RaboDirect Investments - Selection Options

bt952000

Hi

I have a lump sum that I would like to get a better return than interest on.

I am thinking of investing into a number of different Rabo funds , currently looking at 14 to spread the risk.

Different markets, categories, ratings, risk and costs have been looked at & I think I have a good mix. Think of becoming a regular investor of €100 per month into each fund to slowly chip away at the lump sum and then adjust as I see fit in a year or two. I am more interested in the long term.

Any comments , suggestions most welcome.

Speadsheet of my 14 picks attached against the others.

Rabo are currently waiving their entry free until March 2013.

Cheers

BT

grange mac

14 funds is too many for any decent return. I have 6 this gives me enough diversity while also allowing decent return on each fund

Browney7

I personally dont think the rabo funds are great value really. 1.5% round trip and management fees on top. Etfs might be worth looking into with an online broker maybe

9fcdhzkx46apgr

I have been with Rabo for a number of years and I'm doing something similar to yourself. I'm very much in it for the long term . I think 14 may be a little heavy to start with but I guess that is depending on what your lump sum is. I personally have mine spread across 10 but I will be selling out of one of them completely soon so I will be down to 9.

Alderwould

Rabo seem to charge less than their direct competitors such as Zurich, Canadalife, Standardlife etc. There's no commission/sales/policy fee. Am I missing something..?

Browney7

Not sure if the likes of Irish life, Zurich, new Ireland and standard etc have entry fees and exit fees like rabo. They have penalties in the first five years if you encash. Are you taking account of the fund management fee on each of the Rabo funds?

Alderwould

Browney7 wrote: »

Not sure if the likes of Irish life, Zurich, new Ireland and standard etc have entry fees and exit fees like rabo. They have penalties in the first five years if you encash. Are you taking account of the fund management fee on each of the Rabo funds?

I got some clarifications from Rabo.

There is a .75% charge everytime you take money from one fund and a subsequent .75% charge when you put it into the new fund. Which is off putting when considering switching.

There is also the Management fees in each fund. they vary from .45% up to 2.1%.

However there is no commission which with some providers is up to 5% or annual policy fee that some charge on top of the management fees...

monster_mouse

wouldn't touch them , their all investing in the same global equity market at the end of the day and history shows us that managed funds rarely out perform index funds

you can open an account with any stock broker and buy a global or regional etf which will give you exposure to thousands of companies , vanguard will only charge you .05% for access to the S+P , they will charge you no more than .25% for a global etf , if you want to keep it denominated in euro , ishares will give you a global etf for .5%

id never go near a managed fund again

chances are rabbo , acorn , standard life , irish life , bank of Ireland , all are simply sticking your money in an etf from vanguard or ishares anyhow , its costing them less than a half of one percent yet their charging you perhaps 2% ( minimum ) per year and their not even the ones managing it , selling managed funds is a huge scam , one of the few upsides to the crash in 2008 was that a lot of lay people educated themselves about the financial markets , their isn't near as much to it as many so called pro,s would have you believe

that's not to say their is easy money to be made , you must be willing to play a long game but you are no more likely to make money by going through a bank than by doing it yourself

Alderwould

monster_mouse wrote: »

wouldn't touch them , their all investing in the same global equity market at the end of the day and history shows us that managed funds rarely out perform index funds

you can open an account with any stock broker and buy a global or regional etf which will give you exposure to thousands of companies , vanguard will only charge you .05% for access to the S+P , they will charge you no more than .25% for a global etf , if you want to keep it denominated in euro , ishares will give you a global etf for .5%

Thank you for taking the time to reply in such detail

Are such accounts suitable to someone putting €200 a month into them or are they more suited to lump sum investments?

Also which of the etf providers' sites are the most user friendly?

FernandoTorres

I started out investing with Rabo funds a few years ago and have made really good returns on them. However, now that I've become a bit more sophisticated I wouldn't put any more in them as the fees are a bit high and the main thing for me is the tax. 36% on them as gross roll up funds and you can't offset losses towards gains which is a big negative.

So yeah I think ETFs are a much better option but if you're like me when I started out then Rabo funds are nice and easy to set up and good to get started on.

frebel

monster_mouse wrote: »

wouldn't touch them , their all investing in the same global equity market at the end of the day and history shows us that managed funds rarely out perform index funds

you can open an account with any stock broker and buy a global or regional etf which will give you exposure to thousands of companies , vanguard will only charge you .05% for access to the S+P , they will charge you no more than .25% for a global etf , if you want to keep it denominated in euro , ishares will give you a global etf for .5%

id never go near a managed fund again

chances are rabbo , acorn , standard life , irish life , bank of Ireland , all are simply sticking your money in an etf from vanguard or ishares anyhow , its costing them less than a half of one percent yet their charging you perhaps 2% ( minimum ) per year and their not even the ones managing it , selling managed funds is a huge scam , one of the few upsides to the crash in 2008 was that a lot of lay people educated themselves about the financial markets , their isn't near as much to it as many so called pro,s would have you believe

that's not to say their is easy money to be made , you must be willing to play a long game but you are no more likely to make money by going through a bank than by doing it yourself

I think I'm at the same point as some of the posters above. Have done a lot of researching and looking at various posts but eventually end up over loaded with info in relation to entry/ exit fees, taxes, and end up doing nothing. I've been doing this for a long time and end up just putting the money in regular saver bank accounts which apart from nationwide and KBC are pretty hopeless right now

Rabo is about the most straightforward to me in terms of setting up an account. Entry fees are at .25% at the moment as well. the funds are clearly set out and once you have a saving account with them, easy to invest

Has anyone else had positive (or negative experiences) investing as a newbie after much procrastination?