Reply to: For those that invest....

[sasguru]

some guff about Nigeria

Invest where you like. It's survival of the fittest.

[Troll]

Look for an Africa tracker - one which looks at the rise of the African middle class rather than simply mining.
That's going to be the growth story of the next few years.

PMSL

btw N100,000 = £405

Two recent research reports, one by BusinessDay and RMS TNS and another by Enhancing Financial Access and Innovation (EFInA), however, cast some shadow on the strength and depth of Nigeria’s middle class. First, the BusinessDay RMS TNS report shows that 81 per cent of Nigeria’s working adults actually earn less than N100,000 monthly. More significantly, the survey shows that 57 per cent of adults are unemployed. Also, of the 43 per cent that are employed, 62 per cent are self-employed and 38 per cent are in paid employment.

The second survey by EFInA has even more interesting findings. It puts Nigeria’s adult population at 87.9 million, with 71 per cent of them living in the rural areas. This means that an average of 62 million Nigerian adults lives in the rural areas. An average of 35.5 per cent or about 22 million of rural adults is engaged in farming, the EFInA report shows. Only 55.6 per cent of rural adults, about 35 million people, own a phone compared to 84.9 per cent of the adult population in the urban areas. So while, on the average, 9 in 10 adults in the urban areas of Nigeria own a phone, only about 5 of every 10 adults in the rural areas own a phone. However, only 29 per cent of adults live in the urban areas.

The Nigerian adult population is primarily young, with an average of 50 per cent under the age of 33 years. Majority of the adult population are, however, not highly educated, the report shows, with only about 8.1 per cent or about seven million of them having some form of tertiary education.

The low level of education may explain the finding of the EFInA report that only 4.5 per cent of Nigeria’s adult population or 3.99 million adults actually earn more than N70,000 monthly.

[sasguru]

I go for funds instead. Four low cost trackers of the major indices. One Europe (ex. UK), one UK only, one far-East and one US.

That just about covers everything.

Your trackers cover low growth areas: Europe and the UK.
Look for an Africa tracker - one which looks at the rise of the African middle class rather than simply mining.
That's going to be the growth story of the next few years.

[DimPrawn]

I found this interesting reading:

Dissatisfaction with Stocks for the Long Run

Then click next to go through the whole article. It is worth understanding that diversification and portfolio rebalancing are far more important long term than "stock picking" for low risk returns.

[Doggy Styles]

In a SIPP how many shares do you down? I think I might have gone too far in diversification with 14 different shares, with my eye on another 6, mainly all blue chips with a good history of dividends as i am looking for long term income return rather than growth in value, but i have a couple which are punts

I'm using an ISA for my individual equities. Your 14 plus is fine. I only have six or seven, I should diversify more.

[tomtomagain]

If you are only going to buy one or can't be bothered to do any research then.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/fun...feStrategyList

Is the one you need.

Having said that I've got around 25 different investments ( trackers, bonds, shares, funds etc )

[MarillionFan]

BAE
BG
BP
GKN
LGEN
NG
RDSA
RR
SL

Been hammered on the BG shares this year - but still think OK long term
GSK has had a good run up - not sure there is further to go
BAT seems to be in everyone's portfolio shame I didn't add earlier
Dodged a bullet as was going to pile into RBS a few years ago as a banking stock - but I am looking into banking to widen the portfolio

(I've actually worked at Lloyds, BB, Aviva & Vodafone - which may explain why not in the portfolio )

SL has been fantastic this year and BP has been strong as well. Pity I sold before the rise.

[Troll]

BAE
BG
BP
GKN
LGEN
NG
RDSA
RR
SL

Been hammered on the BG shares this year - but still think OK long term
GSK has had a good run up - not sure there is further to go
BAT seems to be in everyone's portfolio shame I didn't add earlier
Dodged a bullet as was going to pile into RBS a few years ago as a banking stock - but I am looking into banking to widen the portfolio

[SimonMac]

I have 9 active investments and one dead duck - a legacy (and memory) of the dot com boom - but am looking for more diversification... if I show you mine will you show me yours?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...o_Analysis.pdf

Still too heavily exposed to the finance sector, but I just can't see Lloyds not returning to at least £2 a share within the next 5-10 years which considering I bought them for a average of 30p a share, sold a fair number of Lloyds and Aviva in the past to aid my diversification, but am now looking to add First Group, BP, ARM, Next, Persimmon and British Land to finally cover myself and then just slowly bring up the minor share holdings with my regular monthly income to dilute the Lloyds without having to sell any

[Troll]

I have 9 active investments and one dead duck - a legacy (and memory) of the dot com boom - but am looking for more diversification... if I show you mine will you show me yours?

[nomadd]

Half the fun is researching the shares, looking at the long term, what's the point of having a SIPP if you are just going to let someone else invest for you?

Because, in mature markets, even the very best Fund Managers in the world can't beat trackers. From Moneywise:

Experts largely agree that passive funds work best in the large developed markets, as it is difficult for active managers to add value. "The best examples are large UK and US equities," says Patrick Connolly, spokesperson for AWD Chase de Vere.
"Here, information is so freely available that it is very difficult for active managers to spot and exploit genuine investment opportunities."


Davies adds: "There are so many final and interim results and trading statements that there's a level playing field among investors.
If Tesco takes some analysts around its stores and gives them a briefing, they will still press release it straight after so everyone has that information and no one has an advantage."

...as Peter Robertson, head of retail at Vanguard, points out: "Consistent long-term outperformance with an active fund is rare."

[DaveB]

Half the fun is researching the shares, looking at the long term, what's the point of having a SIPP if you are just going to let someone else invest for you?

Because the trackers have a track record (no pun intended) of consistently out performing managed funds year on year. If you want to play the market thats fine, but if you are looking for a serious long term investment trackers are the best option. You might do better on your own, you probably won't.

[SimonMac]

Half the fun is researching the shares, looking at the long term, what's the point of having a SIPP if you are just going to let someone else invest for you?

[KentPhilip]

Yes get a low cost tracker, and sleep at night.
Such as:

VANGUARD FUNDS PLC VANGUARD FTS ETF- Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance

It is a whole-world stock market tracker, with total fees of 0.3% per year. Job done.

[nomadd]

In a SIPP how many shares do you down? I think I might have gone too far in diversification with 14 different shares, with my eye on another 6, mainly all blue chips with a good history of dividends as i am looking for long term income return rather than growth in value, but i have a couple which are punts

I go for funds instead. Four low cost trackers of the major indices. One Europe (ex. UK), one UK only, one far-East and one US.

That just about covers everything.