Hi everyone - was hoping someone could play devils advocate.
I signed up to FT over 2 years ago and have had a great experience since then. I recently convinced my partner to sign up. She is able to save regularly but has absolutely no interest in finance/investing.
Iām no expert but am generally looking to learn whereas she is not. I signed her up, added VWRL to her watchlist and told her to not buy anything else and to only buy with money she wonāt need for 5+ years.
Interested to know peoples opinions if theyāve had similar experiences, what did you do?
What reasons would you give that my suggestion was a bad one?
I think youāve done things right, sometimes people need to see for themselves to be convinced.
I take it she has been buying VWRL and has seen her investment going up? Has she received any dividends yet?
Iāve only managed to persuade one friend to get onto FT and to start investing. I have to assure her every time the markets drop. She hasnāt sold in panic yet, but is too fearful to buy when the prices are down, instead says she has ācourage to buyā when her portfolio is greenā¦
She is a high earner yet very reluctant to invest large amounts still.
I continue to try to encourage her to invest more.
I think itās an absolutely fine strategy. If your friend becomes more interested in investing then they can consider building their own researched portfolio. If itās not their cup of tea then DRIP in VWRL sounds good to me
this is easier said than done, but how about opening YouTube on your TV and force feed her a video and some chocolate or ice cream. Maybe start with one about compound interest
No dividends yet, investment is largely flat ( its not been long).
Yeah itās trickier than expected. I try to explain it a bit and then I think I sound like a shill !
I did almost the exact same except I suggested buying VEVE and VFEM for the lower costs, so if I was being pedantic Iād say you could have saved a couple of basis points.
I suggested weekly buys of around 80%/20% then if one dips buying double that week - I think thatās really important psychologically. You want dips to be a positive buying opportunity, not a scary thing - which they are for people not used to their savings declining.
Turning āoh no I lost Ā£ this weekā into āoh great VEVE is on saleā is really a big step.
All I can say is some people have BIG cahones!!! All investments can go down hill no matter how well sourced and I would hate to be the person behind a decision like that And what do they say āā¦ a woman scornedā
Joking aside though the above all seems very sensible My advice to new investors is simple, play only with spare money, read a wide range of opinions and learn. If in doubt stick to the ideas above or ETFās.
My theory is most bad investors, not all, are greedy and want instant wins, live in echo chambers or donāt do enough research. If you donāt need to cash out in a short window then I find it is quite hard not to lose serious money if well spread and researched over time.
Edit - I know this will sound arrogant and I didnāt want to add but it is true/important. Some people are not clever/intelligent and not the āoh, but I have a degreeā clever as many people with degrees I have interviewed for roles had less common sense than a clown but more aware of the world clever.
Take my nan, she was very intelligent in most ways and would have listened to advice but she would then think she knew how it all worked. All would be OK but then 2 years later I would find out she had spent a much larger sum on general investing gone bad. Why? Well, she will have decided that as she made 3% on bonds or something she would make some more on XXX as the news said it would go higher later She will have missed the point that it may come down much lower straight after.
And what do they say āā¦ a woman scornedā