The main reason why people use the best buy lists from platforms is that they don’t know how to do the relevant research themselves and are looking for help on this from the experts. It’s just a pity that they don’t understand how they are made up. Everyone will think that the best buy lists are pointing them in the right direction for their investments as they will be the best places to invest – but is it that easy. No of course it’s not.
These lists are made up by people working for the platforms and the lists are made up on a whole variety of reasons – which may or may not agree with your NEEDS, and what I say investors should do – is look at what investments they need, not what someone else is pushing. If someone is doing their own investing, you need a logical approach to what you are doing because one of the most important aspects of investing is getting a good spread. This means that you need a good spread of risks, and you need to choose what you want in percentage terms between low middle and high risk. You also need a good spread of geography, in that you don’t want to have everything in the one country or the one area. You need a spread of UK, Europe, Asia, America, Japan, Global. You also need a good spread of types in that you can invest in Healthcare, Technology, Multi Asset, balanced etc. Finally, you need a good number of funds to invest in to get a spread of all the above factors, and what we are talking about here is numbers.
In general, when investing money, it is easy to say that a big spread will reduce risk a lot but you can get to the silly stage where you have too many funds. We have always worked to something like 9 or 10 funds as that should give you a good spread, but doesn’t give you too much work in keeping your eye on all the funds used. We always do a minimum of £5k an Investment fund and a kind of a maximum of £60k – or so. This should be enough funds to give you a good spread but also make sure that you are not going overboard just for the hell of it.
When MAP invests money for clients, we look to do all of the above spreads, and to make things simpler for DIY investors – try the following :-
- Decide how many funds you are going to use in total but no more than 10
- Then you need to decide how many funds you want in low risk – in middle risk and finally in high risk
- Then do your research of those risk areas and pick the funds that (a) are half decent performing and (b) give you a good spread.
This starts you off, and form that point, you need to keep doing your research time and time again, and don’t be afraid to change any of the choices if they are heading south. MAP always works on facts by looking at past performances and also the trends – and if you keep dong this, you can get a successful portfolio,
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For any enquiries, contact Andrew on 07957 836211 or
enquiries@mapfinances.co.uk
