Any thoughts on the future of technology funds, many of which has done incredibly well over the last 12-18 months?
They don't show many signs of dropping. I'd hold for now.
After my sale of the America's and some of Baillie Gifford I'm at an all time high in My SIPP after a short dip a week or so ago.
Same here.
I track my funds daily & over the past week all my equity funds apart from Japan have been moving up & my bond funds going sideways - with my Vanguard gilt fund actually falling over that time.
Definitely one occasion you should follow your own advice about how good the Baillie Gifford funds are.
My holding in BG Japanese Fund is up by 7.25% since the first of this month.
I've got some of that fund, it had a big dip at the end of Jan but has since risen nicely.
Yep the BG funds have been a great shout, im up nearly 10% in BG America, more than 10% in BG Global Discovery, and nearly 5% in BG Japanese. That's in exactly a month since I started my S&S isa.
Thanks for the tips Golfie
Glad to be of some assistance 🙂.
I already hold 3 BG funds (American, Discovery & European). Tempting as it is to hold their Japanese or Asian fund I dont really want to be holding too many funds from one Investment house.
Interesting. But poses the question to me, why?
I've got 5 BG funds (America, Global Discovery, Positive Change, Pacific and Japan). All 5 have done really well over the past year (to put it mildly). Much better than any other funds I hold.
So why the reluctance to invest in a company that has done well? (If you tell me its because your investments in other funds have beaten the BG increases then I really do take my hat off to you!)
I suppose I was more thinking of my clients portfolios & harks back to yesteryear. Looks a bit weird if I keep on recommending BG funds (or any one single manager for that matter). Clients might think I'm tied to them or getting some form of kick-back. I also like a little bit of diversity- BG may be following some sort of mandate (growth rather than value) and it's never wrong to back a different horse now & again.
I thought you might also mention some lessons from history, where certain houses, and individual managers were pushed so much that we mug punters bought the hype, without really knowing enough, especially when things started to unravel. The main example is Invesco, and then its star manager Neil Woodford launching his own funds. What went wrong there? Hubris, is probably the best summary. Some suggest Lindsell Train might go the same way, but I’m holding for now, having already cashed some very good profits.
I got a regular email from FundCalibre yesterday which includes the news that, having been “ close” for several years, Baillie Gifford is now their fund house of the year...Hmmm.....
Any thoughts on the future of technology funds, many of which has done incredibly well over the last 12-18 months?
They don't show many signs of dropping. I'd hold for now.
After my sale of the America's and some of Baillie Gifford I'm at an all time high in My SIPP after a short dip a week or so ago.
Same here.
I track my funds daily & over the past week all my equity funds apart from Japan have been moving up & my bond funds going sideways - with my Vanguard gilt fund actually falling over that time.
Definitely one occasion you should follow your own advice about how good the Baillie Gifford funds are.
My holding in BG Japanese Fund is up by 7.25% since the first of this month.
I've got some of that fund, it had a big dip at the end of Jan but has since risen nicely.
Yep the BG funds have been a great shout, im up nearly 10% in BG America, more than 10% in BG Global Discovery, and nearly 5% in BG Japanese. That's in exactly a month since I started my S&S isa.
Thanks for the tips Golfie
Glad to be of some assistance 🙂.
I already hold 3 BG funds (American, Discovery & European). Tempting as it is to hold their Japanese or Asian fund I dont really want to be holding too many funds from one Investment house.
Interesting. But poses the question to me, why?
I've got 5 BG funds (America, Global Discovery, Positive Change, Pacific and Japan). All 5 have done really well over the past year (to put it mildly). Much better than any other funds I hold.
So why the reluctance to invest in a company that has done well? (If you tell me its because your investments in other funds have beaten the BG increases then I really do take my hat off to you!)
I suppose I was more thinking of my clients portfolios & harks back to yesteryear. Looks a bit weird if I keep on recommending BG funds (or any one single manager for that matter). Clients might think I'm tied to them or getting some form of kick-back. I also like a little bit of diversity- BG may be following some sort of mandate (growth rather than value) and it's never wrong to back a different horse now & again.
I thought you might also mention some lessons from history, where certain houses, and individual managers were pushed so much that we mug punters bought the hype, without really knowing enough, especially when things started to unravel. The main example is Invesco, and then its star manager Neil Woodford launching his own funds. What went wrong there? Hubris, is probably the best summary. Some suggest Lindsell Train might go the same way, but I’m holding for now, having already cashed some very good profits.
I got a regular email from FundCalibre yesterday which includes the news that, having been “ close” for several years, Baillie Gifford is now their fund house of the year...Hmmm.....
It's a good point you make but I'm not sure that comparing BG to Woodford actually proves it.
Even a Mug Punter (with a capital M&P!) like me knows that BG are investing in tech, growth shares. (Clearly, some time in the future the wheels may well fall off that approach but for the time being, I'm staying on board and enjoying the ride.) Woodford, on the other hand, set up a Equity Income Fund and then went out and quietly invested in unlisted start-up companies that weren't even paying a dividend. The scandal was that companies like HL kept on recommending the fund when they must have known the companies being invested in were much different to those that Woodford had previously invested in.
I can understand what Golfie says above about investing in different types of funds ie growth v value but at the moment value just seems totally out of favour.
I sold the last of my Lindsell Train UK Equity recently. It still hasn't returned to the value it was 18 months ago when I bought my last tranche of shares in it. Actually, it is showing signs of improvement but there just seems so many better options available at the moment. Also, I'd love to know if it is facing a large amount of selling at the moment? I'd hazard a guess at yes - pure speculation I stress - which may go someway to explaining the poor performance recently.
Finally, talking of Woodford, I see he has been all over the Sunday papers saying he is going to open a new fund. Sometimes the sheer bravado and cheek of people takes my breath away. If I had done what he did - costing thousands of people money - I'd keep a very low profile. Suffice to say I wouldn't touch his funds with the proverbial barge pole.
Any thoughts on the future of technology funds, many of which has done incredibly well over the last 12-18 months?
They don't show many signs of dropping. I'd hold for now.
After my sale of the America's and some of Baillie Gifford I'm at an all time high in My SIPP after a short dip a week or so ago.
Same here.
I track my funds daily & over the past week all my equity funds apart from Japan have been moving up & my bond funds going sideways - with my Vanguard gilt fund actually falling over that time.
Definitely one occasion you should follow your own advice about how good the Baillie Gifford funds are.
My holding in BG Japanese Fund is up by 7.25% since the first of this month.
I've got some of that fund, it had a big dip at the end of Jan but has since risen nicely.
Yep the BG funds have been a great shout, im up nearly 10% in BG America, more than 10% in BG Global Discovery, and nearly 5% in BG Japanese. That's in exactly a month since I started my S&S isa.
Thanks for the tips Golfie
Glad to be of some assistance 🙂.
I already hold 3 BG funds (American, Discovery & European). Tempting as it is to hold their Japanese or Asian fund I dont really want to be holding too many funds from one Investment house.
Interesting. But poses the question to me, why?
I've got 5 BG funds (America, Global Discovery, Positive Change, Pacific and Japan). All 5 have done really well over the past year (to put it mildly). Much better than any other funds I hold.
So why the reluctance to invest in a company that has done well? (If you tell me its because your investments in other funds have beaten the BG increases then I really do take my hat off to you!)
I suppose I was more thinking of my clients portfolios & harks back to yesteryear. Looks a bit weird if I keep on recommending BG funds (or any one single manager for that matter). Clients might think I'm tied to them or getting some form of kick-back. I also like a little bit of diversity- BG may be following some sort of mandate (growth rather than value) and it's never wrong to back a different horse now & again.
I thought you might also mention some lessons from history, where certain houses, and individual managers were pushed so much that we mug punters bought the hype, without really knowing enough, especially when things started to unravel. The main example is Invesco, and then its star manager Neil Woodford launching his own funds. What went wrong there? Hubris, is probably the best summary. Some suggest Lindsell Train might go the same way, but I’m holding for now, having already cashed some very good profits.
I got a regular email from FundCalibre yesterday which includes the news that, having been “ close” for several years, Baillie Gifford is now their fund house of the year...Hmmm.....
It's a good point you make but I'm not sure that comparing BG to Woodford actually proves it.
Even a Mug Punter (with a capital M&P!) like me knows that BG are investing in tech, growth shares. (Clearly, some time in the future the wheels may well fall off that approach but for the time being, I'm staying on board and enjoying the ride.) Woodford, on the other hand, set up a Equity Income Fund and then went out and quietly invested in unlisted start-up companies that weren't even paying a dividend. The scandal was that companies like HL kept on recommending the fund when they must have known the companies being invested in were much different to those that Woodford had previously invested in.
I can understand what Golfie says above about investing in different types of funds ie growth v value but at the moment value just seems totally out of favour.
I sold the last of my Lindsell Train UK Equity recently. It still hasn't returned to the value it was 18 months ago when I bought my last tranche of shares in it. Actually, it is showing signs of improvement but there just seems so many better options available at the moment. Also, I'd love to know if it is facing a large amount of selling at the moment? I'd hazard a guess at yes - pure speculation I stress - which may go someway to explaining the poor performance recently.
Finally, talking of Woodford, I see he has been all over the Sunday papers saying he is going to open a new fund. Sometimes the sheer bravado and cheek of people takes my breath away. If I had done what he did - costing thousands of people money - I'd keep a very low profile. Suffice to say I wouldn't touch his funds with the proverbial barge pole.
Note that the Lindsell Train IT behaves like a leveraged investment as half its investment is in the asset manager itself. That's what makes it unusual and attracts some criticism. To be fair to Nick Train, he's been known to call out when the premium to NAV on the IT was ludicrous and that he wouldn't buy. The unit trust won't have the same issue but won't return as much when rising either.
Woodford is a different kettle of fish. I did subscribe from the outset in both his income fund and patient capital IT. Fortunately, I got out with a reasonable return when I noticed the income fund wasn't really doing what it said on the tin. Then, when he had two blow-ups in Patient Capital in quick succession and another one looking iffy, I decided that wasn't just bad luck and ditched both. Again, because I'd booked early profits and bought back cheaper, I was very fortunate to not lose on that one.
It was after that that it became obvious he was trying to double down on losers using the income fund, which is, in my opinion, outrageous. I have a lot of sympathy for people who assumed he would stick to - and be held accountable to - his mandate. I still don't see why that isn't a regulatory issue. The patient capital one is different - the risks were clear, you win some you lose some.
He's now playing the Lehman Defence - his assets were marked down below any realistic fair value and the unit trust structure made him a forced seller; in other words, if he'd been allowed to hold on he'd be okay now. Some truth in that but no doubt he was way ahead of his skis and I wouldn't trust him with my money. I've no doubt enough institutions he's marketing to will buy it.
Great day for the FTSE. Up 2.5% to finish at 6756.
And despite the pound rising to 1.392 to the dollar.
Vaccine- driven vote of confidence, I'd say. And if so, that's great. Just for once the markets acknowledging a lot of great work by very good people.
Call me an old cynic but it's not a round of applause for the great work, rather the market recognising confidence in buyers/pension funds and certain sectors of the economy based on a forecast recovery backed up by the vaccine. Driven by profit rather than praise!
An article on Bloomberg is a bit concerning (my emphasis in bold) ....
"Last week Bloomberg reported that junk bond yields in the US fell below 4% the lowest level ever recorded and down from 11.5% peak yield in March last year. This is the opposite direction to the yield on the “risk free rate” of US 10y bond (hitting 1.18% last week) which has been steadily rising over the last 6 months. These contrasting trends in fixed income suggest that debt investors are beginning to fear wealth erosion from inflation in “risk free” assets more than default risk from highly leveraged companies.
Junk bonds have benefitted from a rising oil price $58 per barrel (WTI), up 66% since the start of November. Many US energy (including shale gas) companies used the junk bond market to finance their operations.
Companies are responding to the rising junk bond market by issuing more junk debt, year-to-date US volume stands at about $60 billion, which is a record amount. In the UK, Mohsin and Zuber Issa’s deal (backed by TDR Capital, a Private Equity firm) to buy Asda from Wal-Mart for £6.5bn will be funded by the junk bond market and sale and leaseback deals. Wal-Mart has always struck me as a well-run company with a strong management team, Jeff Bezos lured many employees from the retailer, such as Rick Dalzell, to manage Amazon. So it’s not clear what expertise the Issas and TDR bring to the business that Wal-Mart doesn’t have, other than a talent for financial structures."
Baillie Gifford have taken their profits on Tesla and sold around half of their holdings. Wonder if that has anything to do with a certain individual's twitter habits or $1.5 billion of bitcoin...
Baillie Gifford have taken their profits on Tesla and sold around half of their holdings. Wonder if that has anything to do with a certain individual's twitter habits or $1.5 billion of bitcoin...
Probably more to do with the fact tesla doesnt actually make any money (except on their bitcoin holdings).
An article on Bloomberg is a bit concerning (my emphasis in bold) ....
"Last week Bloomberg reported that junk bond yields in the US fell below 4% the lowest level ever recorded and down from 11.5% peak yield in March last year. This is the opposite direction to the yield on the “risk free rate” of US 10y bond (hitting 1.18% last week) which has been steadily rising over the last 6 months. These contrasting trends in fixed income suggest that debt investors are beginning to fear wealth erosion from inflation in “risk free” assets more than default risk from highly leveraged companies.
Junk bonds have benefitted from a rising oil price $58 per barrel (WTI), up 66% since the start of November. Many US energy (including shale gas) companies used the junk bond market to finance their operations.
Companies are responding to the rising junk bond market by issuing more junk debt, year-to-date US volume stands at about $60 billion, which is a record amount. In the UK, Mohsin and Zuber Issa’s deal (backed by TDR Capital, a Private Equity firm) to buy Asda from Wal-Mart for £6.5bn will be funded by the junk bond market and sale and leaseback deals. Wal-Mart has always struck me as a well-run company with a strong management team, Jeff Bezos lured many employees from the retailer, such as Rick Dalzell, to manage Amazon. So it’s not clear what expertise the Issas and TDR bring to the business that Wal-Mart doesn’t have, other than a talent for financial structures."
There's a piece in the FT this week noting that "It has never been cheaper for companies with a “junk” credit rating to borrow cash in the US, as the voracious appetite from investors for riskier debt sends the interest rates paid on recent bond deals to record lows." Additionally, I was chatting with an M&A specialist earlier who said there is so much cash out there at the moment that they are all looking for deals/value in the market.
I know negative interest rates were touched on here a little while ago. Did an update with a client and our liquidity specialist this morning. As a bank, we're still working with the BoE to confirm that we can action negative rates, if they decide to implement those. However, the view now is that that will not happen this year and it has been priced out of the market. The reason for interest rates being so low at the banks and money markets (which did go negative in December for some terms) is the surplus liquidity that all the banks and their clients have. There seems little change expected there in the short term.
Does anyone have an employee pension which is serviced through L&G, just wondered how you navigate through the various funds. There are a number of employee recommended ones and more besides, before I go down the road of engaging with a financial advisor just wondered if anyone here had any approaches or tips in terms of fund selections
Does anyone have an employee pension which is serviced through L&G, just wondered how you navigate through the various funds. There are a number of employee recommended ones and more besides, before I go down the road of engaging with a financial advisor just wondered if anyone here had any approaches or tips in terms of fund selections
Do you mean Employer?
I worked for the L&G for about 5 years back in the late 90’s, was tied to L&G funds only - is that the case with your scheme? Or whole of market?
Does anyone have an employee pension which is serviced through L&G, just wondered how you navigate through the various funds. There are a number of employee recommended ones and more besides, before I go down the road of engaging with a financial advisor just wondered if anyone here had any approaches or tips in terms of fund selections
Does your employer offer advice from the firm who set the pension up ? I know some do, as the IFA who set up the workplace scheme is probably receiving some ongoing fees & as such is duty bound to give you an annual review - at which you could discuss the funds on offer.
Generally employees are given a limited choice of funds & are usually steered towards some form of "lifestyling" or targeting - where you are moved out of equities & into bonds & cash the nearer you get to retirement.
Different if you are free to choose from the whole market, but I doubt that is on offer. It is definitely worth your while engaging with a financial adviser - whether led by your employer or one you source yourself 😉
Crazy day on the Markets, Kanabo up near on 300% on its 1st day of trading with MPL 117% and with Bitcoin at one stage hitting $50k Argo Blockchain up another incredible 28%. Some serious money being washed around. Pound also doing very nicely against the Euro.
Does anyone have an employee pension which is serviced through L&G, just wondered how you navigate through the various funds. There are a number of employee recommended ones and more besides, before I go down the road of engaging with a financial advisor just wondered if anyone here had any approaches or tips in terms of fund selections
Does your employer offer advice from the firm who set the pension up ? I know some do, as the IFA who set up the workplace scheme is probably receiving some ongoing fees & as such is duty bound to give you an annual review - at which you could discuss the funds on offer.
Generally employees are given a limited choice of funds & are usually steered towards some form of "lifestyling" or targeting - where you are moved out of equities & into bonds & cash the nearer you get to retirement.
Different if you are free to choose from the whole market, but I doubt that is on offer. It is definitely worth your while engaging with a financial adviser - whether led by your employer or one you source yourself 😉
Sourcing you say, did I recall you’re an ifa golf?
Does anyone have an employee pension which is serviced through L&G, just wondered how you navigate through the various funds. There are a number of employee recommended ones and more besides, before I go down the road of engaging with a financial advisor just wondered if anyone here had any approaches or tips in terms of fund selections
Does your employer offer advice from the firm who set the pension up ? I know some do, as the IFA who set up the workplace scheme is probably receiving some ongoing fees & as such is duty bound to give you an annual review - at which you could discuss the funds on offer.
Generally employees are given a limited choice of funds & are usually steered towards some form of "lifestyling" or targeting - where you are moved out of equities & into bonds & cash the nearer you get to retirement.
Different if you are free to choose from the whole market, but I doubt that is on offer. It is definitely worth your while engaging with a financial adviser - whether led by your employer or one you source yourself 😉
Sourcing you say, did I recall you’re an ifa golf?
Another crazy day on AIM & Markets in general, KNB still flying, MXC about to take off and sleepy old EveSleep going ballistic, common theme being cannabis, looks like cannabis is the medicinal Bitcoin equivalent. Never thought a few years ago I’d have an investment portfolio of cannabis and non existent coins 😜😜
A friend is asking if they can defer the declaration of the grants as income for 21/22 accounts, rather than 20/21?
The person is not intending to do anything "clever", simply had a hobby business hit by the pandemic (beauty/facials/hair/makeup) and has been working as a receptionist at a Healthcare company since no longer able to continue with her business's operations, having been recommended by an in-law who works in recruitment. Her concern is that any more hours now worked will be earning at the 20pc tax rate band and has consequences to childcare tax credits. It's not my area of expertise and I am not sure about the implications, so am recommending she seeks specialist advice.
Another crazy day on AIM & Markets in general, KNB still flying, MXC about to take off and sleepy old EveSleep going ballistic, common theme being cannabis, looks like cannabis is the medicinal Bitcoin equivalent. Never thought a few years ago I’d have an investment portfolio of cannabis and non existent coins 😜😜
From the KNB Company Profile:
"(Kanabo) is an investment company. The company's main aim is to generate an attractive capital return to its shareholders by achieving a valuation uplift upon RTO and by selecting a target business that has significant further value growth potential following an acquisition."
Substitute some of that language for 18th century English or French and you have the South Sea Company or the Mississipi Company ...
A friend is asking if they can defer the declaration of the grants as income for 21/22 accounts, rather than 20/21?
The person is not intending to do anything "clever", simply had a hobby business hit by the pandemic (beauty/facials/hair/makeup) and has been working as a receptionist at a Healthcare company since no longer able to continue with her business's operations, having been recommended by an in-law who works in recruitment. Her concern is that any more hours now worked will be earning at the 20pc tax rate band and has consequences to childcare tax credits. It's not my area of expertise and I am not sure about the implications, so am recommending she seeks specialist advice.
No, don’t believe you can defer and will need to go on her self assessment.
“The grant does not need to be repaid if you’re eligible, but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance and must be reported on your 2020 to 2021 Self Assessment tax return.”
A friend is asking if they can defer the declaration of the grants as income for 21/22 accounts, rather than 20/21?
The person is not intending to do anything "clever", simply had a hobby business hit by the pandemic (beauty/facials/hair/makeup) and has been working as a receptionist at a Healthcare company since no longer able to continue with her business's operations, having been recommended by an in-law who works in recruitment. Her concern is that any more hours now worked will be earning at the 20pc tax rate band and has consequences to childcare tax credits. It's not my area of expertise and I am not sure about the implications, so am recommending she seeks specialist advice.
No, don’t believe you can defer and will need to go on her self assessment.
“The grant does not need to be repaid if you’re eligible, but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance and must be reported on your 2020 to 2021 Self Assessment tax return.”
I agree. If you received "income" during the 20/21 tax year then it needs to be recorded on your SA for that year. Otherwise I'm deferring my income I've earn't this tax year until 2080/81.
Interesting times on the markets this last few days.
Any of you experts want to advise why our friends in the city are having a little bit of a "panic" this last few days?
Investing in any UK fund that invests heavily in the FTSE 100 (still down about 27 % on last year's high) just seems a total waste of time at the moment.
Even more fun and games over the pond. NASDAQ suffering a really sharp decline and all the tech companies that have seen huge rises recently being sold off sharply. Tesla shares down about 8% at the moment. What are they panicing about?
All I can say is my BG funds won't be looking so good tonight!
Interesting times on the markets this last few days.
Any of you experts want to advise why our friends in the city are having a little bit of a "panic" this last few days?
Investing in any UK fund that invests heavily in the FTSE 100 (still down about 27 % on last year's high) just seems a total waste of time at the moment.
Even more fun and games over the pond. NASDAQ suffering a really sharp decline and all the tech companies that have seen huge rises recently being sold off sharply. Tesla shares down about 8% at the moment. What are they panicing about?
All I can say is my BG funds won't be looking so good tonight!
I'm just a punter, but this is how the FT summarises it:
US technology stocks fell sharply for the second day in a row on concerns that rising long-term interest rates will derail a historic surge in the share prices of fast-growing companies.
Interesting times on the markets this last few days.
Any of you experts want to advise why our friends in the city are having a little bit of a "panic" this last few days?
Investing in any UK fund that invests heavily in the FTSE 100 (still down about 27 % on last year's high) just seems a total waste of time at the moment.
Even more fun and games over the pond. NASDAQ suffering a really sharp decline and all the tech companies that have seen huge rises recently being sold off sharply. Tesla shares down about 8% at the moment. What are they panicing about?
All I can say is my BG funds won't be looking so good tonight!
I'm just a punter, but this is how the FT summarises it:
US technology stocks fell sharply for the second day in a row on concerns that rising long-term interest rates will derail a historic surge in the share prices of fast-growing companies.
Thanks. Straight out of the Lee Bowyer book of talking bollox excuses!
Interesting times on the markets this last few days.
Any of you experts want to advise why our friends in the city are having a little bit of a "panic" this last few days?
Investing in any UK fund that invests heavily in the FTSE 100 (still down about 27 % on last year's high) just seems a total waste of time at the moment.
Even more fun and games over the pond. NASDAQ suffering a really sharp decline and all the tech companies that have seen huge rises recently being sold off sharply. Tesla shares down about 8% at the moment. What are they panicing about?
All I can say is my BG funds won't be looking so good tonight!
Not too sure but will be watching a couple of live webinars over the next few days from various fund houses so will try to get the low down. Some of the US stuff is down to Biden & his tax strategies for the big tech firms but no idea why the UK isn't going up after Boris' announcement. Inflation & Jobless figures came out last few days but they weren't unexpected numbers.
My SIPP has gone down almost 4% over the past week - but then it rose over 20% last year so I can't complain. Annoyingly it's the Gilt & Bond funds that are also going backwards when they are in there for safety & to reduce the losses ! Moved out of one Gilt fund into an absolute return bond fund which has stemmed the tide a little.
I'm sure the FTSE will be gaining momentum (upwards) very soon.
Comments
I got a regular email from FundCalibre yesterday which includes the news that, having been “ close” for several years, Baillie Gifford is now their fund house of the year...Hmmm.....
Even a Mug Punter (with a capital M&P!) like me knows that BG are investing in tech, growth shares. (Clearly, some time in the future the wheels may well fall off that approach but for the time being, I'm staying on board and enjoying the ride.) Woodford, on the other hand, set up a Equity Income Fund and then went out and quietly invested in unlisted start-up companies that weren't even paying a dividend. The scandal was that companies like HL kept on recommending the fund when they must have known the companies being invested in were much different to those that Woodford had previously invested in.
I can understand what Golfie says above about investing in different types of funds ie growth v value but at the moment value just seems totally out of favour.
I sold the last of my Lindsell Train UK Equity recently. It still hasn't returned to the value it was 18 months ago when I bought my last tranche of shares in it. Actually, it is showing signs of improvement but there just seems so many better options available at the moment. Also, I'd love to know if it is facing a large amount of selling at the moment? I'd hazard a guess at yes - pure speculation I stress - which may go someway to explaining the poor performance recently.
Finally, talking of Woodford, I see he has been all over the Sunday papers saying he is going to open a new fund. Sometimes the sheer bravado and cheek of people takes my breath away. If I had done what he did - costing thousands of people money - I'd keep a very low profile. Suffice to say I wouldn't touch his funds with the proverbial barge pole.
Woodford is a different kettle of fish. I did subscribe from the outset in both his income fund and patient capital IT. Fortunately, I got out with a reasonable return when I noticed the income fund wasn't really doing what it said on the tin. Then, when he had two blow-ups in Patient Capital in quick succession and another one looking iffy, I decided that wasn't just bad luck and ditched both. Again, because I'd booked early profits and bought back cheaper, I was very fortunate to not lose on that one.
It was after that that it became obvious he was trying to double down on losers using the income fund, which is, in my opinion, outrageous. I have a lot of sympathy for people who assumed he would stick to - and be held accountable to - his mandate. I still don't see why that isn't a regulatory issue. The patient capital one is different - the risks were clear, you win some you lose some.
He's now playing the Lehman Defence - his assets were marked down below any realistic fair value and the unit trust structure made him a forced seller; in other words, if he'd been allowed to hold on he'd be okay now. Some truth in that but no doubt he was way ahead of his skis and I wouldn't trust him with my money. I've no doubt enough institutions he's marketing to will buy it.
Call me an old cynic but it's not a round of applause for the great work, rather the market recognising confidence in buyers/pension funds and certain sectors of the economy based on a forecast recovery backed up by the vaccine. Driven by profit rather than praise!
"Last week Bloomberg reported that junk bond yields in the US fell below 4% the lowest level ever recorded and down from 11.5% peak yield in March last year. This is the opposite direction to the yield on the “risk free rate” of US 10y bond (hitting 1.18% last week) which has been steadily rising over the last 6 months. These contrasting trends in fixed income suggest that debt investors are beginning to fear wealth erosion from inflation in “risk free” assets more than default risk from highly leveraged companies.
Junk bonds have benefitted from a rising oil price $58 per barrel (WTI), up 66% since the start of November. Many US energy (including shale gas) companies used the junk bond market to finance their operations.
Companies are responding to the rising junk bond market by issuing more junk debt, year-to-date US volume stands at about $60 billion, which is a record amount. In the UK, Mohsin and Zuber Issa’s deal (backed by TDR Capital, a Private Equity firm) to buy Asda from Wal-Mart for £6.5bn will be funded by the junk bond market and sale and leaseback deals. Wal-Mart has always struck me as a well-run company with a strong management team, Jeff Bezos lured many employees from the retailer, such as Rick Dalzell, to manage Amazon. So it’s not clear what expertise the Issas and TDR bring to the business that Wal-Mart doesn’t have, other than a talent for financial structures."
I worked for the L&G for about 5 years back in the late 90’s, was tied to L&G funds only - is that the case with your scheme? Or whole of market?
Generally employees are given a limited choice of funds & are usually steered towards some form of "lifestyling" or targeting - where you are moved out of equities & into bonds & cash the nearer you get to retirement.
Different if you are free to choose from the whole market, but I doubt that is on offer. It is definitely worth your while engaging with a financial adviser - whether led by your employer or one you source yourself 😉
Feel free to DM me.
A friend is asking if they can defer the declaration of the grants as income for 21/22 accounts, rather than 20/21?
The person is not intending to do anything "clever", simply had a hobby business hit by the pandemic (beauty/facials/hair/makeup) and has been working as a receptionist at a Healthcare company since no longer able to continue with her business's operations, having been recommended by an in-law who works in recruitment. Her concern is that any more hours now worked will be earning at the 20pc tax rate band and has consequences to childcare tax credits. It's not my area of expertise and I am not sure about the implications, so am recommending she seeks specialist advice.
"(Kanabo) is an investment company. The company's main aim is to generate an attractive capital return to its shareholders by achieving a valuation uplift upon RTO and by selecting a target business that has significant further value growth potential following an acquisition."
Substitute some of that language for 18th century English or French and you have the South Sea Company or the Mississipi Company ...
“The grant does not need to be repaid if you’re eligible, but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance and must be reported on your 2020 to 2021 Self Assessment tax return.”
Any of you experts want to advise why our friends in the city are having a little bit of a "panic" this last few days?
Investing in any UK fund that invests heavily in the FTSE 100 (still down about 27 % on last year's high) just seems a total waste of time at the moment.
Even more fun and games over the pond. NASDAQ suffering a really sharp decline and all the tech companies that have seen huge rises recently being sold off sharply. Tesla shares down about 8% at the moment. What are they panicing about?
All I can say is my BG funds won't be looking so good tonight!
US technology stocks fell sharply for the second day in a row on concerns that rising long-term interest rates will derail a historic surge in the share prices of fast-growing companies.
My SIPP has gone down almost 4% over the past week - but then it rose over 20% last year so I can't complain. Annoyingly it's the Gilt & Bond funds that are also going backwards when they are in there for safety & to reduce the losses ! Moved out of one Gilt fund into an absolute return bond fund which has stemmed the tide a little.
I'm sure the FTSE will be gaining momentum (upwards) very soon.