For me it was a long term hold as I wanted to get in on Apple/Microsoft/Visa/Adobe etc without committing a lot of cash to individual shares - fractionals still appear to have no timeline.
But this ETF has $1B in assets so is not small & is listed on 6 exchanges of which, LSE is buy far the largest. But with such low traded volumes I genuinely concern with liquidity, I know market makers are there to pick up orders but any severe (read; catasrophic) conditions would likely see this fall apart.
The companies have to actually be listed as Technology in the ‘sector’ field and so it does not include all stocks that use/build technology.
Yes, Alphabet and Facebook were moved from Technology to Telecomms/Communication Services, Netflix also missing - also moved from Consumer Discretionary to Comm Services.
Most people come into the market thinking they can outperform it. This is very rarely the case, which is why 99% of investment advice includes the importance of diversification.
I don’t think I can out perform the market, I’m not even trying to.
Then there is no benefit in knowing the trends and not diversifying
I do the same, I buy 1 or a few shares of companies that I’m interested in following. This way I can see how they develop over time.
Hello everyone,
I would like some feedback on my portfolio and investing strategy. I have been investing for nearly 7 months with Freetrade.
When i turned 18 i was very excited in starting my journey of investing in the stock market. I used to add money monthly to my portfolio but realised that dollar cost averaging isn’t the best strategy for a growth portfolio especially in small amounts. Therefore, i now add larger sums every 2/3 months to my portfolio. I used to own 20+ stocks but now have scaled down and focused on companies that will be able to give me a decent long term return.
I am slowly learning the stock fundamentals but right now I’ve invested in companies i think have great long term growth.
What are some of your thoughts? Anywhere you think I could improve on? Should I be adding other stocks like more ETFs, dividend stocks? When should I be adding more to my portfolio especially with a lot of stocks at such high prices right now?
Any advice and feedback would be appreciated.
Thank you
Lloyds really doesn’t have great long term growth or prospects. Why did you choose it?
I’ve got Lloyds from early on and often find myself asking this question.
Some good stocks there and great performance overall. Can’t fault your approach. I personally only invest what I can afford to lose at the moment but have been far too heavy on eis and seis investments historically. Although freetrade are by far now my biggest holding.
I find I invest in companies or industries I know or that I’ve personally done some research on and when I make a profit and decide to sell a stock at a particular point I tend to reinvest in the smaller holdings or average down if I think a stocks in a bit of a dip. I tend to try and focus on companies I’d be comfortable to hold in the long term so I’m prepared for very bad performance which can happen in the short term.
Good luck with your investing.
Munsax:
I’m new to investing too, having opened my FT account last May, So I may not be the most qualified to offer advice. I offer my thoughts on the basis that I have been reading up on and thinking about stock market investing for a couple of decades, never expecting to have the opportunity to participate directly. So I kind of have a good level of ‘knowledge’ even though largely untested.
My own strategy has been a ‘value’ one. I look for companies that seem undervalued in the market, and invest in them on the basis that the fundamentals are sound and the reason for the market undervaluing them will eventually subside. The hope is for above-market-rate returns when there is the anticipated sharp and substantial increase the value of the shares at some point in the future. I find my prospects by looking up shorted stocks, as well as looking for ‘hidden gems’ in less trendy sectors.
As with any prudent strategy involving betting on a future outcome, there is some hedging mixed in. My value portfolio is reasonably hedged with some etfs, growth stocks (including some that you own), and solid dividend stocks.
The reason for this lengthy story is to make the point that there really is no advice I would take from anyone about my choice of stock because if I did that, neither my successes or my losses would be my own, and I would be denying myself the foundational opportunity to learn from experience.
What do I think about your stock choices? Make sure your investment strategy matches your personality; stick to your guns; learn from your mistakes.
Thanks a lot, will do!
I guess you’re I’m going to rethink that one
Can I suggest that you compare you personal return against benchmarks such as the FTSE100, S&P 500, and global markets? That’s the best indication of how well you’ve performed.
Personally, I think you’ve made the right choice to scale down your number of holdings (it’s impossible to keep up with the news of 20+ companies), but I’d definitely consider adding more ETFs to your portfolio to widen your exposure and add some diversification.
One observation - Apple is the largest Berkshire Hathaway holding, and the largest QQQ holding.
Hi everyone,
Over the last few months I’ve been playing around with the Freetrade ISA as well as doing some reading about investing on the side.
I had started as a complete beginner, but now I feel ready to start with some regular passive investing for the long term (25-30 years). I would like to come up with some portfolio I could stick with for the foreseeable future (I’m in my late twenties) to invest part of my savings every month.
I’m finding it a bit a hard to move from the ‘theory’ to a real portfolio, especially within the limitations of the ETFs available on Freetrade, and decided to ask this community for advice on my choices so far.
Based on the reading I’ve done and looking at other people’s portfolio I came up with something like this:
42% USA + Europe
7% Japan
7% Pacific Ex-Japan
19% Emerging markets
10% Small cap
15% Bonds
Based on what’s available on Freetrade and trying to optimise using ETFs with the lowest fees, this could translate roughly to (if my calculations are correct):
54%VWRL (FTSE All World)
14% EMIM (MSCI EM)
4.5% CPJ1 (Pacific Ex-Japan)
2.5% VJPN (FTSE Japan)
8% ISP6 (Small Cap 600)
2% ISJP (Japan Small Cap)
6% CU31 (US Gvt Bnd 1-3yr)
4% IBTM (US Gvt Bnd 7-10yr)
5% SEMB (J.P.M. EM $ Govt Bond)
How does this look for a start? Anything that definitely needs to be changed? Should I include things like the property ETFs or gold at all?
Hope nothing looks too silly, thanks in advance!
2 cents.
Investment advice is against the Community rules here.
Also, I guess it all depends on what you want - high risk, low risk, etc etc etc. Your asset allocation is your choice and noone can predict the future performance of each asset class (US govies vs JPM govies or MSCI EM vs FTSE). Sometimes bonds are moving in one direction and equities - in another. Sometimes - they are dancing in unison.
Wall Street doesn’t know what’s going to happen other than the fact that we’re in a global recession.
It’s a new new normal:
So, on the marco level, things will be flying up and down, left and right like never before, most likely.
Check out this thread and read the book:
Note, Ray Dalio’s fund has not done well this time - it’s not managed to weather this storm (at least on paper, he’s finally making losses).
As for “property ETFs”, you may want to study what goes into each of those ETFs. Apple is a different company to Netflix, but they may be bundled into the same “tech ETF” by “BigFund Capital Management”.
Also, you may want to read up more, e.g. this:
Getting started in the market doesn’t have to be daunting, though. There are ways to begin investing for the future without taking on too much risk: Both Warren Buffett and Tony Robbins recommend starting with index funds, especially for anyone young or new to the market.
“Consistently buy an S&P 500 low-cost index fund,” Buffett told CNBC’s On The Money. “I think it’s the thing that makes the most sense practically all of the time.”
You can think of an index fund as a basket of stocks with hundreds or thousands of different ones inside, explains Nick Holeman, a certified financial planner at Betterment. The S&P 500, for example, is a fund that holds stocks for the 500 largest companies in the U.S., which includes familiar names such as Apple, Google, Exxon and Johnson & Johnson.
“It’s the cheapest and easiest way to diversify your money that you’re investing,” Holeman says.
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Passive investing should be cheap and hassle-free, imho.
“I think the best way is a low-cost index fund. I do not think people really should be making individual stock picks with their savings. I think that’s generally been demonstrated to be not such a good idea. If you want to do it as entertainment like gambling — like you bet on football games — fine, but I think you’re better off in a low-cost index fund, like a Vanguard index fund.”
(He’s a book author and a former bond salesman).
Each to their own. Do own homework. This is not an investment advice.
If I could give any advice (I think this might be OK) that is to diversify if you want to reduce risk.
Buying different assets (stocks, government bonds, corporate bonds etc) but also going further and spreading across regions (which you have highlighted above) but also sectors (financial, transport, energy etc).
But as @engineer has said it all comes down to your risk appetite but the final decision is one you need to make. The global economy is likely to contact hard and fast but there will be sectors within it that does pretty well.
Remember investing/trading and getting it right isn’t easy. If it was we would all be rich.
Great, thanks a lot for the links! Didn’t realise investment advice was against the community rules (apologies for that), but the info was useful to make sure I’m not missing anything during my considerations.
As also @krr13 mentioned, diversification is a good idea and so I guess my question could be translated into whether I’m missing any obvious ETF within the Freetrade universe that would help me diversify considerably on top of the list I mentioned earlier.
But I totally get that the specific mix will have to be judged by myself, I guess that’s part of the fun 
