approach. Lots of info online.) In essence, both approaches are ways to avoid selling shares during a downturn, which is the key risk. But at the moment this is just something to be learning and thinking about, not actioning.

Regarding the shares you hold, there is some complexity that doesn’t make immediate sense- for example, you have an ex UK fund and an additional UK income fund. It’s not that this is wrong- you may have carefully assessed exactly the proportion of Uk holdings you want and whether they are income or growth funds and this is the best way to achieve it. Or you may not, and this is just additional complexity that isn’t really serving you. As you know you are very heavy in tech- again it’s not a question of whether this is right or wrong but whether it fits your particular plan.

I disagree with PP on the need to be able to sell quickly. You’re a retail investor, not a trader, and all the evidence is that retail investors do better with buy and hold. Unless you’re a professional trader, by the time you’ve realised a crash is underway it will be too late and the likelihood is that you’ll just miss out on the recovery. That’s why (in retirement) you need to build your portfolio intentionally to allow you to wait out the dips. Again, a lot of this is personal choice- pp who was talking about selling in a downturn may have found that it worked for her, but the evidence is that it doesn’t work for most investors as you need to be able to call the bottom as well as the top. Very difficult to do. Given that we don’t know what’s round the corner, better to build a portfolio that works whatever comes. So I wouldn’t worry too much about holding funds.

On your dislike of bonds, you’re not alone. If you google “death of the 60 40 portfolio” you’ll find a lot of people who agree with you and more people relying on larger cash holdings in retirement. Again, no saying who is right or wrong on this, and by the time you retire it may all have changed again.

There is a lot of info out there- two good sources are the Meaningful Money podcast and books and the Many Happy Returns podcast. I’d spend some time thinking about your aims and the sort of approach you’d be happy with, and then start shaping the portfolio to reflect these. But until you’ve done that first stage, it’s hard to say whether what you are holding at the moment will help you achieve them. On a “finger in the air” basis, it looks ok.

Sorry what an epic!

BorgQueen · 29/09/2025 18:08

If your Global funds includes UK then you have a higher allocation than 10%.
The UK only makes up >3% of a global index

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