Similar, but 2022 was still an ugly year if look at the performance over that period.
Interesting as if I go back to 1/1/22 and add in my contributions then my present total should be around 4% higher than it is now, so yes it was an ugly year as you say. Wished I hadn’t looked it up😢 but that the chances you take I suppose with investments, you just got to hope that in long run the good times outweigh the bad.
Do you know how much of your pension is invested in bonds? I'd suspect, a fair bit. Maybe 40% in line with the old thinking of 60:40 mix. So its worth following the discussion here about the future direction of bonds (don't pay attention to me, I'm just a disgruntled punter, but pay attention to the consensus answers from the more knowledgeable )
FWIW I can't actually tell you how much my SIPP is up since 1.1.23 because H-L doesnt offer mug punteres such useful information, but I can see that the bond-heavy funds making up 40% of my portfolio are up between 4-5.5%, over that period so that shows how the recovery in bonds is affecting our pension funds, and then the question is, will it continue?
Hoping for some advice from anyone slightly savvy about dealing with currencies.
I’m British and my wife is American, so we have UK bank accounts and she has an US bank account. We pay taxes in UK and US. I also have an old Australian bank account still open from many years ago.
My wife has an inheritance payment coming from Australia. The lawyers for the estate are now arranging the payment and want to know where we want it sent. Anyone got any experience on how to minimise any fees and best deal with impact from exchange rates?
I've used OFX for many years, good rates and easy to use. You can see their quote before you decide to proceed.
Just wondering how my main pension fund is doing it’s gone up 6.75% since 1/1/23 to me that’s seems quite good, but I wondering how that compares to others. I’m 70 and won’t need to draw on my various pensions for around 8 years. Obviously the % increase may reduce after todays downturn 😀
Up 7.9% since the turn of the year. 2022 I managed around 3% increase but almost all was due to changing providers and striking lucky with timing of being out of the market.
EDIT, just checked my other much smaller SIPP, that's up 9.05% but I tend to play with that one so it's predominantly trading shares.
Similar, but 2022 was still an ugly year if look at the performance over that period.
Interesting as if I go back to 1/1/22 and add in my contributions then my present total should be around 4% higher than it is now, so yes it was an ugly year as you say. Wished I hadn’t looked it up😢 but that the chances you take I suppose with investments, you just got to hope that in long run the good times outweigh the bad.
Do you know how much of your pension is invested in bonds? I'd suspect, a fair bit. Maybe 40% in line with the old thinking of 60:40 mix. So its worth following the discussion here about the future direction of bonds (don't pay attention to me, I'm just a disgruntled punter, but pay attention to the consensus answers from the more knowledgeable )
FWIW I can't actually tell you how much my SIPP is up since 1.1.23 because H-L doesnt offer mug punteres such useful information, but I can see that the bond-heavy funds making up 40% of my portfolio are up between 4-5.5%, over that period so that shows how the recovery in bonds is affecting our pension funds, and then the question is, will it continue?
Thanks for all your comments
My company pension which is my main pension fund is invested with Aegon, I’m 70 now and been investing with this fund for around 15 years, it seemed to have done fairly well. I’m very lucky I will not need to touch this or any other of my pensions (other than the state one which I’m already taking) for around another 8 years, so I can be a little adventurous with my investments over a fair period.
These are the % of my main pension fund, no idea what are bonds however.
Similar, but 2022 was still an ugly year if look at the performance over that period.
Interesting as if I go back to 1/1/22 and add in my contributions then my present total should be around 4% higher than it is now, so yes it was an ugly year as you say. Wished I hadn’t looked it up😢 but that the chances you take I suppose with investments, you just got to hope that in long run the good times outweigh the bad.
Do you know how much of your pension is invested in bonds? I'd suspect, a fair bit. Maybe 40% in line with the old thinking of 60:40 mix. So its worth following the discussion here about the future direction of bonds (don't pay attention to me, I'm just a disgruntled punter, but pay attention to the consensus answers from the more knowledgeable )
FWIW I can't actually tell you how much my SIPP is up since 1.1.23 because H-L doesnt offer mug punteres such useful information, but I can see that the bond-heavy funds making up 40% of my portfolio are up between 4-5.5%, over that period so that shows how the recovery in bonds is affecting our pension funds, and then the question is, will it continue?
A sad accountant I may be, but I track my investments on a spreadsheet on a weekly basis. I know Excel is anathema to you marketing types, but it does save backtracking and trying to scratch historical info together after the event
Similar, but 2022 was still an ugly year if look at the performance over that period.
Interesting as if I go back to 1/1/22 and add in my contributions then my present total should be around 4% higher than it is now, so yes it was an ugly year as you say. Wished I hadn’t looked it up😢 but that the chances you take I suppose with investments, you just got to hope that in long run the good times outweigh the bad.
Do you know how much of your pension is invested in bonds? I'd suspect, a fair bit. Maybe 40% in line with the old thinking of 60:40 mix. So its worth following the discussion here about the future direction of bonds (don't pay attention to me, I'm just a disgruntled punter, but pay attention to the consensus answers from the more knowledgeable )
FWIW I can't actually tell you how much my SIPP is up since 1.1.23 because H-L doesnt offer mug punteres such useful information, but I can see that the bond-heavy funds making up 40% of my portfolio are up between 4-5.5%, over that period so that shows how the recovery in bonds is affecting our pension funds, and then the question is, will it continue?
Thanks for all your comments
My company pension which is my main pension fund is invested with Aegon, I’m 70 now and been investing with this fund for around 15 years, it seemed to have done fairly well. I’m very lucky I will not need to touch this or any other of my pensions (other than the state one which I’m already taking) for around another 8 years, so I can be a little adventurous with my investments over a fair period.
These are the % of my main pension fund, no idea what are bonds however.
Fund name
Regular (%)
SE Baillie G Bal Man
25.00
50/50 Caut Man Coll
20.00
SE Schroder UK Mid
5.00
SE Schroder Income
5.00
AGN BNY MLN GLOB INC
6.00
SE BLACKROCK AB ALPH
8.00
AGN CT AMERICAN
5.00
SE M&G PROP PORT
8.00
SE M&G OPT INCOME
8.00
AGN FUNDSMITH EQUITY
10.00
Total
100.00
The only Bonds will be the M&G Optimal Income & possibly the BNY Mellon fund (but that is possibly a global equity fund but with income units rather than accumulation). The 2 major holdings (BG Balanced Manged & the 50/50 Cautious Managed) will have an element of Bonds in them, and I would imagine the 50/50 is what it says on the tin - 50% Bonds & 50% equities. So, in essence I think your "portfolio" is about 22% in Bonds, 8% Property and 70% equities.
PS. I've never really liked Scottish Equitable or their funds. Obviously its now under the Aegon name, but still.
News for all those on Bonds, especially @PragueAddick with his Vanguard LS20 fund.
I watched a webinar earlier from Jupiter, mainly about their Strategic Bond fund but started off with some current macro economics.
Their view is that both the Fed & the BofE have overcooked the interest rate rises & that to avoid serious problems they will have to ease up or even stop any future rate rises. Their view is that there will only be one more 0.25% rise for both countries & the US will then start cutting with rates reducing by 1.5% by Q2 2024. The US will start having problem with renters & in the UK there are 2 million borrows with fixed rates ending this year, mainly on rates between 1.25-2% and now borrowers will be looking at closer to 4.5%. That will have a major impact on spending and economic growth.
For Bonds this means yields will start to fall & therefore the values will start to rise. This has already started to happen as has been seen since late last year. Lots of great charts which visually showed where we are at the moment & their reasons why investors should now be going back into Bonds were compelling.
Their Strategic Bond fund is currently made up of High Yield (50%) Government (20%) & Corporate (12%) bonds. One reason why I prefer active over passive is just this. Fund managers do a lot of research & if they are right then they can get ahead of the curve. Not only that but Vanguard funds are trackers & so all you are doing is replicating the market. If 80% of your portfolio is in Bonds shouldn't you be in the right ones.
News for all those on Bonds, especially @PragueAddick with his Vanguard LS20 fund.
I watched a webinar earlier from Jupiter, mainly about their Strategic Bond fund but started off with some current macro economics.
Their view is that both the Fed & the BofE have overcooked the interest rate rises & that to avoid serious problems they will have to ease up or even stop any future rate rises. Their view is that there will only be one more 0.25% rise for both countries & the US will then start cutting with rates reducing by 1.5% by Q2 2024. The US will start having problem with renters & in the UK there are 2 million borrows with fixed rates ending this year, mainly on rates between 1.25-2% and now borrowers will be looking at closer to 4.5%. That will have a major impact on spending and economic growth.
For Bonds this means yields will start to fall & therefore the values will start to rise. This has already started to happen as has been seen since late last year. Lots of great charts which visually showed where we are at the moment & their reasons why investors should now be going back into Bonds were compelling.
Their Strategic Bond fund is currently made up of High Yield (50%) Government (20%) & Corporate (12%) bonds. One reason why I prefer active over passive is just this. Fund managers do a lot of research & if they are right then they can get ahead of the curve. Not only that but Vanguard funds are trackers & so all you are doing is replicating the market. If 80% of your portfolio is in Bonds shouldn't you be in the right ones.
Invest your money and cross your fingers......
Seriously though thanks for the updates, all very interesting.
Anybody with savings in Sainsbury bank accounts should check the interest rates they're receiving particularly the cash ISA Sainsbury's advertised rates look fairly competitive but they're for new investors only They don't increase existing account holders' rates automatically. In fact they don't increase rates until you ask. You might think it's earning at 2.something% but unless you've asked them it could be sitting at 0.95% or lower Sharp practice in my view even if it is attended to with just a message through the website.
Hoping for some advice from anyone slightly savvy about dealing with currencies.
I’m British and my wife is American, so we have UK bank accounts and she has an US bank account. We pay taxes in UK and US. I also have an old Australian bank account still open from many years ago.
My wife has an inheritance payment coming from Australia. The lawyers for the estate are now arranging the payment and want to know where we want it sent. Anyone got any experience on how to minimise any fees and best deal with impact from exchange rates?
it’s worth exploring Revolut.
I live in the US and recently purchased a flat in Bromley. I had a large amount of US$ to transfer to GBP. I already had Basic $$ and ££ Revolut accounts which I’ve had for years and I upgraded to their Premium account which cost $9.99 a month but provided no fee FX for any amount. And I found their FX rates to be very competitive. The $9.99 a month comes with a yearly contract but you can cancel it when you’re done for a reasonable fee (I think I paid $19.99) and for me it more than offset the FX fees I would have incurred. With their Basic service, which is free, you pay 0.5% on any FX over $1000 in any given month. Hope this helps.
Before I could do this I had to provide proof of funds for anti money laundering purposes but I think that’s pretty standard nowadays for any reputable companies.
Hoping for some advice from anyone slightly savvy about dealing with currencies.
I’m British and my wife is American, so we have UK bank accounts and she has an US bank account. We pay taxes in UK and US. I also have an old Australian bank account still open from many years ago.
My wife has an inheritance payment coming from Australia. The lawyers for the estate are now arranging the payment and want to know where we want it sent. Anyone got any experience on how to minimise any fees and best deal with impact from exchange rates?
PM me - I might be able to get you a decent deal (hopefully near bank rate) through an FX company that I'm involved with.
Like a lot on here I'm up 9% YTD. I still think there's a bit more to go but I've started taking some money off the table this week. 15% cash right now.
I've had my finger hovering over the sell button re some individual holdings that have have bumped up nicely in the last few days, notably BP and Tate. Lots of noise about a forthcoming big crash esp in the US but results being reported seem generally to be a bit better than expected, so I'll just keep a close eye on it for the moment
No clue where its heading next but they do say "time in the market" rather than "timing the market". I have various charts & graphs showing how much you would have missed out on if you had missed the best 3/5/10/20 days of a rally.
So, stay in the market unless you have a crystal ball & know 100% what is around the corner. No problem taking profit but I wouldn't be leaving it in cash.
So after a new record the 3rd Feb FTSE 100 at 7901. Today the FTSE100 has closed at 7911, with intra day high of 7949.
Appreciate the FTSE is heavily bias in certain industry types, but personally. I’m winning big time at moment.
How are others doing ? Anybody out of this run up, wishing they’d committed funds ??
Even my Lloyds Bank holding was in profit at one state today.
Yup, my SIPP since 1st Jan has increased to the tune of about 6 months gross pay, and long may it continue! ISA's also doing well.
I'm tempted to take a bit of profit.
Lucky you. I'd like to use this "rally" to exit Direct Line with at least a modest 2-3% profit after all dealing costs, and (non-existent) dividend payments. Set a sell order at 195p. Bumps along at around 180. But to be fair, whatever else Direct Line does, it does not dig up and burn the planet, so it would not be part of the FTSE100 rally.
No clue where its heading next but they do say "time in the market" rather than "timing the market". I have various charts & graphs showing how much you would have missed out on if you had missed the best 3/5/10/20 days of a rally.
So, stay in the market unless you have a crystal ball & know 100% what is around the corner. No problem taking profit but I wouldn't be leaving it in cash.
Normally I'd agree with you re cash, except in a bear market. And we are still in a bear market. Always good to have some money on the side to pick up some bargains. Meanwhile, I'm getting 4% on that cash.
No clue where its heading next but they do say "time in the market" rather than "timing the market". I have various charts & graphs showing how much you would have missed out on if you had missed the best 3/5/10/20 days of a rally.
So, stay in the market unless you have a crystal ball & know 100% what is around the corner. No problem taking profit but I wouldn't be leaving it in cash.
Normally I'd agree with you re cash, except in a bear market. And we are still in a bear market. Always good to have some money on the side to pick up some bargains. Meanwhile, I'm getting 4% on that cash.
And in addition a few punters in the FT are also making that point in push-back to the proposition that corporate bonds are becoming attractive again
The current bond yield is the rarer "inverted yield" where short term yields are higher than long term. The only direction is holding down interest rates, lower yields and higher bond price.
I presume that is for cash ISAs, not cash sitting in a Stocks and Shares ISA?
Nope, S&S ISA and SIPP,
They are desperately trying to keep hold of the cash generated by pissed off Life Strategy investors who have sold their holdings and search for something trustworthy 🤣
Comments
FWIW I can't actually tell you how much my SIPP is up since 1.1.23 because H-L doesnt offer mug punteres such useful information, but I can see that the bond-heavy funds making up 40% of my portfolio are up between 4-5.5%, over that period so that shows how the recovery in bonds is affecting our pension funds, and then the question is, will it continue?
EDIT, just checked my other much smaller SIPP, that's up 9.05% but I tend to play with that one so it's predominantly trading shares.
My works pension is up 3%
My company pension which is my main pension fund is invested with Aegon, I’m 70 now and been investing with this fund for around 15 years, it seemed to have done fairly well. I’m very lucky I will not need to touch this or any other of my pensions (other than the state one which I’m already taking) for around another 8 years, so I can be a little adventurous with my investments over a fair period.
PS. I've never really liked Scottish Equitable or their funds. Obviously its now under the Aegon name, but still.
I watched a webinar earlier from Jupiter, mainly about their Strategic Bond fund but started off with some current macro economics.
Their view is that both the Fed & the BofE have overcooked the interest rate rises & that to avoid serious problems they will have to ease up or even stop any future rate rises. Their view is that there will only be one more 0.25% rise for both countries & the US will then start cutting with rates reducing by 1.5% by Q2 2024. The US will start having problem with renters & in the UK there are 2 million borrows with fixed rates ending this year, mainly on rates between 1.25-2% and now borrowers will be looking at closer to 4.5%. That will have a major impact on spending and economic growth.
For Bonds this means yields will start to fall & therefore the values will start to rise. This has already started to happen as has been seen since late last year. Lots of great charts which visually showed where we are at the moment & their reasons why investors should now be going back into Bonds were compelling.
Their Strategic Bond fund is currently made up of High Yield (50%) Government (20%) & Corporate (12%) bonds. One reason why I prefer active over passive is just this. Fund managers do a lot of research & if they are right then they can get ahead of the curve. Not only that but Vanguard funds are trackers & so all you are doing is replicating the market. If 80% of your portfolio is in Bonds shouldn't you be in the right ones.
Seriously though thanks for the updates, all very interesting.
Sainsbury's advertised rates look fairly competitive but they're for new investors only
They don't increase existing account holders' rates automatically. In fact they don't increase rates until you ask.
You might think it's earning at 2.something% but unless you've asked them it could be sitting at 0.95% or lower
Sharp practice in my view even if it is attended to with just a message through the website.
I live in the US and recently purchased a flat in Bromley. I had a large amount of US$ to transfer to GBP. I already had Basic $$ and ££ Revolut accounts which I’ve had for years and I upgraded to their Premium account which cost $9.99 a month but provided no fee FX for any amount. And I found their FX rates to be very competitive. The $9.99 a month comes with a yearly contract but you can cancel it when you’re done for a reasonable fee (I think I paid $19.99) and for me it more than offset the FX fees I would have incurred. With their Basic service, which is free, you pay 0.5% on any FX over $1000 in any given month. Hope this helps.
Even my Lloyds Bank holding was in profit at one state today.
Lots of noise about a forthcoming big crash esp in the US but results being reported seem generally to be a bit better than expected, so I'll just keep a close eye on it for the moment
So, stay in the market unless you have a crystal ball & know 100% what is around the corner. No problem taking profit but I wouldn't be leaving it in cash.
I'm tempted to take a bit of profit.
"Disgruntled" of Prague
1-month yield
4.607%
1-year yield
4.892%
2-year yield
4.525%
10-year yield
3.743%
30-year yield
3.827%
Number and value of Premium Bonds prizes
Value of prizes in February 2023
Number of prizes in February 2023
Value of prizes in March 2023 (estimated)
Number of prizes in March 2023 (estimated)
£1,000,000
2
£1,000,000
2
£100,000
59
£100,000
62
£50,000
117
£50,000
123
£25,000
236
£25,000
248
£10,000
590
£10,000
620
£5,000
1,177
£5,000
1,236
£1,000
12,573
£1,000
13,173
£500
37,719
£500
39,519
£100
1,280,509
£100
1,400,876
£50
1,280,509
£50
1,400,876
£25
2,376,161
£25
2,132,917
Total
£314,347,875
Total
4,989,652
Total
£329,316,825
Total
4,989,652
Whilst in the current climate not exactly an earth shattering rate, for funds sitting around waiting investment etc it's not too bad.