What funds are you investing in, and why?

[user593]

My stocks and shares ISA is mostly S&P 500 Tech. I’ve now invested a little bit in gold as well. I’ve got a bit more I need to put somewhere and I’m not sure what to do - everything seems so volatile at the moment. What are you investing in, and why?

If you want to start investing, Interactive Investor have really good beginner guides and it makes it very easy.

Over the last few years I have added the L & G Cyber Security ETF. This is a no brainer for me. With all the hacking issues for M & S, Jaguar and similar companies are only going to spend more on this and the market will grow massively imo.

I am fan of Rathbones Global Opportunities and Royal London Sustainable World Trust too. Backed up by some Vanguard trackers to balance the portfolio.

I took advice from ChatGPT last year and have the following:

50% FTSE all world tracker - up 17%
20% S&P 500 - up 15.5%
15% global aggregate bond - up 3.4%
10% EQQQ Nasdaq 100 - up 24%
5% physical gold - up 38% so sure do wish I’d put more into this!

Chat GP can give advice on this? My goodness.

I think the poster who mentioned RL sustainable would’ve been less impressed with it had they sunk a big lump sum into it days before the bonds crash, it lost 27% immediately, had only gained 4% the next year and, had I kept it rather than selling and putting it into Fidelity index World, would only now be getting above it’s original value 🙄
It was meant to be a de-risking move. I’d sold Scottish mortgage after years of incredible gains so was really pissed off.

What’s the point in holding a global tracker, S+P and Nasdaq?

It means you are even more heavily weighted in the US. Not a very balanced portfolio.

There is a lot of talk about a possible impending market meltdown… What measures, if any, are you taking to protect your portfolio?

I’ve just pulled everything out of America as it looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Also pulling out of equities but that’s partly an age issue. I have stable coin investments in nexo which earn 12% and I may invest more there.

Going forward I’m not investing anymore cash in global index funds with a high focus on US stocks and instead moving to index funds ex USA. Buying Commodity Funds & Precious metals funds gradually diversifying more.

Scottish Mortgage Trust

What’s the European defence ETF called please? Sounds like a sensible idea

Vanguard Global
LS 80
Just leaving and forgetting . Done very well so far and even if there is a correction they’ll always recover over time .

The WHOLE point of a Global index fund is that it rebalances, so if/when the markets tilt away from the US, the percentages shift so if say, Japan becomes the best performer, the indices reflect that. The MAG 7 are affecting things massively, if they all went poof tomorrow, it would affect the whole world.

If the entire US markets collapse, we will have much bigger things to worry about than our investments.

If you want lower US exposure, say under 50%, then you would have a portfolio containing more ‘rest of world’ funds or etfs.
The Vanguard lifestrategy funds offer a higher UK weighting, if that’s your thing.

when isn't there talk of a global crash? If you are invested in the long term then it doesn't matter

No Chat GPT or any other AI cannot give financial or investment advice. Chat GPT can be a useful tool to help structure your own thinking and collect information, but I wouldn't trust it with any meaningful amount of money. As k GPT to give you a 1000 word summary on a subject you already know a lot about and see how many things it gets wrong.

WisdomTree Europe Defence UCITS ETF

Can I ask which ex US index funds would you look at?

Personally I’d stick with Vanguard.

Huge company, low fees/charges.

Only just got around to looking for one today and invested in iShares MSCI World ex-USA. XUSE:LSE:GBP

Im putting a bit into meta as it tumbles..

And if size is the criteria, iShares (Blackrock) are bigger than Vanguard and if low fees are your go-to selection requirement, the 0.15% fee beats quite a few of the Vanguard funds.
Not that I'm suggesting this is the right criteria for investing in a fund but if you think it is - this one's a winner!😁

I invested in a stocks & shares ISA with a shower called Wealthify, little realising that their positive reviews were for ease of use of the software, not returns.

After a flat year I moved it all to Vanguard 100% equities and have had two and a half years of healthy gains, by my standards. 54.53% if you must know. 23.97% in the last 12 months.

Wow! Can you explain how it works?

I've had 95% return in 2.5 years from an Amundi index fund - I can only tell you about the past, I can't tell you that success is going to continue!

Mos people have neither the time, patience or knowledge to make sophisticated investment decisions. For them, trackers of various kinds are the way to go. Vanguard offer every trackers one might possibly want, low fees and a user-friendly website. And they are big, established, reputable and have a reassuring name recognition. For ordinary, middle of the road investors I cannot readily think of a better platform.