Vanguard LifeStrategy vs HSBC Global Strategy Portfolios

If you are new to investing or you just like to keep things simple, then investing using just one fund is an attractive approach. In this video, I look at how you can do this with two different sets of multi-asset fund families; Vanguard LifeStrategy Funds and HSBC Global Strategy Portfolios. I look at the similarities and differences between them and end by giving you my opinion about what might be the best approach.

Links to my Trading 212 Asset Mix pies are below:

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Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Why one fund?
02:02 Similarities
09:00 Differences
12:14 Risk & return
14:29 There is no secret sauce
16:02 Create your own

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DISCLAIMER
All information is given for educational purposes and is not financial advice. Ramin does not provide recommendations and is not responsible for investment actions taken by viewers. Figures that are quoted refer to the past and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

[lolwutn]

I prefer the HSBC global strategy due to the lack of UK bias. But I ended up just going with the HSBC FTSE all world as I wasn't interested in bonds or property and is a cheaper fund.

[vkman]

Very good point at 7:00. Calculating CGT on Accumulation funds is *hard*, especially if you have held them for a long time, and it's easy to declare the wrong tax or pay too much tax (paying both income and capital gains tax on the same money). Brokers aren't much help either - you're lucky if they give you a statement of capital gains at the end of the year. When income and capital gains are taxable, I'd always go for Income units so that your dividend reinvestment is not hidden within the unit price, and you can clearly see what is income and what is capital gain.

[lukestables]

Would greatly appreciate if you could do a video for UK citizens who are non-resident.

[albertboulderwardtherd]

Many thanks Ramin for this, i was looking for a multi asset fund such as the HSBC range.

[jacc]

Interesting video. I’m in the process of changing my modest pension to Vanguard. A financial advisor recommended for me to put my pot into the LS100 fund and despite the UK bias I’m probably going to take his advice for simplicity. Only time will tell if it will be a big mistake but despite the poor performance of U.K. stocks and a sluggish U.K. economy LS 100 has still produced surprisingly good returns over the past few years so I’ll probably stick to his advice.

[supernumex]

Canadian Vanguard Asset Allocation funds as they are called also have a home bias in the 25% range compared to Canada's 3% global weighting. For Canada, reading Vanguards reasoning (lower volatility, lower currency risk, favourable taxes) does seem to make sense probably because Canadian markets are more tightly correlated with the US than UK is with the US.

[jacobingemannolsen]

How did you get comfortable with the credit risk of one fund allocation?

[ianseward]

Great vid as usual. Do you have any vids on how use these funds in particular the hsbc when in retirement. The yield is low with the inc funds is the omly way to sell units on top of taking yield .
The royal London gmap funds are worth a look apparently the dealt with the recent bond crash very well .

[eddiebarstow]

Ramin, have you looked at the columbia threadneedle universal funds? It would be interesting to see a similar video including these funds which offer active management (asset allocation and stock selection) at a passive price.

[nickwilliams]

Thanks Ramon, another excellent video. May I ask if you are going to follow up on the index linked bond once it matures?
And again thank you for producing.

[slabbygabby]

I've started buying some as a result of the video. I didn't know about these. I like life strategy as well though so I have both.

[davec]

Recent research indicates that maintaining a 100% equity portfolio with a home country bias (a little more biased than what LS offers for the UK) has the least risk in terms of the likelihood of exhausting your accumulated wealth during retirement.

[TomsPersonalFinance]

Hi Ramin. Interesting video and I'd not heard of the HSBC strategy funds. Regarding your T212 pies, haven't you overweighted Europe in them? Or maybe that was the intention.

[SaidSaid-pd]

What platform is the cheapest/best to invest in HSBC Global Strategy funds?

[MrDuncl]

Please could you explain the difference between the FTSE and MCSI World indexes ?

[stephen]

Great video, thanks! The HSBC portfolios look interesting. My only concern is there may be a lack of small cap allocation which when being adventurous can help add an extra bit of spice over the long run. I think small caps are undervalued at the moment so it may be worth having a small allocation just to be completely diversified. In my opinion the FTSE Global All Cap is the best one fund option for long term investors who only want equities in their portfolio.

[minasmina]

For non UK investors, note that the Vanguard Life Strategy EUR funds on Trading 212 do not have a UK home bias - they have no home bias.

[ritalally]

Thanks for another very helpful video. One comment I would make about Vanguard is their customer service, in my experience it’s poor and they need constant chasing to respond to secure messaging and it’s very off putting. It would be helpful to know your thoughts on customer service from various companies.

[Greylocks]

I quite like the HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic and I am already invested in it - it is mainly equities with some bonds and property, low fees and doesn’t require any thinking. When held on Fidelity platform it will give me a simple automated monthly income of my choice when I retire. Not the cheapest option but there are much worse options out there.

[robertbutwell]

I've noticed that the equity percentage in each of the HSBC funds does not appear to remain static unlike the LSfunds. On the HSBC webpage it shows the Dynamic fund as having 70% equity, however of Fidelity's site it shows it as having 81% equity, that's abig difference, is that right?