Vanguard Target Retirement Funds review
Monevator Blog
by The Accumulator
2d ago
The Vanguard Target Retirement Funds are like an automated amusement park ride for investors. Hand over your money and you’ll start by gliding up the rails of accumulation hill with a thrilling 80/20 equity/bond portfolio.  You’ll probably do some loop-the-loops during those early years – and maybe even a double-inversion stall – as the market tests your stomach.  But as the ride progresses, your investment vehicle slackens off the pace. And by the time you’re ready to retire, it’s shifted you to a much gentler 50/50 equity/bond track.  As you coast down the final decumulation ..read more
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Weekend reading: dude, where’s my house price crash?
Monevator Blog
by The Investor
5d ago
What caught my eye this week. The surge in mortgage costs as millions have rolled-off barely-there fixed-rate mortgages has been a bit of an anti-climax, hasn’t it? Sure the resultant property market is far from perky. And life is certainly tougher if you’ve had a higher mortgage – or rent – bill to pay, on top of the rest of the cost-of-living crisis But we’ve not seen a massive nominal house price crash. Let alone a wave of repossessions. According to an ongoing deep dive by This Is Money this week: The Bank of England’s latest figures showed the value of outstanding mortgage balances with ..read more
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How bonds and bond funds are taxed
Monevator Blog
by The Accumulator
6d ago
Okay, there’s no way to sugar this: I’m writing about tax on bonds, so I’ll keep it short, if not exactly sweet. Bond taxation is confusing and life is fleeting and so – double-quick – here’s what you need to know to keep on the right side of the taxman: Bonds are not taxed the same as equities. Bond funds are not taxed the same as individual bonds. Offshore bond funds are not taxed the same as onshore ones. (In other words, the treatment may be different if your bond fund sits outside the UK.) Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are not taxed the same as bond funds. The following two t ..read more
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The contrasting fortunes of Britain’s European stock market rivals
Monevator Blog
by The Accumulator
1w ago
Stocks-for-the-long-run type charts commonly plot the marvellous growth story of the US market. Sometimes you’ll also get the UK thrown in for good measure. However you rarely see much mention of our great European frenemies: Germany and France. Partly that’s because our cultural conversation is dominated by the US. But it’s also because the continentals’ stock market history isn’t such a wonderful advert for investing. In fact if long-term US stock returns were similar to theirs, I suspect investing wouldn’t be anywhere near as popular as it is in the Anglosphere. So let’s turn to our near ne ..read more
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Weekend reading: Is that a billion pound bazooka in your pocket, Scottish Mortgage?
Monevator Blog
by The Investor
1w ago
What caught my eye this week. The UK’s largest investment trust Scottish Mortgage ​announced​ a £1bn share buyback plan on Friday. (Disclosure: I own some). Appropriately enough, it’s the biggest buyback ever undertaken by a trust. Meaningful even set against Scottish Mortgage’s £11bn-plus market cap. Traders seem to think size matters. Scottish Mortgage shares ended the day up 6%. That’s a punchy move considering that in theory a share buyback – even a £1bn one – is just a capital rejig decision from the ‘look-through’ perspective of a shareholder. Simplifying, cash that was on the trust’s b ..read more
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What to do if you’re queasy about the US stock market [Members]
Monevator Blog
by The Investor
2w ago
For years now, returns from the US stock market have thrashed the rest of the world. And yet even as the disconnect between the Land Of The Free Jumbo Upgrade and the rest of us widens, pundits ponder when it will all go wrong. This article can be read by selected Monevator members. Please see our membership plans and consider joining! Already a member? Sign in here. The post What to do if you’re queasy about the US stock market [Members] appeared first on Monevator ..read more
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Weekend reading: Spring Budget 2024 roundup
Monevator Blog
by The Investor
2w ago
What caught my eye this week. Nobody really needs more than a couple of articles about the Spring Budget. Alas for me, I only concluded this after reading dozens of them. For all the noise, this wasn’t a Budget that will move the dial for most people. Even the welcome reduction in National Insurance won’t really be felt as such, given it just blunts the impact of ongoing higher taxes due to fiscal drag. The coincident OBR figures paint a sobering picture too. What good news it has will mostly arrive next year – apparently. Those of us who have followed every Budget and Autumn Statement for th ..read more
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Introducing the UK ISA: don’t panic!
Monevator Blog
by The Investor
3w ago
You’ve been crying out for a UK ISA, right? I mean, even the investing platforms said they didn’t want one but somebody must have asked for it. Perhaps it was you? Well, you and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who presumably wanted another bone to throw to the electorate. And so the Dad’s Army ISA has marched on the parade ground. Or rather it’s marched into a consultation phase. The basic idea is clear enough. We’ll get an extra £5,000 annual ISA allowance to invest in UK-listed companies. And – thankfully – the existing £20,000 annual ISA allowance remains unmolested. But beyond that there are lots ..read more
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How to read an equity fund web page
Monevator Blog
by The Accumulator
3w ago
The best way to understand a fund is to read the fund web page. But having done so, you may well feel like an ancient king after consulting his soothsayer – bemused, wary, and like you haven’t really got a straight answer. We’re all told to “do your own research”. Yet how on Earth can you navigate the explosion-in-a-metrics factory that’s the average fund web page while still having time for things like, y’know, going to work and remembering who your spouse is? Luckily most of the information is irrelevant to ordinary investors. It can be happily ignored. In fact once you know what to look for ..read more
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Weekend reading: Should Jeremy Hunt just leave not-so-well alone?
Monevator Blog
by The Investor
3w ago
What caught my eye this week. I am not holding my breath for the Spring Budget on Wednesday. The current occupants of Downing Street may be intellectual giants versus the LEGO figures that preceded them. But low expectations can’t work miracles in the real world. The UK economy is stagnant. The lunatic solution to our national woes has made things worse. The populace is still under the cosh from the cost of living squeeze at the low-end and a growing tax burden for the rest of us. I guess the richest are alright – with interest rates plateauing and markets bouncing back – but there’s a limit ..read more
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