Blackrock MyMap vs Vanguard LifeStrategy: Which is Best?

[@itstaimoor]

Hi Ramin! I just wanted to leave a quick message to thank you for the amazing content you make and the generosity with which you share your experience! Your passion to educate is inspirational. Thank you!

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Taimoor thank you very much - that kind of positive feedback means a lot. Thanks, Ramin.

[@rf9562]

Hi, An another great and excellent video,. I am sure you invest many days to do a quality video like that. Are you going to change your Vanguard account for Blackrock ? Personally I choose Vanguard inspired by your videos also I love the simplicity and low fees of Vanguard. At the moment I hold : 33% of Life S.: 80% 10% of VMID, but I am really think to sell it..due Brexit , wait till will be much cheaper or simply buy VUKE instead. 12% of VGOV 19% of VEMT, I know its risky , but i love their monthly dividend pay( it will cover annual fees) 25% of cash , so many things going on right now. Brexit, Trump, China... more CNBC i watch more confused I am. I am 28 yr old, I should play it more risky though, but Rule 1. Do not lose money. Thanks again , for the great content.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Robert, I won't be switching to BlackRock MyMap but I don't have any LifeStrategy either. Thanks, Ramin

[@hatchingdraggon8073]

Use the confusion to your advantage, the results of the things you mention won't be nearly as bad as the fearmongering suggests

[@charugera7654]

Hi Ramin. Gr8 content. What's your view on MyMap vs LS funds in 2023? Any updates? Many thanks. Ardent follower here .😃

[@rothezimba982]

Very informative. Thank you for your great content!

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Ro the Zimba, Thank you for your comment. I'm pleased you liked it. Ramin

[@TynOng]

0.17% is attractive fee indeed if mymap perform similar to VG LS. I'm a bit too lazy to construct own portfolio and too scared for near future market crash so sticking with VG LS 20% just now. It'd be great if VG also fight back on fees but I doubt they will for some time. Thanks for the interesting information again Ramin :-)

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Tyn, my portfolio is 40% equity at the moment pensioncraft.com/how-i-invested-20k/ as I'm also concerned about high valuations and slowing growth and slowing corporate earnings. Thanks, Ramin.

[@tc9634]

Video suggestion: a comparison of Vanguard global bond index fund GBP hedged and vagp, the new global aggregate bond hedged etf. - aside from the fund/etf difference, what are the real differences between the 2?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Tim I remember when the aggregate bond index was the Lehman Aggregate. Jumpers for goalposts... I don't think that would have much general interest but I'd be happy to discuss it on a Sunday evening call with Patreon supporters. Thanks, Ramin.

[@barnstar2077]

I don't see these new funds as available to invest in yet on HL

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Barn Star I couldn't find them on Barclays Smart Investor yet either. I guess it takes a while for them to appear on all the platforms after they're launched. Thanks, Ramin.

[@leesmith9299]

Question if I may: The 0.17/0.22% fees on these funds. Do they include the charges of the sub-funds they hold? Or do holders in effect pay 2 sets of fees?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Lee, the Ongoing Charges Figure includes all fees so the 0.17% and 0.22% is all you have to pay. There will be some invisible trading fees too which create a drag on performance which you can find here www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/content/documents/legal/vanguard-full-fund-costs-and-charges-2018.pdf in the column "Transaction Costs" for Vanguard, but I couldn't find the transaction fees for the MyMap funds. Under Mifid II regulation these should be published, so it's annoying I can't find them for MyMap - sorry. Thanks, Ramin.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @Tom W50 I can't find the trading costs for MyMap - probably because they haven't calculated them yet. They are a best guess i.e. they depend on what markets are doing. In more volatile periods the fund will trade more and increase the trading cost. So there's an assumption about volatility built into the transaction fee estimate. But once the fund is better established a fund manager can compare the estimated fees with actual trading fees. Let me know if you can find it on Blackrock's website! Thanks, Ramin.

[@leesmith9299]

@@Pensioncraft Thanks Ramin. I guess they just charge the difference between each of the sub funds charges and the 0.22% as each sub fund has the charges built into its price.

[@fredatlas4396]

@@leesmith9299 I saw somewhere it's about 0.25 in total charges for Vanguard lifestrategy. I think it may vary a very tiny amount depending which one you choose. You should look on vanguard UK'S WEBSITE or fidelity UK website. I tried a free online portfolio backtester, unfortunately it's aimed at US investors but is still interesting. You can see that over different time frames and periods different regions and asset classes have performed very differently. The US lifestrategy funds are made up of just 4 vanguard funds. They appear to have performed OK depending on which asset allocation you choose and of course the period in time. Since 2009 equities have been in a very long bull market and US s&p 500 index has been one of best performing areas of the market. But if you looked at period from 1999 to 2010 for example then US 500 index performance was terrible in fact a bond index fund like US total bond fund would have given much better returns and much lower volatility and maximum drawdowns. It looks like you could get better returns with individual funds & rebalancing once per year as long as you keep it simple and well diversified, you don't need many index funds for that maybe 3 or 4Some of it depends on the platform you use and how small the amounts you can pay into the funds or how much you have to invest. I wanted to put £160 per month regular saving into new Vanguard sipp with 40% in vanguard global bond index fund hedged to the pound, but they told me it would b better if I put minimum £100 at a time into this fund, as it's domiciled in Ireland. And when I get the £40 in tax relief back that would only b £16. They told me I could loose out over time because of the price of each unit. Also said I would b better off using either their funds which are domiciled in UK or lifestrategy which is domiciled actually domiciled in UK. At the end of the day things may well perform differently than they have in the past, I wish I had just used Vanguard uk government bond index fund as my bond portion, I was 100% Equity funds until early 2018 and then decided to de-risk, I was thinking about de-risking in 2017 but was confused by mirningstar and other so called expert sources, they seemed to b saying uk government bonds were a risky investment due to low interest rates and the strong possibility of interest rate hikes, which still haven't materialised despite many warnings for yrs. Now after the SHTF i see vanguard uk government bond index fund would have been probably the only bond fund I needed in my portfolio to balance the downside risk. It's ongoing fund charge has also been lowered recently and it's performed very well going up when most equity funds have gone down a lot, UK ftse all share index down steeply and showing negative returns for 5 Yr period where as the this bond fund showing good returns for 5 Yr period helped by quite big returns for last 12 month period, and it's produced better 5 Yr returns than Vanguard lifestrategy 60% Equity Fund. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[@SirGwl]

Hello and thank you for such great videos. I wanted to ask if the My Map funds have a UK bias the same way the Vanguard does?

[@tk-iv3ej]

Very good video I have a life strategy fund 80% and I try to invest monthly in it But I was wondering if the life strategy has enough diversification in it or it is better to buy also other funds to diversify even more?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi taru outy the fund is already diversified across asset types and regions but other assets such as real estate investment trusts might add a bit of diversity and income. Thanks, Ramin.

[@tk-iv3ej]

PensionCraft thanks for the reply I was thinking as well ..however vanguard uk doesn’t provide a real estate asset Would you suggest one ?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @@tk-iv3ej I haven't done a video about real estate funds (maybe I should) but there's a list of the largest ones available here: www.justetf.com/uk/news/etf/how-to-invest-in-real-estate-with-etfs.html Thanks, Ramin.

[@lizlee6392]

Many thanks for this very informative video.I just wonder where to buy the hsbc global strategy fund . Does hsbc have vanguard-like platform? Thank you

[@colinrooke5532]

Hi Ramin, great video, hopefully just a quick question on Mymap products, do you have to invest the initial sum of £100K?

[@Livaaa]

They are $10 TRIL AUM in now (2024) and projected to be 15TRIL in the next 5 years. :O

[@barnstar2077]

Added to HL today!

[@Pensioncraft]

Thanks for that Barn Star - yes I see it www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results?investment=mymap&x=0&y=0&category_list=CEHGINOPW&companyid=&sectorid= Thanks, Ramin.

[@domenicspirit6328]

I’ve just turned 20 and have started using vanguard life strategy 100 with plans of investing in the long term. Would you recommend any other funds for someone of my age, maybe something that will offer a bit of diversification?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Domenic the fund is already diversified across markets and across asset types so you'll have a hard time finding assets that will diversify it any further. The whole idea of funds like MyMap and LifeStrategy is that they allow you to create a one-fund portfolio which is just beautifully simple. That way you can get on with your life and not worry about asset allocation or diversification. Thanks, Ramin.

[@domenicspirit6328]

PensionCraft Ok thank you for the reply. Are the life strategy funds something you’d recommend only because I noticed that you don’t have them as part of your portfolio

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @@domenicspirit6328 I never recommend funds, I describe their benefits and risks so that people can make up their own mind. What's suitable for one person may be completely unsuitable for another. One reason why I decided against LifeStrategy was that I like to go off piste a little bit because I used to be an asset allocation strategist. It's a little bit like driving a car with a manual transmission rather than an automatic. Also, I didn't like the very large US allocation given very high US valuations. And another reason was that I thought in the UK we'd get a soft Brexit which would have meant sterling would have rallied very strongly. You can see why I bought what I did (don't copy me because I'm as likely to get it wrong as you are) here pensioncraft.com/how-i-invested-20k/ Thanks, Ramin.

[@shelde8344]

What do you consider to be the best all round multi asset low cost fund whether actively or passively managed

[@shelde8344]

I understand you don't hold any lifestrategy funds at all

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @@shelde8344 it would be either LifeStrategy or MyMap, it's just too soon to tell which one is going to be best. But if I had to have a multi-asset fund I'd be fairly happy with a suitable risk fund from either of those two fund families. The important thing is that the fee is very low. I'm slightly concerned that the fund managers for MyMap will take bets that go wrong, but there is no such thing as a passive multi-asset fund. The closest you can get is to weight each holding within an asset type by its market size. For debt, this is a bit dodgy because you end up holding the debt of the most indebted countries which isn't ideal. If you want to call for a quick chat I'd be happy to discuss further ramin.as.me Thanks, Ramin.

[@InvestingEducation]

Good overview. As we r investing for the longterm and for higher returns, bonds dont make sense to us for our youtube portfolio unless the market is in bubble territory. We r still far from that

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Investing Education so you have 100% in equity? That very high level of risk is not appropriate for a lot of people who have a shorter investment horizon or a low risk appetite or a low risk capacity as I'm sure you know. Thanks, Ramin.

[@InvestingEducation]

@@Pensioncraft Thats true. It may not be for those with shorter term horizons but i wouldn't call it high risk.

[@Pensioncraft]

I guess what you mean is that if you have the iron discipline not to sell during the years of drawdown after a selloff then you will ultimately reap the reward of the upward drift in equity prices as earnings grow? I think something like the glide path concept makes a lot of sense i.e. start off with high equity when you're young and dial it down as in the target retirement funds pensioncraft.com/review-vanguard-target-retirement-funds/ Thanks, Ramin.

[@InvestingEducation]

@@Pensioncraft yes iron discipline is important

[@stuartmcculloch4559]

Surely mymap funds are way too over exposed to the magnificent 7 funds. If you look at their top 10 holdings the top 3 are all heavy loaded with magnificent 7 funds. A bit of a cold with those funds and it will have big impact on you mymap fund?

[@george6977]

Why did Concensus underperform Life Strategy? Did it have larger fees? Was it just chance? Are active managers always a drag on performance?

[@haveatyou1]

Hello. Can anyone recommend a reliable multi-asset fund comparable to Lifestrategy 80% or Lifestrategy 60% that has little to no dividend yield?

[@misfit2022]

I don’t have any mymap but I do have some ishares funds and they have been good but on this one I’ll stick with LS. I have other funds for areas where LS is lacking.

[@seb6302]

Good stuff!!

[@Pensioncraft]

Thanks Seb, Ramin

[@johnster1964]

Great vidoes with brilliant delivery - thanks for sharing your knowledge. have two questions....(1) why do you mention Vanguard so much (note I did not say recommend !) and (ii) on some videos you are against managed funds (performance versus indices is questionnable) but here you seem favourably disposed towards them?

[@george6977]

A low cost active fund may be just as good as a low cost passive fund. It is high fees that compound over time that produce poorer performance, and most active funds have higher fees.

[@cl4rkster]

Hi Just wanted to say thanks for a Really great and informative channel. I just wondered what your opinion would be on the following I have currently invested a lump sum in the vanguard lifestyle 100 fund and plan to add a regular monthly payment of £100. I was also considering opening a Blackrock my map 6 fund with a lump sum and then £100 a month also to Run alongside this what are your thoughts on this set up. I understand there would possibly be a little overlap between the two funds but has they have slightly different approaches and slightly different allocations I wasThinking it might give me the best of both worlds what are your thoughts on this

[@conorm2524]

Both of these funds are highly correlated so you wouldn't be diversifying at all really (if these are your only investments?) Personally I am being very cautious with investments. Until such time equities are fairly priced again I'm sticking with LS20!

[@george6977]

@@conorm2524 Aren’t bonds on high valuations too given artificially low interest rates?

[@markleslie9505]

Another excellent video thanks Ramin. I split my investment between LS40 and Consensus 35 - probably unnecessary but I feel it adds additional diversification!

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Mark, the correlation between LS40 and Consensus 35 is 99% i.e. they're pretty much the same thing from a risk perspective which means that buying both offers almost no diversification at all. Happy to discuss on a (free) ten minute call if you like: ramin.as.me Thanks, Ramin.

[@markleslie9505]

Hi Ramin, thanks for your reply. Whilst LS40 and Consensus 35 are highly correlated, I feel that splitting my investment across the two fund shops diversifies against the (remote) risk that one would suffer, for example, a catastrophic IT failure. Or perhaps I should just stick with a total world equity index fund and a total bond fund which would offer complete diversification?