I must be very old fashioned. I leave anything that looks like a bubble well alone, and if I dont understand it I also leave it well alone.
One of my best investments was Caffe Nero. I worked in Covent Garden at that point, and noticed how busy these places were, whether big or small, all day long. Once it was clear they had an all day offering, big margins on their main sale item and were constantly going, it made sense to buy some shares. Turned into a ten fold return in less than five years, and I only sold when they were taken private because the stock market didnt appreciate their true value, or some such.
Always been a fan of investing in companies that I rate as a customer. I don't think I've ever made a bad investment that way as you get a regular sense of whether they are doing things right. I also like it when the dividends pay for the things I buy there!
Another thing I look for is if management have a significant amount at stake in the business. I think they are more likely to think long term. Though it doesn't work so well if they've been awarding themselves lots of bonus shares and options - in other words why're just management enriching themselves at the expense of shareholders.
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.
Also did a little bit of trimming today as my SIPP was looking a bit "toppy" in equities. Took some profit out of BG American & 2 UK funds (Chelverton UK Growth and Miton UK smaller companies) and moved the money into a bond fund (Man GLG High Yield). Should be back to around 65% equity, 30% bonds & 5% property. Still don't like the fact the bond & gilt funds have been slowly moving south over the past few weeks, but they are there for a reason. Not everything can go up.
Also did a little bit of trimming today as my SIPP was looking a bit "toppy" in equities. Took some profit out of BG American & 2 UK funds (Chelverton UK Growth and Miton UK smaller companies) and moved the money into a bond fund (Man GLG High Yield). Should be back to around 65% equity, 30% bonds & 5% property. Still don't like the fact the bond & gilt funds have been slowly moving south over the past few weeks, but they are there for a reason. Not everything can go up.
Baillie Gifford Health Innovation, launched in Dec 2020 looks interesting. I've been looking at it for the last few weeks and it has performed well since launch, up by 15%
Surprisingly the fund size is fairly small, at £3m. Last year's learning, strictly from performance is that it does tend to pay to be an early bird with a BG fund.
Rathbones Global Opps has really slowed down relative to other funds in the same Global sector. Always been a solid performer. I've just read that they've changed 15pc of the portfolio in prep of economies re-opening. Worth a hold as it does not hold Tesla in the Top 10, so provides some variance.
In the last few weeks I've bought Capita at 34p (now 38p), some more metro bank at £1.15 (now £1.38) will likely sell those today and American Financial Group at 94p now £1.06. I'm tempted to buy SAGA and Hiscox. I've set a SAGA buy at @2.65 and might do Hiscox at 9.35.
Also best trading app? Trading 212 is dog shit, tried opening a position on BP but said the limit to buy was 0. Would be cool to have indicators included but would rather one with no limit.
In the last few weeks I've bought Capita at 34p (now 38p), some more metro bank at £1.15 (now £1.38) will likely sell those today and American Financial Group at 94p now £1.06. I'm tempted to buy SAGA and Hiscox. I've set a SAGA buy at @2.65 and might do Hiscox at 9.35.
In the last few weeks I've bought Capita at 34p (now 38p), some more metro bank at £1.15 (now £1.38) will likely sell those today and American Financial Group at 94p now £1.06. I'm tempted to buy SAGA and Hiscox. I've set a SAGA buy at @2.65 and might do Hiscox at 9.35.
Hiscox’s chart looks great
They've had some COVID losses which effected the recent price drop following the court case, but they are a good company, should be easy to make 7-10% fairly quickly or a long term hold as I can see them getting back to around £15 in the next 3 years.
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!)
In the last few weeks I've bought Capita at 34p (now 38p), some more metro bank at £1.15 (now £1.38) will likely sell those today and American Financial Group at 94p now £1.06. I'm tempted to buy SAGA and Hiscox. I've set a SAGA buy at @2.65 and might do Hiscox at 9.35.
Hiscox’s chart looks great
They've had some COVID losses which effected the recent price drop following the court case, but they are a good company, should be easy to make 7-10% fairly quickly or a long term hold as I can see them getting back to around £15 in the next 3 years.
i see a big falling wedge sitting at support, should ping up in the next few weeks
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.
In the last few weeks I've bought Capita at 34p (now 38p), some more metro bank at £1.15 (now £1.38) will likely sell those today and American Financial Group at 94p now £1.06. I'm tempted to buy SAGA and Hiscox. I've set a SAGA buy at @2.65 and might do Hiscox at 9.35.
Hiscox’s chart looks great
They've had some COVID losses which effected the recent price drop following the court case, but they are a good company, should be easy to make 7-10% fairly quickly or a long term hold as I can see them getting back to around £15 in the next 3 years.
I've been keeping an eye on Hiscox since the court decision. I remember when they were nothing more than a medium size Lloyd's syndicate, best known for fine arts insurance. I have no spare GBP in my account right now though; I bought Unilever on its slump last week and media company WPP a couple of weeks ago.
On the downside, the big 2 day profits on my cannabis ETF were wiped out in a few hours yesterday. I guess a lot of investors decided to cash in and take some profit. As I said before, it's a very volatile market.
Can anybody recommend a Platform to trade Investment trusts with a bit more regularity than long term funds? Generally speaking, with lower fees/commission than HL, but a vast selection.
Can anybody recommend a Platform to trade Investment trusts with a bit more regularity than long term funds? Generally speaking, with lower fees/commission than HL, but a vast selection.
Double check as it's been a while but don't think Fidelity charge per trade for funds etc.
Can anybody recommend a Platform to trade Investment trusts with a bit more regularity than long term funds? Generally speaking, with lower fees/commission than HL, but a vast selection.
Double check as it's been a while but don't think Fidelity charge per trade for funds etc.
I think Mendonca is looking for investment trusts, though, which, from memory, Fidelity isn't as strong on as it is focused on (unit trust) funds.
I've found HL okay on pricing for ITs. A few years ago they tried to bring the charges up to unit trust levels, i.e. a percentage of holding, but lots of people (including me) threatened to leave the platform and they backed down. Consequently, they are priced the same as stocks and platform fees are capped at ISA and SIPP level (I think 45 and 200 quid respectively). But they don't push ITs or provide nearly the same research and support because they don't make nearly so much money out of them. I think Trustnet is still the best independent source for info funds and ITs.
My beef with HL is their FX charges. IG appears to be much cheaper for my kind of portfolio and trading regularity but they are currently overwhelmed with applicants and closed to new business!
It is too volatile, in my opinion, to be a currency that most companies would be willing to accept as a payment method. That for me is the main problem that cryptocurrencies will need to overcome in order to be more accepted.
I also think that more companies taking bitcoin, presumably to then sell it rather than take risk on volatility, could lead to a lot of extra supply on the market.
So for example, someone who currently holds bitcoin as speculation and is not willing to sell currently, pays for a taxi, which then presumably gets turned into cash almost straight away. The amount of bitcoin for sale on the market (supply) will go up.
Turning bitcoin from something that is majorly for speculation into something that actually is used for more and more commerce, will, in my opinion, cause the price to fall rather than rise. I can't see these major companies wanting to hold onto bitcoin long term, you could see companies folding because they are holding too much Bitcoin and the price drops. Companies are generally in the business of avoiding risk wherever possible when it falls outside of the core areas of what they do.
I wish everyone luck, I have a couple of good friends who have made some cash over the past couple of months. I just hope that it goes well for them.
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."
Comments
Another thing I look for is if management have a significant amount at stake in the business. I think they are more likely to think long term. Though it doesn't work so well if they've been awarding themselves lots of bonus shares and options - in other words why're just management enriching themselves at the expense of shareholders.
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.
Followed by another 14%. Only 2% of my portfolio...but it was just over 1% three months ago! Not tempted to increase this.
Surprisingly the fund size is fairly small, at £3m. Last year's learning, strictly from performance is that it does tend to pay to be an early bird with a BG fund.
Rathbones Global Opps has really slowed down relative to other funds in the same Global sector. Always been a solid performer. I've just read that they've changed 15pc of the portfolio in prep of economies re-opening. Worth a hold as it does not hold Tesla in the Top 10, so provides some variance.
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!)
"bUt i cAn oNlY bUy gUnS n dRuGz wiV cRyPtO"
I knew they would eventually - Mastercard getting into drugs and guns was so predictable.
I've found HL okay on pricing for ITs. A few years ago they tried to bring the charges up to unit trust levels, i.e. a percentage of holding, but lots of people (including me) threatened to leave the platform and they backed down. Consequently, they are priced the same as stocks and platform fees are capped at ISA and SIPP level (I think 45 and 200 quid respectively). But they don't push ITs or provide nearly the same research and support because they don't make nearly so much money out of them. I think Trustnet is still the best independent source for info funds and ITs.
My beef with HL is their FX charges. IG appears to be much cheaper for my kind of portfolio and trading regularity but they are currently overwhelmed with applicants and closed to new business!
I also think that more companies taking bitcoin, presumably to then sell it rather than take risk on volatility, could lead to a lot of extra supply on the market.
So for example, someone who currently holds bitcoin as speculation and is not willing to sell currently, pays for a taxi, which then presumably gets turned into cash almost straight away. The amount of bitcoin for sale on the market (supply) will go up.
Turning bitcoin from something that is majorly for speculation into something that actually is used for more and more commerce, will, in my opinion, cause the price to fall rather than rise. I can't see these major companies wanting to hold onto bitcoin long term, you could see companies folding because they are holding too much Bitcoin and the price drops. Companies are generally in the business of avoiding risk wherever possible when it falls outside of the core areas of what they do.
I wish everyone luck, I have a couple of good friends who have made some cash over the past couple of months. I just hope that it goes well for them.
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."