megarain wrote: ↑Thu Feb 20, 2020 12:37 pm
I use 2 main brokers :
Barclays : who do not have access to US shares, so u are mainly stuck investing in local stuff
Hargreaves landsdown : Who allow u to bur shares in US/Canada etc, but charge u forex fees etc.
Investing a similar amount in both, the Barclays account is up about 18% in a yr .. The US account about 26% (maily due to some great returns from Tesla/Nvidia/Advanced Micros/Apple) all of which, seem fully priced etc.
Are your quoted returns net of all costs and taxes? People tend to forget about including these when quoting their returns.
You should look at Robinhood and getting on the early access, You fees will disappear. Though that is coming to the whole of the UK market soon as has been the case in the US.
PeterLe wrote: ↑Thu Feb 20, 2020 2:06 pm
First id say pay off all your debts that's an amazing feeling and brings about a sense of freedom.
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(i have a Hargreaves Longsdale account too ((Vanguard Life Strategy 60% Equity, which is doing very nicely) and a blend of investments
I agree that paying off all debt is a nice feeling and brings a sense of freedom. However, in today's market that may be a poor purely financial decision.
Why do you use HL for your Vanguard funds and not Vanguard themselves? Last I looked you pay more fees with HL than direct with Vangaurd.
No one has yet mentioned SIPP's?
Vanguard launched their one this week. SIPP's make for a great investment vehicle given the tax rebates, especially if putting savings aside for family members, in particular children.
Many people don't know about the fact that non earners can get a "free" £720 each tax year as a top up from the Government if they pay in £2,880 into a SIPP. This can be done from the day someone (or your (grand)child) is born until the age of 75.
You can pay up to £40,000 of your earned income in a year, get tax free growth and the Government (for now) giving you the tax back on it at 20%/40%.
But even if you have no earned income don't forget you can still pay in £2,880 and get a £720 top up.
If investing for your children's future, they most likely have a time horizon of decades not years. So should be 100% equities. Set and forget.
As for investing, my advice and that of Warren Buffett's, stick to low cost index funds. Vanguard being my advice.
Though I am yet to meet anyone who invests in individual shares who says they lose over the long term, it's a bit like Betfair, "people never lose" on an individual basis, but when you look at the stats virtually no one actually does win over the long term (or in investing, beats the market average) despite what people say.
Read or listen to the book by Jack Bogle called "The little book of common sense investing":
To listen for free (speed up the play back!):
https://youtu.be/wvbwbOuBMhY
To buy:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Book-Co ... 119404509/
And then buy the one other book you will ever need on investing, The Simple Path To Wealth:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Path-We ... 533667926/
Your investing education will then be all but done and you don't need to spend any more effort on it bar the bare minimum.
You can be a very poor person who earns £10 million a year, where as someone earning £50,000 (or less) can be very wealthy. It isn't about, to a very large extent, what you earn, it is about what you spend.
Finally, remember there is an infinite amount of money to be made but a finite amount of time that you have, by the time your children leave for University you have already had around 95%+ of the time you will ever spend with them.
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