Hi guys
Vanguard recently introduced their lifestrategy funds to the Deutsche Boerse:
I’m most interested in the accumulating versions. Could these funds please be added?
Many thanks
Matt
9 Likes
Welcome to the community. This is interesting because the Lifestrategy funds which have been available until now are mutual funds, a type of fund not carried by Trading 212. However, these new funds are ETFs so maybe they can be added.
The Lifestrategy funds are mixes of equities and bonds. For the versions carried on the LSE the equity part is overweight in the home market (UK). Consequently, they have had poor performers of late compared to an all world tracker like VWRL. I cannot find any data about what this very new ETF will contain. I notice they are not offering a 100% equity mix, so perhaps these will be very similar to a mix of VWRL and some bonds. I read
“However, the portfolios are managed in line with static, pre-determined asset allocations and seek to achieve their target exposure through a globally heterogeneous portfolio of highly diversified passive ETFs. Non-systematic risk will be diversified away, and the funds will not intentionally reflect any geographic or sectoral bias.”
3 Likes
Hi Richard
good to meet you!
Detail can be found here on page 4:
The brochure is in German but quite straightforward, particularly if you are familiar with Vanguard’s products.
Essentially a fancied-up blend of VWCE/VWRL and bonds with a slightly higher management fee of .25% that functions as a one-fund lazy portfolio. If we can’t get it on T212 not such an issue due to the lack of fees but a potential solution for those paying fees elsewhere, both to add-to and rebalance their portfolio
This would be awesome if added.
Means the bulk of my ISA could potentially be transferred over to 212. Although the Lifestrategy ICVC’s have a 0.22% OCF against the 0.25% OCF here, I think I should lose my 0.25% platform fee, so effectively 0.22% cheaper, or 2.22% more in my pocket every 10 years.
I must admit, these funds are very interesting for passive investors. Trading212, please add Vanguard Lifestrategy 80% IE00BMVB5R75, Vanguard Lifestrategy 60% IE00BMVB5P51 , Vanguard Lifestrategy 40% IE00BMVB5M21 . More info here Anlageprodukte
1 Like
I know these funds are popular, but why? They can be replicated more cheaply with a world tracker and a bond fund. In the UK version of these the equity portion is many times overweight in UK equities, which means their performance has been poor in recent years.
1 Like
There are a few reasons, the balancing is done automatically -> Automatic rebalancing without transaction costs
- You never have to decide again which ETF to buy or sell
- It’s simple
- It’s extremely diverse
3 Likes
In addition, the version being discussed here is a more accurate representation of world equity than the UK versions
1 Like
Blackrock now has a range of competing funds called MyMap, which are similar but cheaper. 0.17% vs 0.22%. The MyMap funds also have their equity exposure in ESG subfunds such as EEDM.
However, both MyMap and Lifestrategy are OEIC funds, not ETFs, so we will have to wait for a time the Trading 212 starts hosting those.
OEIC funds are sort of annoying because you never know the price at which you buy or sell until a day after you place an order.
1 Like
The Lifestrategy brochure included, is for the ETF version, not OEIC.
Unfortunately, it is only registered for sale in Ireland, Italy and Germany otherwise would be a no brainer for 212 to get more users. Similarly they do not do the 100% version either.
The lifecycle ETFs are available in most european countries:
from the vanguard website:
ISIN: IE00BMVB5R75
Exchange ticker : V80A
Exchange: Deutsche Boerse,Borsa Italiana S.p.A.
Countries registered : Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom
That would be brilliant, but I’m struggling to find any information in their UK website.
Could you please share the link - thanks!
Be aware that this new ETF is tiny. Only 4m invested. Compare VWRL which is nearly 5000m. I cannot find any other broker that carries it: neither Degiro or Hargreaves Lansdown. An ETF with such small AUM may trade with a high spread.
These Lifecycle ETFs are only 1 month old.
In germany they get included in “Sparkasse” systems (savingsplan).
They are a complete portfolio, great for building a pension, or for people that like easy investing. You buy 1 ETF and still have a complete portfolio. (VWRL/VWCE could be seen as the 100/0 option) .
One of the strong points of these Lifecycle ETFs is the continous rebalancing, so the risk profile is constant. It is difficult to do that yourself. (If T212 made VAGF available, we could do it here, using VWCE)
The spread is managed by the market maker and does not seem excessive on the italian bourse.
All in all, these new Lifecycle ETFs seem to be great products! 
(Interactive Brokers has the Italian Lifecycle ETFs.)
Perfect thanks. The mention of UK tax reporting is good, although a little odd that it is not listed at all on their UK portal or Morningstar UK, which would suggest it’s still not available for UK investors. It’s worth enquiring direct with Vanguard to check as it could be they are still in the process of registering across Europe & UK.
Hopefully they come up with a GBP version and the 100% as well!
It’s ok - the underlying Holdings are highly liquid.
This can be found on Interactive Brokers as VNGA80. I am talking about spread, not liquidity of the underlying assets. An ETF that is small in size with few trades per day will have a larger spread between bid and ask. Currently it is 25.91 25.99. That is spread of about 0.30%. Compare VUSA 51.15 51.17 which is spread about 0.04%. Of course many buyers will not care about spread because they intend to hold for a long time.
Yeah you missed my point. The spread should be derived from the underlying holdings, not the size of fund. A bid/Ask spread on essentially a global etf of 30bps is pretty good.
VWRP their FTSE All World UCITS Accumulation GBP is about 15bps and probably more comparable without looking at the underlying lifestrategy weighting’s.
It might actually be worth checking the annual accounts for the ICVC equivalent and see what it’s costs are. From memory it’s weighted 20% UK so we’re talking probably a 54bp spread from that market or 11bps for starters. I can look into it properly later if that would be useful but should all be in the Morningstar website.