Stocks & bonds : News and discussion

interesting chart -could be wrong but looks like the funds are American ETF's rather then active or UK funds which may make a small difference plus or minus but nice to see it laid out

I like the coloured chart prepared by nellerdk [here]. This reveals the bottom and top performers over the period 2008-2017. The Small Cap sector comes out best, closely followed by the Mid Cap and Large Cap. The Commodity sector is in deeply negative territory and by far the worst performer--am puzzled by this. Less surprising is to find that Cash returns are barely above zero and should also be perceived to be negative once inflation is considered. I used the figures given in nellerdk's chart in a spreadsheet [attached]. In several cases my 10-year figures are at variance with those of the chart [see spreadsheet last two columns]. Whatever the reason the broad thrust of the results still stand.

I am increasingly fidgety with P2P [overexposure in a few loans and too many warning signs of poor-quality loans]. I am looking at S&S investments as a long-term alternative. I have five digits of loans in default that might take forever to resolve. I can't be alone in wanting to reduce exposure to platform risks and dodgy loans.

I am already invested with Fundsmith but perhaps Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% or Vanguard Global Small Cap could also be considered. Vanguard has low annual charges [0.22 and 0.38 respectively) and good performance figures but Fundsmith consistently performed well above sector average [global large-cap] over the last five years. Annual charges are higher though [1%]. I welcome any thoughts about these funds. Of course there are many other possibilities but I am not bold enough to try my luck investing in individual S&S. Links to Financial Times market data for all three funds mentioned are given below.

markets.ft.com/data/funds/tearsheet/summary?s=GB00B4Q5X527:GBP
markets.ft.com/data/funds/tearsheet/summary?s=GB00B4PQW151:GBP
markets.ft.com/data/funds/tearsheet/summary?s=IE00B3X1NT05:GBP

return by sector 2007-17.ods (15.42 KB)

If going with Vanguard i would look at their own platform which only charges 0.15% fee plus the fund fee.The small cap fund has done well and in an article on Trustnet a few weeks back was mentioned as being one of the top global funds over 10 years (as well as having i believe low volatility )Could not find the link but may come up on a search.
           Mentioned in another post that i spotted on MSE yesterday people posting about Orbis Access who are offering 2 funds fee free if their results do not hit their target in any year which may appeal & the funds seem to have been good performers.
Have been in Fundsmith for a few years and there always seems somebody writing that its good results can't continue but so far so good-also coming from a pension back ground hopefully Mr Smith is looking long term.Would also recommend Monks & Scottish Mortgage IT's from Baillie Gifford (but SM can be more risk)

I seem to recall that LT follow a very similar philosophy to Fundsmith?

"Buy good companies, don't overpay for them, and then do nothing", or some such.  

The Terry Smith secret is to start a new fund at the bottom of the market after a major crash. If you can time it right anyone can look good.

As an executive but not as a fund manager.