Periodic Review

Hello everyone!
It has been a while since I've thought about my strategy, so I just wanted to check in and review what I am doing.

Realistically it hasn't been that long, but I would still like to make sure I'm on the right track.

My current "strategy" (if you would even call it that).

At the moment I'm all about saving as much as possible.

Each week I contribute $100 into my Super Fund.
- BT Super For Life.
- Not sure if there is a better Super Fund available?
- Currently at $10,000.

Each week I contribute $100 into a savings account
- Westpac eSaver account.
- Currently at $10,000 also
- I avoid using this money, unless I'm desperate. I always try and replace anything I take from it.
- I just took $2,200 from this account to buy a ticket to Brazil

I save $400 each week. Once a month $1,600 is contributed to my NetWealth account, which contains the following funds:
Account Total - $42,197.53
Cash account - $2,312.23 or 5.48%
Platinum International Brands Fund - $8,216.50 or 19.47%
CFS Firstchoice CFS 452 Geared Aust Share Fund - $15,870.74 or 37.61%
Vanguard Emerging Markets Shares Index Fund - $7,889.23 or 18.70%
Colonial First State Property Securities Fund - $7,908.85 or 18.74%

As the contributions add up the money is re-invested in a similar percentage split.

At the moment that is the extent of my financial planning. This money accounts for most of what I earn. Anything extra I try to save and either add to my savings or throw it into my NetWealth account.

Sorry for the long winded thread, but I would really appreciate any criticism or advice on what I could possible change to make my plan more effective.
Or even share your own strategies.

Thanks everyone, take care.

 

Do you manually rebalance to a set ratio on each fund?




Johny.

 

I haven't been really strict about it. I have the redistributions set automatically, but occasionally buy manually.

The plan was 40% in the geared Aus share fund, then 15% in the other funds and cash account.
That said, I have other cash savings, so I've been bumping the other funds up a little.

I'm only 4 months in, so I haven't felt the need to re-balance yet.

 

I notice that you have 49.63% or half of your equities in Australia and half in foreign or emerging companies. Did you plan this Compleks?





Johny.

 

Honestly, I can't remember the initial process behind choosing these funds.

I invested years ago, just before things turned sour. So I lost a fair portion of my money initially. I think the emerging markets and international brand funds were my most recent purchases.
I've only recently started to recover some cash. Though the geared fund and property fund are still in the red, quite significantly.

I'm not particularly good at this, but I did seek advice before buying. The rationale has been long forgotten though.

 

I have a higher percentage of Australian equity than you. About 62% invested in Oz. Some people have been critical saying I should have more overseas coverage. Its a hard ask, when Oz is going hard, surrounded by the greece and dubai's.

I have just reached the break even point. ei. I have made up all losses from the GFC.




Johny.

 

How do you handle having a geared fund and your property fund? I assume the geared fund is good at the moment while property is a bit flat.

Must of been times you didn't want to see your balance!




Johny

 

You can say that again!
The geared fund is firing on all cylinders at the moment. However it's still down $2,000 when you add it all up. The property fund has been a bust, down $4,000 still ( I should probably re-think this one ). I think I'm holding onto false hope, plus I sold out of another property fund which went ass over. So I'm clinging on for dear life.

I was brand new to investing when I bought my first 2-3 funds. 2 weeks before the 'financial crisis'. So I've spent most of my time watching my money disappear. It's good to finally see some progress. I'll be happy when I'm out of the negative numbers though

 

Any other advice guys??

 

Thanks Sim.
I owe a lot of my progress to you. You have always helped me out and I really appreciate that.

Thanks to everyone on this site really!

 

Hey Compleks,

How are you travelling? Have you found a financial advisor?



Johny.