Vanguard LifeStrategy Review 2021 & Create Your Own Cheaper LifeStrategy Funds

Although I have reviewed Vanguard LifeStrategy funds before a lot has happened since then and many new products have come onto the market, so In Vanguard LifeStrategy Review 2021 I bring this review up to date and see if they are still as competitive in 2021.
In the UK LifeStrategy funds can be expensive and have not all performed well in recent years, so in this video, I also look at cheaper and better-performing alternatives for the LifeStrategy and show you how you can create your own version of the LifeStrategy 100, 80, 60, 40 & 20 funds for a fraction of the price.
If you're interested in learning more about investing then why not become a PensionCraft member? Pensioncraft.com members can enjoy lots of benefits, so to find out more about these and how to join our friendly community please click here www.pensioncraft.com/investor...
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Recommended PensionCraft KZbin Playlists
- There are many different types of investment strategies. In this playlist we look at a number of these so that you decide what is right for you. • Investment Strategies
- Bewildered by investment? Start with this playlist • Investing for Beginners
- Building blocks for your portfolio • Portfolio Building Blocks
If you like our content and want us to continue to produce it, you can support us with a one-off payment here paypal.me/pensioncraft
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:53 Lifestrategy Funds Explained
04:24 Performance of UK LifeStrategy
8:08 Problems with LifeStrategy UK Funds
10:22 Create your Own UK LifeStrategy For Less
15:10 Alternatives to LifeStrategy UK
18:01 Alternatives to LifeStrategy US
19:31 Conclusion
#Vanguard #LifeStrategy #PensionCraft

[@Pensioncraft]

Join our membership on PensionCraft.com to access the replicating LifeStrategy spreadsheet & lots of other benefits. To find out more about these benefits & how to join go to www.pensioncraft.com/investor-education/membership/

[@conradknightsocksknight1590]

I'm confused would your fund outperform or copy Lifestrategy 100 ? or would you need to copy the US Lifestrategy get the higher gains Ramin ?

[@stigz3570]

Which Patreon level Ramin gives access to the aforementioned spreadsheets? Many thanks

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @Stigz either of the levels will give you access. Thanks Ramin

[@grantvlada2229]

@@calvindaniels1267 amazing.. how can i reach them?

[@antonmursid2714]

Antonmursid✌🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏💞🙏

[@pintradex6006]

"the financial term for wiggliness is volatility" i love it :)

[@MrDrewy10]

I would love to see an updated 2022 video review of life strategy given the ‘inversion of safety’ between high & low bond allocations. Seeing how the uk overweight has faired during the 2022 sell off would be interesting too. Thanks for the excellent content Ramin!

[@saratharavabhoomi]

Hello Ramin, Thank you so much. I learn a lot as always from your videos. In addition, I have been wanting to tell you, your voice is so calming, every time I listen to you, its just so meditative :) I will definitely look into rebalancing my portfolio based on today's learning.

[@Pensioncraft]

Thank You @Sarath Babu Aravabhoomi that's very kind of you to say! Ramin

[@johnmcewan2772]

Excellent content. Precise, objective and covered multiple options. Thank you very much and keep up the great work.

[@Pensioncraft]

Glad it was helpful @john mcewan

[@ReducedEvasiveDetach]

I've been investing for a year now with Vanguard thanks to you. Really appreciate how in detail you go with full visibility to what the life strategies are. Thank you for educating :)

[@Pensioncraft]

Glad to help @Aram Andreasyan

[@Ganok]

Great video, thanks Ramin! Keep them coming :)

[@Pensioncraft]

Thanks @Ganok will do! Ramin

[@g0dp3dr0]

Thanks Ramin I have couple of these funds as learned about them from you

[@BouncingBack]

Thanks Ramin, extremely well explained as always. Always really useful to know ways to keep our fees as low as possible.

[@Pensioncraft]

My pleasure @Bouncing Back I'm pleased it was helpful! Ramin

[@timwood101]

Love the explanation. Such clarity.

[@Pensioncraft]

Thanks you @timwood101 glad you think so! Ramin

[@murphymagic33]

great vid again, also Standard Life they too have large UK allocations 23% in their Passive Plus suites. Having recently tweaked my portfolios to a US tilt , and with the nice UK GDP numbers coming out of BoE yesterday. Ramin, maybe you might do a UK deep dive weighing up the signpost along the way for us to see UK rocket out of the traps in 2021-22

[@andrewv5550]

Thank you, Ramin. Really great content.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @Andrew V Thank you for watching! Ramin

[@adammann7223]

This is great. I invest in life strategy and this has taught me a lot. I think I will continue the way I am and then rebalance every year into the individual funds. ☺️

[@annroberts7148]

this is a fantastic video. I think it's my first YT comment in 10 years.

[@Pensioncraft]

Thank you Ann! I hope I make more videos which are worth an Ann Roberts comment in the coming decade. Ramin

[@colinrobinson4327]

Great video, I went into life strategy after watching your video about a year and a half ago! 👍I must admit I didn’t realise they were so heavily weighted to the UK tho 🤔

[@bobdigi500]

So the life strategy funds hold a lot of uk companies?

[@stigz3570]

Awesome video Ramin as ever!! Did you do the comparison analysis between the MyMap and HSBC fund performance? Which won?

[@yourplumbingpal1225]

Thats amazing work , very interesting. Thank you.

[@Pensioncraft]

Thank you @Your Plumbing Pal I'm pleased you enjoyed it! Ramin

[@vs9108]

Brilliant video I was wondering how to do this ...video just in time

[@Pensioncraft]

Glad it was helpful @V S

[@davidgarth4285]

Really interesting video! Thanks Ramin

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @David Garth I'm glad you enjoyed it and thank you as you're are always good for leaving a comment! Ramin

[@nickdoyle-achievefinancial2464]

Good video. Thanks for breaking down the pros & cons. I am not sold on the home country bias, and believe the global market cap is a good choice.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @Nick Doyle Thanks for sharing. Ramin

[@Elk454]

Thank you Ramin. A splendid video that moved me on with my thinking. I'd love to know how you managed to derive those simple portfolios that exactly match the performance of the Lifestrategy funds.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi John I used an optimiser in R. Thanks, Ramin

[@laurencebrown1983]

Great video and very well explained. I hold Lifestrategy 80 and also VWRL on my platform. What’s your thoughts on this as they sort of cover the same thing. Does this make sense or should I be looking to have one or the other in my portfolio? Thanks in advance.

[@bapufromUK]

I do appreciate your research and hard work behind the video, which is great knowledge for us, Thank you 🎉

[@Pensioncraft]

So nice of you @bapufromUK

[@JenniferAMThomson]

Great video and key point taken from me was the rebalancing needed if we do it ourselves to build our own “vanguard” Lifestrategy. Excited to see your channel hit 100k very soon! Thanks for all you are doing for investing education for everyone.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Jennifer, Thank you! That's very kind of you to say and yes we are looking forward to being able to have a silver play button party in the not too distant future. All the best and keep up the good work! Ramin

[@ajp-sd4mx]

Thank you for such an informative video. I was wondering which platform you think would be a good choice to use to replicate the vanguard returns with iShares funds? Thank you

[@penguin7493]

Thanks for another great video! Two quick Qs if I may! (1) I'm confused by your VLS60 alternative portfolio because your equity/ bond split is 56.2%/43.9% and you have no EM equity allocation, whereas the underlying equity funds in the VLS60 portfolio data add up to 60% as you would expect, and include EMs. Can I ask what your thinking is here? And (2) To avoid UK home bias, could you simply use one cheap global equity tracker such as HSBC FTSE All-World Index Fund with an OCF 0.13% for your 60% equity and then use your three Vanguard bond funds to make up the other 40%? Thanks!

[@sandeepksharma5775]

Excellent video, thanks. Can you give your opinion on Vanguard's active global balanced fund please.

[@simonawebber]

Hi - I’m a new subscriber to your channel - your Vanguard LifeStrategy videos sparked my interest. I love the detailed analysis. I have a question which I hope you can help with: I first watched your 2017 review video of VLS funds, and noticed you pointed out the high allocation to US stocks (up to 44% for the 100% equity). I then watched your 2021 review of the VLS funds, and you pointed out that there is now a high allocation to UK stocks. So, rightly or wrongly I assumed when watching your 2017 reviews that the high weighting to US stocks might be a disadvantageon the long term, but when I then watched your 2021 review, I then thought the reverse. So, my question to you is if Vanguard adjust their weighting every year if needed, why as a long term investor are these strong weightings an issue for me, if Vanguard manage them anyway? For example at the current weighting I could propose splitting my portfolio across VLS funds and the S&P500, so I have an equal spread. But if the VLS funds are adjusted over time my weighting will be off? Isn’t one of the best things of the VLS funds, that you can invest a leave it alone, without the personal adjustments? Thanks

[@francescograffitti8628]

@PensionCraft Great video, thanks for the in-depth analysis :) I have a question regarding getting the Vanguard funds historical data (and the LifeStrategy in particular). I can't find a good way of downloading the LifeStrategy data as it doesn't have a ticker code: it does have instead Bloomberg code, ISIN, MEX ID and SEDOL, but all the methods I tried (excel, yahoo finance via python, etc.) require the ticker to access the historical data. I can't even find a way of downloading the data "by hand" from the vanguard website. Any suggestion on this? :)

[@davidbarley9355]

Hi Ramin Could you do a similar view for Target Retirement Funds? Currently I use vanguard for my pension but based on the material here I'm wondering if I should shop around for cheaper alternatives? Love the videos by the way, helped me get into passive investing a few years ago!

[@markfogel3682]

Thanks Ramin, this is very interesting. I have noticed that when you replicated the Vanguard LS fund you didn't include an Emerging Market fund. Is there a reason for that?

[@nathwak]

Great video. The Mymap is a great option given it's actively managed.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Kavit I agree, it's surprisingly cheap, which is good news for an active fund. Thanks, Ramin.

[@amillsmcewan1]

Given that 85% of active funds don't outperform the market, I'd go for Mymap if it was passive, but not since it's active!

[@JasonLloyd]

Thanks, really interesting but does raise an ongoing question with me and as most of my ISA is invested in Ls80 I'd be keen to understand more. I can see the Vanguard charges, but often wonder if that gives me visibility of all costs. So if I for example sold off 100k of ls80 and bought the individual funds as you suggest, would I lose out by selling and rebuying (due to a bid/offer spread?). Or is that all covered in the 0.22% fund fees and 0.15% platform fees?

[@stupossibleify]

I keep.coming back to this video. Could you explain in a future video how dividends in accumulating funds work? Can't understand how those that buy the fund after the ex-dividend date don't benefit from the dividend, since the dividend payments themselves supposedly increase the unit value of the fund to all - i.e. it's not selective

[@martykaan860]

Thanks Ramin! Quick question, if one is thinking about buying LifeStrategy 100% fund OR Vangaurd's FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (VWRL), what should govern my decision on which investment to make? Notwithstanding the U.K. country bias on the LifeStrategy fund... interested to hear your thoughts on which one you'd rather buy (not investment advice)

[@conorm2524]

Comment for the algo. Great video, again!

[@Pensioncraft]

Thanks again @Conor M I appreciate it! Ramin

[@tariqjnabi]

Brilliant video. What is your view on the best multi asset fund as a competitor to Vanguard (set and forget, with approximately 70% equities) ?

[@neilbrandon]

Thanks Ramin. Is there an inherent risk within one fund and ETF? could the ETF sphere collapse?

[@pw3591]

I keep hearing people say how cheap / good value UK equities are. I wonder if this over weighting may pay off if the UK markets come back to "fair value". Equally, the fact that US equities have performed so well in recent years may mean that they will underperform in the next few years. Either way, I like Vanguard, and I like these simple cheap, "fire and forget" funds, they are ideal for new investors, or people that really have no interest in constantly monitoring their investments.

[@davidgarth4285]

I'm with you on this Phil

[@stevo728822]

Regarding management fees. I get the feeling the fee is proportional to the number of foreign stocks in the fund. So more Japanese, European, Chinese stocks means higher currency exchange costs resulting in higher fees. So a low fee fund may simply represent a fund which is highly domesticated.

[@willempjebelgie]

Please make a video for the eu funds

[@sdpryce]

Thank you. I notice that the iShares ETFs have an additional "Fund Managers Transaction Charge" of 0.32% which I presume happens on both the buy and the sell? This is in addition to the platform dealing charge. Seems very expensive?

[@lucklogic99]

Excellent

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @lucklogic99 thank you! Ramin.

[@scottstewart3123]

Great video would you say a lifestrategy 100% if you were 40 I plan to invest for 15 years and maybe start introducing bonds after 10 years ?

[@TheJosh1966]

Would it be wise to invest in several 'funds of funds', managed by different companies? I'm thinking in terms of diversifying

[@michelperez6616]

Thanks!

[@Pensioncraft]

Thank you, much appreciated! Ramin

[@matthewrobinson6986]

Nice video. If you’re replicating life strategy at lower cost wouldn’t you expect the returns over time to be higher? That didn’t seem to come through in your analysis and I wonder if there is anything to say on this?

[@MarincaGheorghe]

A difference in fees of 10bps or lower is very narrow, the difference in 10 yers is very small. A difference for which I see no discussion is though if the LifeStrategy lowers equity exposure as target date approaches.

[@The_Last_Post]

Seeing as Vanguard was a beacon of low fees, what do you think of the likelihood that they might reduce their fee of 0.22% to match or better their new competitors?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @TheLastPost I think that's very likely. They've already done a big round of fee cuts and they're likely to do more as the size of their funds gathers assets. Alternatively, they may use the profits to expand their offering into Europe. Thanks, Ramin.

[@stupossibleify]

Was waiting for this update! I still have a question about whether we can still expect bonds to cushion the impact of any equity fall in 2021, given the real risks of inflation and interest rate rises affecting yields

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi stupossibleify bonds still rally when equity falls sharply. US ten year yield going into the March selloff last year was 1.6% and currently it is 1.6% again after the sharp yield increase in the first two months of 2021. Thanks, Ramin.

[@stupossibleify]

@@Pensioncraft Thanks Ramin. Need to get a Power Hour booked in.

[@talbotsunbeamer]

Thank you Ramin. Would you be willing at some time to review the Vanguard target date funds? I assume the bond to equity ratios increase over time but am curious if these products have any real benefit over Life Strategy, manual weightings etc aside from being automatically rebalanced.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @talbotsunbeamer the Target Retirement funds are very similar to LifeStrategy if you match their equity weighting i.e. for the ones with a long time to run they're very similar in composition and return to, say, LifeStrategy 80. That's not surprising as they buy pretty much the same funds. The only big difference I'm aware of is that the ones which have already passed their retirement date have a lot of inflation linked bonds which LifeStrategy 20 doesn't. I did do a target retirement review pensioncraft.com/review-vanguard-target-retirement-funds/ so might update it but not much has changed there i.e. I'm not aware of any new competitors in that space in the UK Thanks, Ramin.

[@talbotsunbeamer]

@@Pensioncraft Thank Ramin, it doesn't sound like there'd be much by way of additional content then. I'm a Global All-Cap investor, LS products are too UK focused as you touch upon. So it would seem target retirement funds wouldn't suit my approach either. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

[@cb7560]

Thanks for an excellent video. Something I discovered by accident (that may interest you) was that the Vanguard 40% equity fund has a very similar return profile to a more expensive investment like PNL! Do you think that Vanguard will ever make an ESG version of these life strategy funds? Vanguard seem to be lagging behind ishares when it comes to their ESG ETFs.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @CB I think that many of the pieces are in place for ESG versions of LifeStrategy except on the fixed income side. There just isn't much ESG government debt or corporate bond paper out there. But for something like LifeStrategy 100 it could easily be made ESG. You're right about the return on LifeStrategy - they beat a _lot_ of active multi-asset funds with much higher fees once you correct for the percentage of bonds each fund holds. They have really shaken up the industry in that regard, which is great for us as investors. Thanks, Ramin.

[@arturschuch]

How would be an alternative for doing it yourself for a US investor? as the same as you did for UK, doing this breakdown on different funds to have a cheapper fee

[@vishk123]

Mr PensionCraft, just a thought...wouldn’t splitting your investment 50/50 into the lifestrategy 80 and VWRL, give you the best of all worlds? You’d have some of vanguards lifestrategy work, some bonds and 50% would be in the world tracker VWRL, so offsetting that UK overweight...am I missing something?

[@Tim_gaylor]

Thank you

[@Pensioncraft]

You're welcome @Minutes of Money

[@Yasen1791]

Great 👍

[@Pensioncraft]

Thanks for the visit

[@rgrtnyjjc]

Have had the Developed World ex-U.K. alongside my LS80 to compensate for the LS U.K. bias for quite some time now, has been working well for me so far.

[@Treborhtims1972]

Hello rgrtnyjjc,what precentage of your investment would you recommend holding in the DW ex-UK,alongside the LS80? I also have LS80 (The current value of which is towards £9,600),and I have £3500 in cash to invest. I've been deciding which other fund to invest in,alongside my LS80.

[@rgrtnyjjc]

@@Treborhtims1972 well I can only speak for myself really, if I was in your situation I would be tempted to invest the bulk of the 3500 into the DW ex-U.K.. As an example, if you put it all into it, the DW ex-U.K. would make up over 26% of your portfolio which is similar to the percentage it is in mine, but I plan to keep my money invested for quite a few years so I am ok with the extra volatility (you’ll be adding more equity and as a result lowering the bond percentage of your portfolio) you may feel differently - if you are more risk averse you could invest maybe half the cash into the DW ex-U.K. for example. As I say, the potential con of adding DW ex-U.K is the extra volatility, while the pros are the lowering of U.K. bias leading to boosted performance and also the lowering of the overall OCF fees. I have seen decent gains since adding it to my portfolio. But as Ramin always says “this is not recommendation” :) You need to do you own research and assess your own risk tolerance - how long you plan to keep the money invested for etc. Best of luck, I hope your portfolio does well for you.

[@The_Last_Post]

@@rgrtnyjjc hi, I’m also interested in doing this. Can you explain a little further how it reduces the OCF by adding another fund into the mix? Sorry it’s a noob question

[@rgrtnyjjc]

@@The_Last_Post hi, well to answer your question, if you had all of the money in your account invested into a LifeStrategy fund the OCF for your portfolio would be 0.22 as that is what is charged for LifeStrategy. If instead of LS you invested 100% of your money into the Developed World ex-U.K. the OCF for your portfolio would be 0.14 as that is what is charged for that fund. Now say you split your money: 50% in LS (0.22 OCF) and 50% in DV ex-U.K. (0.14 OCF) this would mean you would have an average of the two funds OCFs which would be 0.18. Obviously this figure would vary depending on the percentage you intend to invest into each fund, for example if you had 75% LS and 25% DV ex-U.K. the overall portfolio OCF would be 0.2. It might seem like only small differences but over time the benefits of lower fees do have an impact.

[@The_Last_Post]

@@rgrtnyjjc Thank you very much for the excellent explanation, being a bit naive I was thinking adding another fund would just add the OCF, say our example of LS80 0.22 + DW ex-UK 0.14 = 0.36%. I got half the equation right but didn’t divide by two (for a 50/50 split of capital). I was quite baffled by Ramin showing 5 funds and how it turned out cheaper at 0.12%, now I get it. Thanks again for putting me straight!

[@TJ-mj1ht]

The manual assets allocation (once in a year) alternative does not come tax free as it is in already Vanguard LS 60, so perhaps Vanguard LS60 would be cheaper than your proposal?

[@mazensleiman3863]

Hey Ramin, thank you for the Video. Are you going to do a MyMap alternatives with Vanguard funds? that would be super useful, thanks

[@liamhardy2875]

I'd second that Ramin. Really appreciate this video - very helpful as always :)

[@yanetdevis2876]

I second this as well. I looked at MyMap6 and although there is a OCF .17% there is also an annual management fee of .12%? Those that mean that the real fees is .29%? Also, is it the minimum initial investment 100k? I don’t think Vanguard has that restriction although I am not sure.

[@fredatlas4396]

If you want to use the other funds, ie HSBC or Ishares, you would need to use another platform, like HL or Fidelity uk. And that would somewhat increase your annual platform charge, so you will be worse off in terms of overall costs. And unfortunately Vanguard UK aren't very flexible, so if you wanted to use their individual index funds you might have some problems as the minimum payments into some of their finds aren't small enough I think it's about the cost of buying a single unit in those funds, but other platforms seem to allow paying smaller amounts into funds buying a fraction of a share of fund, including Vanguard funds. Vanguard are saying you can't buy a fraction of a share of a fund, although they seem a bit more flexible with lifestrategy & target date funds.

[@fredatlas4396]

@@yanetdevis2876 you are confused I think for one off payments Vanguard requires minimum £500 investment into each fund and for regular monthly payments minimum £100 per fund. Most other platforms allow smaller amounts and allow you to buy a fraction of a share in each fund. Don't take my word for it, it's easy to find out just go to Vanguard uk's website and look for yourself, and check out other platform providers, Fidelity UK for example. Check out all their charges as well, their platform charge is capped at £45 per annum if you use etfs or investment trusts instead of open ended funds. If you just want lifestrategy or target date retirement funds then Vanguard sipp or isa is a good choice I think. But if you want to use equivalent HSBC or Ishares passive funds of funds, then you will end up paying more in platform charges so it will work out more costly overall

[@TynOng]

Thanks Ramin. Vanguard is now offering cheap Advisor service now. Do you think it's worth it compared to other independent advisors? It'd be grate if you could create a video about getting financial advice. Cheers.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @Tyn Ong it's cheap but it's restricted to Vanuguard funds. Thanks Ramin

[@amillsmcewan1]

Thank you for a very clear and informative video. My objection to LifeStrategy is the home bias so, to eliminate, rather than duplicate, this I think it can be even simpler using iShares 60% SWDA. iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF. MER 0.2% 40% AGBP iShares Core Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF. MER 0.1% total MER 0.16% It's a shame the HSBC Global Strategy - Balanced MER 0.17% is actively managed, otherwise I'd go for that.

[@marcbroughton5638]

Hello. Does it matter which patreon subscription I choose in order to get the spreadsheet? Thanks for the great video.

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @Marc Broughton no it doesn't matter which. Thanks for watching! Ramin

[@usefulrandom1855]

Unless you using a free trading platform then surely platform fees would mean using iShares as in your example would no longer be cheaper than vanguard though?

[@davidmetallinos7952]

Hello thanks for the amazing content.i am really close to commiting to the life strategy funds but two words were enough to put me off..........ACTIVELY MANAGED. Could you please elaborate Cheers

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @david metallinos they don't track an index because there aren't any multi-asset indices. Each fund in LifeStrategy is itself passive and does track an index. The composition (beyond the equity/bond split) is determined by a committee at Vanguard so that's the active bit. They decided on the huge UK overweight for example. Thanks, Ramin.

[@chadzoe1]

Is it cheaper to invest in the HSBC Global Strategy Balanced Portfolio Accumulation C via Interactive Investor and would I still need to have a current account with HSBC

[@AjitB07]

I quite like the all cap index fund and VWRL, but cannot decide between them

[@tomaustin8866]

Global all cap has more diversity as it holds more shares than VWRL and you can get the dividends reinvested unlike VWRL

[@zb1123]

@@tomaustin8866 ^ yeah, as Tom has said. You can then replicate a 2 factor fund (w/ your desired Equity/Bond ratio) with Vanguard Global All Cap + Global Bond (GBP Hedged) Fund if you so want (should you not want UK overweight, but want hedged bonds in sterling)

[@battj1]

Why has the VG 100% equity LifeStratagy fund only got 2 star rating on Trustnet? Is it still a good fund because of this?

[@johnykuttyzacharias8472]

Is BlackRock My Map available as ISA?

[@donkalzone6671]

Isn't the UK 10yr yield not at ~0.8%...with a share of 35% in UK lifeStrategyfund and a 0.22% annual fee... Am I wrong when I say ~ 35% of this fund provides "save" 0% return?

[@stupossibleify]

If investing in index funds should only be for the long term, then surely the only vehicle people should consider investing is via SIPPs as they 1. compel long-term investment, removing the emotional "cashing out" instincts, and 2. are more tax efficient, especially at 40% income tax bands - thus yielding an instant 20%+ return on investment

[@mixerman8]

Its the best way to build, but for me its ISA all the way as I have some buy to lets, so drawing down a pension I'll be paying the tax man huge amounts. Skim off profits as when I see fit and much more flexibility and don't have to adhere to set rules, much more free.

[@leesmith9299]

all those charts track the LS funds well so despite the lower costs those manual portfolios somehow did not manage to beat the LS funds. So what's the point? why did they not beat?

[@leesmith9299]

also depending on the broker used the extra buys and sells would cost more.

[@utubevids1100]

Looking at HSBC global strategy portfolios, the fees are around 0.55%, along higher than you've quoted?

[@utubevids1100]

@chrisjization HSBC website

[@user-cg4pi5fi9u]

I definitely prefer wiggleyness to volatility.

[@Pensioncraft]

Me too! 8-) Ramin

[@amjadquraishi8760]

This video would have been very useful in April 2020, the cost of the platform is also very important, which affects your returns. After Brexit and after an overhaul of the UK stock market I hope the returns will be better than the last decade. Fingers cross

[@Ikaros23]

I don`t think it is " Home bias". If you are based in England if you buy Vanguard SPY then you buy with Pound sterling, but it`s based on USD. So there is also currency risk. Im based in Norway and we are not in the eurozone, so i buy with norwegian NOK. So when i buy indexfunds on the sp500 there is also a currency risk. This is not the case with all funds. But if it`s not they also cost more because of the hedge of the currency. So i by indexfunds thats based on the norwegian stock excange. The past 10 years the norwegian NOK has been down 50-65% against the dollar, so the risk of the NOK going up is HUGE.

[@johnykuttyzacharias8472]

Can you provide the link to open BlackRock My Map account?

[@paulmin4002]

Any plans to do hot topic videos e.g. Bitcoin/Crypto Assets?

[@Ganok]

There's already videos about Bitcoin in the channel

[@GRAYZ0]

Hi I’ve subscribed to patron but can’t find the spreadsheet

[@Pensioncraft]

There’s a link in the description of the Patreon preview of this video if you message me on Patreon I’ll give you the link

[@MrZweene]

My big problem with LS at this stage is the bond part. Having a global basket of bonds, including companies is too risky. Would instead having that x% on the sideline or in 100% safe bonds to rebuy on a correction.

[@colummccrudden101]

Why is it risky? I thought the idea of bonds was they are safe?

[@MrZweene]

@@colummccrudden101 Watch what happens atm. Bond yields rise and both equity and bonds fall in price.

[@colummccrudden101]

@@MrZweene im on 80 - 20 bonds in vanguards life strategy fund. Just out of interest, what would you be doing in my position?

[@MrZweene]

@@colummccrudden101 Nothing if you wanna keep your stress free life. If you wanna manage it bit more go for the LS100 and keep 20% on top in order to reinvest on drops.

[@colummccrudden101]

@@MrZweene Think my diividends are already reinvested

[@gumbs2537]

How do I know when to sell my return life strategy?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Gary, when you need the money. You should plan to leave your money in LifeStrategy for decades if possible. Thanks, Ramin

[@MrHotrod79]

Why do you think the US funds are almost 40% cheaper? Regulation cost on the Platforms maybe?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Rod I think it's scale. The US Vanguard platform has much more in funds under management so their economies of scale are much greater than those in the UK. It's a pity we can't use some of those US funds in the UK. There may be regulatory reasons why that can't happen. Thanks, Ramin.

[@MrHotrod79]

@@Pensioncraft I think you are right... MiFID2 adding value once again...! Thanks for the great content.

[@whitesnake329]

Just checked my life strategy is going down!

[@JamyOats]

Don't check it then

[@tommys50]

what do you use to graph these?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @tommy19851 I use the ggplot2 package in R for my plots. Thanks Ramin

[@tommys50]

@@Pensioncraft thanks for being honest. How do you extract the data from vanguard funds for example?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @@tommys50 I use SharePad to get data, export it as CSV files then hoover it up into R using some functions I've written to speed things up. I got tired of gaps and errors in data from Yahoo Finance and other free data sources. My affiliate link is www.sharescope.co.uk/pensioncraftsp (you get a 2nd month free for monthly subscribers and an additional 13th free month for annual subscribers). I use the St Louis Fed's AMAZING free database fred.stlouisfed.org/ for macroeconomic data from the US. I wish the Bank of England would make an equivalent for UK data... Thanks, Ramin.

[@andrewhartley3]

If I were to support you via KZbin rather than Patreon would I get the same benefits - investment spredsheets etc?

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi @Andrew Hartley sorry no it needs to be Patreon if you want to access the Spreadsheet and other membership benefits. KZbin supporters make contributions because they like our KZbin videos and Ramin always tries to answer their questions in the KZbin comments and on live Q&As he does every other Thursday.

[@roopney]

always go 100% equity unless youre near retirement.

[@tomaustin8866]

There's a lot to be said for 100% equity in retirement as well if you can live on 3% drawdown

[@haroldbetterson1877]

FLSY or NET?

[@CaseyBurnsInvesting]

All you have to do is read what’s in the fund and put them in M1 Finance for free.

[@stevo728822]

Is M1 Finance inside an ISA?

[@Pensioncraft]

I think M1 Finance is US only. So not available in the UK as far as I know. US LifeStrategy is super cheap anyway so no point in decomposing it to make it cheaper. Thanks, Ramin.

[@nathwak]

Agreed M1 finance is great for the US residents but not available to us in the UK

[@nickdoyle-achievefinancial2464]

While there is no outright "fee," it isn't exactly free. You'll probably get worse trade execution, and end up paying more than you could have elsewhere.

[@markrevelle1]

The Vanguard account fee may be 0.22% but isn't it capped at £375?

[@manekdubash5022]

That's the platform fee, not the fund charge

[@markrevelle1]

@@manekdubash5022 I can't find a fund charge. Do you mean fund transaction charges, when funds within the portfolio are bought and sold?

[@ianseward9928]

Thought the vanguard funds favoured the US . If you dig into the ftse dev world ex uk the top 10 is all US . So adding this to the us equities fund in the fund doesn’t this favour the US as effectively you’ve duplicated the likes of Apple etc

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Ian I don't have a separate allocation for US equity, the US exposure is all in the Developed World ex-UK fund. So there's no double-weighting of the US. LifeStrategy 100 is actually very underweight the US based on market capitalisation weighting due to the huge UK overweight. Thanks, Ramin.

[@ianseward9928]

@@Pensioncraft no I’m referring to the lifestrategy fund eg 80 . Under portfolio data it shows ftse devel wild ex uk , ftse uk all share and us equity index all equally weighted at 19% . So I thought this equated to a swing toward the us not the uk . Have I got that wrong .

[@_bryanfarrar]

@@ianseward9928 The real world market cap split is around 60% US and 4% UK. So Life Strategy 80 is nearly five times overweight the UK and the US allocation is very roughly half what it would be if you were trying to reflect the size of the markets in a portfolio.

[@tuckfield656]

Didn’t pick up much from the video, but nonetheless I love graphs :)

[@Pensioncraft]

Hi Henry, sorry to hear you didn't get much from the video. But I love graphs too! Thanks, Ramin.