Vanguard account

Hi who here has a vanguard account? What are your thoughts on it if yes

A friend set one up, but they donā€™t offer all Vanguard products on their platform.

VWRP is missing but VWRL is there.

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The core of my portfolio is invested in passive funds with Vanguard then I have a handful of satellite accounts for individual shares, ITs and active OEICs.

Unless you want a Sipp, itā€™s probably not worth it if youā€™re investing in ETFs. You can get it cheaper on T212 because you do not have to pay the 0.15% fee. If I remember rightly, thereā€™s also a Ā£7.50 commission with Vanguard unless you use the twice-a-day commission-free option. And, as Dougal says, they donā€™t offer access to many of their own accumulating ETFs, bizarrely.

Vanguardā€™s much better for funds though. Unless you have enough capital that a flat-fee broker becomes competitive, itā€™s going to be hard to beat the 0.15% charge. Another advantage is itā€™s much more ā€˜set and forgetā€™. Thereā€™s no app even, which helps avoid the temptation to tinker.

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Iā€™ve opened a vanguard sipp this year. Iā€™ve got the same approach as toppher mentioned above-vanguard is a long term no-hassle account and Iā€™ve got pots for different things with other brokers.

Itā€™s cheap from a fees point of view and the free trading option goes through fairly quickly. The way theyā€™ve limited access to their own funds is slightly perplexing. Iā€™ll likely only be accessing my account a couple of times a year to reinvest dividends.

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Whatā€™s the customer service like? Has anyone tried to pull their money out?

Iā€™ve been using Vanguard for a good few years, and I donā€™t have a bad word to say customer service-wise. Whenever Iā€™ve had cause to contact them, theyā€™ve dealt with the issue promptly.

Iā€™ve never made a withdrawal from my Sipp nor Isa, so Iā€™m afraid I canā€™t really help with the second question although I imagine itā€™s a pretty standard 3-5 days and very little hassle.

Nice! I know it depends on the amount invested but has peoples return been good overall?

It depends on which funds or ETFs you invest in. Itā€™s important to note that most of Vanguardā€™s funds are passive, so you shouldnā€™t expect startling returns because the aim is to track a given market rather than try to beat it.

I invest in the all-cap fund, which tracks global equities, including small-caps and emerging markets. Off the top of my head, I think itā€™s up about 25% over the past year or so.

The last few years have been very good, mainly dragged upwards by USA stocks.
However, I would be very surprised if we see any consistant 25% over the next 3 years. Earnings would have to grow by a lot (or interest rates go negative?).

Considering the returns of the last few years and current valuations, I think itā€™s more likely that we will be getting around 4-5% over the next few years, particularly after 2022/2023 if and when companies recover. That is, unless USA stocks correct significantly, in which case global indices may lose value.

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I think you may be right for most companies, but the growth in earnings by Facebook and Alphabet etc is insane.

In ā€œnormal timesā€, theyā€™d still be deemed as expensive at around forward p/e of around 25-30, itā€™s ā€œcheapā€ for now though!

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You say that, but I would be tempted to say some heavily forward looking stocks are due a correction. Time will tell.

I also think it is likely.
However, as you say, we will have to wait and see :smiley: .

Most definitely, just highlighting the stocks with superior revenue and earnings growth.

Which funds or etfs are you guys invested in?

For what itā€™s worth, with vanguard Iā€™m split between:
Life strategy 100%
VWRL
VERX

They were picked based on exposure and fees. I was looking for global, European and some UK exposure. There may be better options availableā€¦

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With Vanguard I think a good start is simply VWRL, then depending on how you want to adjust that exposure which is roughly 60% US and 10% EM you can add say VUSA to get more US exposure, or VFEM to get more EM exposure. Or even if you want more UK or smaller cap exposure there are options. I personal am not sure what arguments for any bonds in a portfolio right now especially for people not near retirement so happy to have some volatility for higher long term gains.

If your not after income, pick VWRP over VWRL.

As you mentioned above its not available on the Vanguard platform, but yes if a choice take whichever suits your needs more in that respect. But I guess both are on T212 if you were doing it there.