My financial advisor over here laughed at me when I bought premium bonds.
I made a three figure sum in prizes. He lost me a six figure sum! He got sacked.
SIX figures? Good grief. The sack? He deserves a visit from the Hale crew!
Was he one of those British expats who prey on fellow expats? I had some youngster from the notorious DeVere call me the other day. The only reason i took the call was that it showed up as coming from the UAE. I thought it might be Tahnoon...anyway he rather regretted it.
Sorry, a bit late in replying.
Yes, six figures out of my pension fund plus a five figure amount from my personal investments.
I decided to transfer to a QROPS a few years ago. The figures looked good, and some of the funds did well...but three went bust! I'm involved in a class action right now in an attempt to get some money back from the insurance company backing these investments. I've met people that lost a lot more than me, including one guy from Essex who sold his company for around a million pounds, retired to Thailand and put almost the entire amount into the same three funds that lost money for me. The only thing I did right was insist upon a good spread across many funds.
My pension is now with a much more reliable, honest advisor mainly in safe diversified funds. My personal investments I do myself, mainly USD ETFs. Neither amounts as much as they should have been thanks to the initial advisor, who had to leave Thailand very quickly when an arrest warrant was put out for him for acting in an unlicensed capacity.
And £75 winnings on the premium bonds this month!
I need to be more active on this thread as there's some good uncomplicated suggestions here.
My financial advisor over here laughed at me when I bought premium bonds.
I made a three figure sum in prizes. He lost me a six figure sum! He got sacked.
SIX figures? Good grief. The sack? He deserves a visit from the Hale crew!
Was he one of those British expats who prey on fellow expats? I had some youngster from the notorious DeVere call me the other day. The only reason i took the call was that it showed up as coming from the UAE. I thought it might be Tahnoon...anyway he rather regretted it.
If I have time, I like to play with these guys. If nothing else, it holds them up from mis-selling to someone else.
I was on some suckers list for years. I think I once - to get rid of someone - agreed to be sent a brochure on some 'latest alternative investment scheme' and I was plagued with calls after that.
I've obviously had too much fun toying them as I don't get the calls any more. Which is a shame - they've were a fantastic leading indicator for when something was about to tank or turn up in the Sunday papers as the latest scam.
I still get calls from these "boiler room" scammers quite regularly. So easy to recognise the sales technique and the way they address you by name every few seconds. The last one I had was last Friday from South Korea.
I sometimes toy with them if I'm in the mood, let them go through the whole spiel, let them send me something in the post, then tell them where to go upon the follow up call. On other occasions I just tell them to eff off!
They're doing well. Luckily, I got in there pre-8am this morning for some top ups to my current well performing funds.
You little tinker.......
I invested in three Baillie Gifford funds you recommended, last week. I'm already 3% up across the three based on yesterday's prices. I hope @mendonca gets the bump he is expecting but I'd advise him to be ready for a WTF moment when he sees the price he actually bought at.
Right then here we go. I've gone for 6450, this time we have 24 punters and one IFA, all trying to beat the chimpanzees. The average, (consensus?) comes out at 6379, median almost the same at 6397. Here's the list, optimists first. I've got them in a spread so if anyone sees a mistake, do please shout.
Right then here we go. I've gone for 6450, this time we have 24 punters and one IFA, all trying to beat the chimpanzees. The average, (consensus?) comes out at 6379, median almost the same at 6397. Here's the list, optimists first. I've got them in a spread so if anyone sees a mistake, do please shout.
Good day for me Breweries and Airlines very, very bad day for me with pharma stocks, crazy day of trading & crapping oneself as a sea of red descended on my pharma’s. All being well testing testing testing will tide the tide 😥🙏🙏
They're doing well. Luckily, I got in there pre-8am this morning for some top ups to my current well performing funds.
You little tinker.......
I invested in three Baillie Gifford funds you recommended, last week. I'm already 3% up across the three based on yesterday's prices. I hope @mendonca gets the bump he is expecting but I'd advise him to be ready for a WTF moment when he sees the price he actually bought at.
Ha good shout. A day tends to even itself out over the course of months but I did initially get that feeling that the jump in its price would be tomorrow, not today.
Can't complaint as my portfolio is up 2.4pc just today.
They're doing well. Luckily, I got in there pre-8am this morning for some top ups to my current well performing funds.
You little tinker.......
I invested in three Baillie Gifford funds you recommended, last week. I'm already 3% up across the three based on yesterday's prices. I hope @mendonca gets the bump he is expecting but I'd advise him to be ready for a WTF moment when he sees the price he actually bought at.
Ha good shout. A day tends to even itself out over the course of months but I did initially get that feeling that the jump in its price would be tomorrow, not today.
Can't complaint as my portfolio is up 2.4pc just today.
Yes, there were several times in the past where I tried a sharp move to buy or sometimes sell funds, convinced I had the timing of my order right, and somehow didnt. I wrote to H-L once asking for clarification of how it works and the reply was very foggy indeed. It also turns out that funds have different valuation times. I think that if your funds hold stocks quoted on foreign exchanges, that further muddies the water.
The whole thing stinks really. I just wonder whether Vanguard on their own could manage to introduce funds priced in real time, or whether it requires wholesale regulatory change. I bet they consider it as their next "disruptive" play.
Mind you, I don't know how old you are..maybe this is before your time but until about 15 years ago all these funds had a bid - offer spread. So any fund you bought had to gain 5% before you actually were in profit at all. I don't know again how that very sharp practice got the boot. I don't recall it being one day where everything changed, so I wonder who initiated it.
They're doing well. Luckily, I got in there pre-8am this morning for some top ups to my current well performing funds.
You little tinker.......
I invested in three Baillie Gifford funds you recommended, last week. I'm already 3% up across the three based on yesterday's prices. I hope @mendonca gets the bump he is expecting but I'd advise him to be ready for a WTF moment when he sees the price he actually bought at.
Ha good shout. A day tends to even itself out over the course of months but I did initially get that feeling that the jump in its price would be tomorrow, not today.
Can't complaint as my portfolio is up 2.4pc just today.
Yes, there were several times in the past where I tried a sharp move to buy or sometimes sell funds, convinced I had the timing of my order right, and somehow didnt. I wrote to H-L once asking for clarification of how it works and the reply was very foggy indeed. It also turns out that funds have different valuation times. I think that if your funds hold stocks quoted on foreign exchanges, that further muddies the water.
The whole thing stinks really. I just wonder whether Vanguard on their own could manage to introduce funds priced in real time, or whether it requires wholesale regulatory change. I bet they consider it as their next "disruptive" play.
Mind you, I don't know how old you are..maybe this is before your time but until about 15 years ago all these funds had a bid - offer spread. So any fund you bought had to gain 5% before you actually were in profit at all. I don't know again how that very sharp practice got the boot. I don't recall it being one day where everything changed, so I wonder who initiated it.
I don't think you are ever going to get "real time" dealing unless you are a trader or on the "floor" of an exchange.
You might want to cast your minds back to 1987 & Black Monday. I was working for Hill Samuel in their Unit Trust dealing dept & we had to suspend dealing as back then everything was done on an "historical price" basis & the market was moving so much that everytime you priced a fund it was out of date 10 mins later. That week we were taking deals "blind" and telling clients that if they wanted to sell they would get the next price calculated. Hardly anyone wanted to deal that way & said that they would wait until a price was known. This led directly to the industry going onto a "forward pricing" basis.
A couple of good films you might what to watch if you are into boiler room scams & arbitraging.
Glengary Glen Ross - staring Jack Lemmon
Margin Call - staring Jeremy Irons
Both also star Kevin Spacey......🤔
A film you financial guys might like: The Big Short 2016 starring Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt. Its about corruption in the US mortgage market (Fanny Mae and all that). Sounds boring but it isn't! In fact it's quite exciting.
A couple of good films you might what to watch if you are into boiler room scams & arbitraging.
Glengary Glen Ross - staring Jack Lemmon
Margin Call - staring Jeremy Irons
Both also star Kevin Spacey......🤔
A film you financial guys might like: The Big Short 2016 starring Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt. Its about corruption in the US mortgage market (Fanny Mae and all that). Sounds boring but it isn't! In fact it's quite exciting.
Thank goodness I held on to my Heineken shares! Decided to take a loss on Fullers though, as whatever happens I think city centre pubs are never going to get the business back that they once had, and put that money into Whitbread following an encouraging article in The Times a couple of weeks ago.
JET2 are my lockdown success up 147% in couple months. Though, still down on any number of others, but been some decent recovery on my portfolio this week.
JET2 are my lockdown success up 147% in couple months. Though, still down on any number of others, but been some decent recovery on my portfolio this week.
When corona all kicked off I said to my old man I fancied punting a few airline stocks on the first whisper of a vaccine as there would be a load going out of bizz, some cheap planes to buy and market share to gain, completely bottled it 😭
Is anybody changing their investment choices? Goodbye Tech, hello industries who may prosper in 2021, with a vaccine?
A bit too early for me.
I've got a fairly diverse portfolio anyway, maybe 30 funds now, i'm not good enough to both call the timing and the area/industries so will just keep it broadly as is, a few buys and sells here and there but mostly just let it roll.
I do need to decide what to do with the amount int here in cash from selling most of the individual shares though, fancy Tesco's right now, maybe some apple.
Thanks for summary. Im on the hunt for a China fund/trust. Once again a BG one has caught my eye that they took over a few months back - BG China Growth trust.
Thanks for summary. Im on the hunt for a China fund/trust. Once again a BG one has caught my eye that they took over a few months back - BG China Growth trust.
Anybody in/recommend?
I must admit when investing in that area I usually go for a fund that covers the whole Asian area, so one that also includes Japan. If you rather avoid Japan (because you invest there separately) then the BG Pacific fund would be my choice. If you wanted just a China fund then I like JPM Greater China.
The overall gains in my portfolio were halts in their tracks yesterday by big falls in my tech funds, but so far I havent established what news caused that. I know the EU announced they are going to give Amazon a hard time over its abuse of data on Marketplace, and quite right IMO, but I would not have thought it a reason for 6-7% falls in wider tech funds. Anyone know?
My Brewery/pub shares doing very well, C19 recovery stocks, latest (today) from Wetherspoons not good reading but that have suffered through restrictive trading. I fancy next Spring these will fly so shall sit tight. Airlines also doing very well, can’t believe Carnival up and Cineworld, who’d have predicted that. Keep safe & strong all.
The overall gains in my portfolio were halts in their tracks yesterday by big falls in my tech funds, but so far I havent established what news caused that. I know the EU announced they are going to give Amazon a hard time over its abuse of data on Marketplace, and quite right IMO, but I would not have thought it a reason for 6-7% falls in wider tech funds. Anyone know?
No idea @PragueAddick but its probably a combination of the EU action & the tech sector being "overheated" in the US and dealers taking profits before Biden starts taxing then more.
I checked my SIPP this morning & was astonished to find it down around 2% from yesterday where I thought it would have been up by about that amount. I don't track each individual fund on a daily basis so not sure where the loss came from exactly, but the US funds were definitely lower, as well as the Absolute Return fund, which is in there as a "hedging" mechanism. The latter one I can only assume to be down as the market has gone up this week.
The overall gains in my portfolio were halts in their tracks yesterday by big falls in my tech funds, but so far I havent established what news caused that. I know the EU announced they are going to give Amazon a hard time over its abuse of data on Marketplace, and quite right IMO, but I would not have thought it a reason for 6-7% falls in wider tech funds. Anyone know?
No idea @PragueAddick but its probably a combination of the EU action & the tech sector being "overheated" in the US and dealers taking profits before Biden starts taxing then more.
I checked my SIPP this morning & was astonished to find it down around 2% from yesterday where I thought it would have been up by about that amount. I don't track each individual fund on a daily basis so not sure where the loss came from exactly, but the US funds were definitely lower, as well as the Absolute Return fund, which is in there as a "hedging" mechanism. The latter one I can only assume to be down as the market has gone up this week.
I just had a further look. It looks like many funds fell back sharply yesterday. All three BG funds I bought last week lost 3% or so. But at least one of them holds Tesla as its largest holding, and Amazon was in there. But today my tech investment trusts are currently back up 2% after the whacking losses yesterday. I expect this will all iron out a bit in the coming days.
As for the end of year predictor, it may well be that the winner is a bit above the 6400 ish level that was easily the most popular punt. That was my punt. When making it, I was counting on some good news about a vaccine by then; but I did not dare hope the news about the vaccine itself would be so positive. I did not dare try to factor in the result of the US, as I didn't dare call it, and even if I did, would not have known how either result might affect the markets.
Everything to play for in the competition, I would say, although if you punted below 6,000 my personal guess is that you will not be the winner. Unless the orange baboon does something really stupid, like a strike on Iran...
Comments
Yes, six figures out of my pension fund plus a five figure amount from my personal investments.
I decided to transfer to a QROPS a few years ago. The figures looked good, and some of the funds did well...but three went bust! I'm involved in a class action right now in an attempt to get some money back from the insurance company backing these investments. I've met people that lost a lot more than me, including one guy from Essex who sold his company for around a million pounds, retired to Thailand and put almost the entire amount into the same three funds that lost money for me. The only thing I did right was insist upon a good spread across many funds.
My pension is now with a much more reliable, honest advisor mainly in safe diversified funds. My personal investments I do myself, mainly USD ETFs. Neither amounts as much as they should have been thanks to the initial advisor, who had to leave Thailand very quickly when an arrest warrant was put out for him for acting in an unlicensed capacity.
And £75 winnings on the premium bonds this month!
I need to be more active on this thread as there's some good uncomplicated suggestions here.
I sometimes toy with them if I'm in the mood, let them go through the whole spiel, let them send me something in the post, then tell them where to go upon the follow up call. On other occasions I just tell them to eff off!
bit the bullet and sold the rest of my Go Ahead shares, thank you very much!!
Glengary Glen Ross - staring Jack Lemmon
Margin Call - staring Jeremy Irons
Both also star Kevin Spacey......🤔
Can't complaint as my portfolio is up 2.4pc just today.
The whole thing stinks really. I just wonder whether Vanguard on their own could manage to introduce funds priced in real time, or whether it requires wholesale regulatory change. I bet they consider it as their next "disruptive" play.
Mind you, I don't know how old you are..maybe this is before your time but until about 15 years ago all these funds had a bid - offer spread. So any fund you bought had to gain 5% before you actually were in profit at all. I don't know again how that very sharp practice got the boot. I don't recall it being one day where everything changed, so I wonder who initiated it.
You might want to cast your minds back to 1987 & Black Monday. I was working for Hill Samuel in their Unit Trust dealing dept & we had to suspend dealing as back then everything was done on an "historical price" basis & the market was moving so much that everytime you priced a fund it was out of date 10 mins later. That week we were taking deals "blind" and telling clients that if they wanted to sell they would get the next price calculated. Hardly anyone wanted to deal that way & said that they would wait until a price was known. This led directly to the industry going onto a "forward pricing" basis.
Can't win whatever you do.
So I could still be correct.
Certainly helping out the old ISA & SIPP thats for sure.
A bit too early for me.
I do need to decide what to do with the amount int here in cash from selling most of the individual shares though, fancy Tesco's right now, maybe some apple.
Anybody in/recommend?
I checked my SIPP this morning & was astonished to find it down around 2% from yesterday where I thought it would have been up by about that amount. I don't track each individual fund on a daily basis so not sure where the loss came from exactly, but the US funds were definitely lower, as well as the Absolute Return fund, which is in there as a "hedging" mechanism. The latter one I can only assume to be down as the market has gone up this week.
As for the end of year predictor, it may well be that the winner is a bit above the 6400 ish level that was easily the most popular punt. That was my punt. When making it, I was counting on some good news about a vaccine by then; but I did not dare hope the news about the vaccine itself would be so positive. I did not dare try to factor in the result of the US, as I didn't dare call it, and even if I did, would not have known how either result might affect the markets.
Everything to play for in the competition, I would say, although if you punted below 6,000 my personal guess is that you will not be the winner. Unless the orange baboon does something really stupid, like a strike on Iran...