Month: June 2020

Master portfolios to beat Hargreaves Lansdown’s

FIRE v London3 Comments

For anybody starting investing today, for the long term, here are some model portfolios that I suggest will set somebody up very effectively and should beat the equivalent master portfolios from e.g. Hargreaves Lansdown or ii.

These ready-made master portfolios are all:

  • Based on low price index trackers from market leading Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) providers. Each master portfolio costs, on average, less than 0.20% a year – plus your platform charges. In contrast, the master portfolios at HL will cost you over 1% a year, and expose you to ‘Woodford risk’. Higher fees will, in the long run, result in worse performance.
  • Very simple to set up, with no more than holdings. This means they can be run efficiently with as little as £5k initial investment. Each model portfolio’s funds contains many hundreds of individual company’s shares/bonds – giving excellent diversification.
  • ‘Work anywhere‘ – you can buy these ETFs on all leading platforms and stockbroking sites.

Moreover, with just 3 clicks or less you can choose a master portfolio that suits your style, is tailored to your geographic preference, and is sustainable/ESG if you prefer. All these portfolios are suitable for pensions (via a SIPP), ISAs or a general investment account.

Start by choosing your portfolio style:

Adventurous
Medium risk
Conservative
Investing for children
Investing for income
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How sustainable is your investing?

FIRE v London11 Comments

The Black Live Matter protests are shining a light on racism, and police brutality. Which both feel quite a long way from the topic of this blog. But as I reflect on them I realise that I have never really discussed any ‘purpose/values’ driven investing. So here goes.

I notice my age increasingly frequently these days, especially at work – where I am almost the oldest person in a young, dynamic, London workforce.

The non-silicon side of Old St Roundabout

Where I am aligned with my workforce is that we are all, by the main, modern, liberal, decent Londoners. I don’t believe anybody I work with is a racist, or a sexist, or somebody who would wilfully harm the environment.

Nonetheless, my younger colleagues definitely differ from me in how they put values front and centre; they crave a ‘purpose’, and they embrace their purpose/values in much more of what they do. So, for instance, to the extent they manage their investments they would be much more likely, I think, than my peers to look for ‘socially responsible’ investing – or Environmental/Social/Governance (ESG) investing.

Why ‘socially responsible investing’ never appealed to me

When I started my investment journey, over twenty years ago, any ‘environmental’/similar investing was, to put it charitably, a niche sport. The range of investments was very limited, and it was assumed that the returns would be mediocre. Fees were high. I was not attracted to it.

Continue reading “How sustainable is your investing?” →