Rabodirect Investments - Anyone made money yet?

Sarsfield

stepbar wrote:

Im not sure what sort of funds I should be looking to. Can anyone give me a bit of advice as to what has worked for you?

I'm totally unqualified to give investment advice. However there are 3 things you must do before investing - decide on your goal, research & shop around.

Decide what your investment is for.
Learn about the risks and how to mitigate them.
Shop around for suitable funds - Rabo aren't the only ones and others (e.g. Quinn Life) have lower charges for example.

I'm only starting out, so I'm still working on these 3 things. But I want to invest a significant amount of my savings. It's widely accepted that deposits are unlikely to even match inflation (they almost guarantee you a loss in real terms!). A good investment portfolio, despite the risks, is actually a safer inflation beater than even a high-interest deposit account provided you're ready to invest over a reasonably long term - 5 to 7 years at least.

slave1

stuck €6k into a few funds with Rabo 01.02.06
20.03.06 down 1.6%
12.04.06 up 2.8%
12.05.06 up 14%
just checked a few minutes ago and now down 11.4%, that's some swing in just over a feckin month

like all equities, up and down

el diablo

slave1 wrote:

stuck €6k into a few funds with Rabo 01.02.06
20.03.06 down 1.6%
12.04.06 up 2.8%
12.05.06 up 14%
just checked a few minutes ago and now down 11.4%, that's some swing in just over a feckin month

like all equities, up and down

similar story with me..... most of mine are down at the moment but, no worries, I'm thinking long-term..;)

Diarmuid

Not trying to hyjack this thread but I have a question for the rabodirect fund investors.

Why did you invest with Rabo and not invest in an ETF with Keytrade or Sharewatch?

Looking at their website, their charges are quite high (entry and exit of 0.75% and more importantly annual charges of around 1.5%. The 10 year performance of the US/European is 7-8%, taking 1.5% off that is pretty substantial). I guess if you are adding to them each month (a small amount) it makes sense. But for a lump sum I can see no advantge.

samb

What's the story with Rabo's current account. Can you get a pass card? what hidden charges are there?
Diarmud, that 1.5%, what is it on. if your funds values are fluctuating constantly.
Are you recommending Keytrade and Sharewatch. Are they as user friendly as Rabo, with current account etc??

Did anybody make money from the Mining Fund in the last year (it rocketted) but don't think it will keep rising for too long now.

Diarmuid

samb wrote:

Diarmud, that 1.5%, what is it on. if your funds values are fluctuating constantly.
.

I assume the 1.5% is on the value of your account. I'd imagine it's calculated end of each day or week and then applied each year. (that's what Quinn do)

samb wrote:

Are you recommending Keytrade and Sharewatch. Are they as user friendly as Rabo, with current account etc??

Well I am in the process of setting up an account with Keytrade (it's free) but you have to do your own sharedealing and build your own portfolio. However with ETF's it should be easy (after educating yourself well) to have a well balanced portfolio with relatively low costs. I am not recommending anyone .

samb wrote:

Did anybody make money from the Mining Fund in the last year (it rocketted) but don't think it will keep rising for too long now.

Some people will have made money I'm sure but trying to predict future returns based on past performace is a fools errand.

Peanut

Diarmuid wrote:

Not trying to hyjack this thread but I have a question for the rabodirect fund investors.

Why did you invest with Rabo and not invest in an ETF with Keytrade or Sharewatch?

I recently opened a Rabo account primarily for the savings account, and then decided to buy some of the funds.

I'm not really too pushed if they are slighty more expensive than other methods - I appreciate the ability to access the savings and investments from one place, the less hassle the better.

Diarmuid

Peanut wrote:

I'm not really too pushed if they are slighty more expensive than other methods - I appreciate the ability to access the savings and investments from one place, the less hassle the better.

Fair enough.

What I was looking at was 20k investment for 15 years. Going to Rabo route would result in about 10k less at maturity (at 7.5% annual return). I guess Rabo is not for me.

Principal €20,000
Number Years 15
Rate 7.50%

Return with Rabo €47,931.16
Return with 0.2% ETF €57,547.42
Diff €9,616.25

BendiBus

Peanut wrote:

I'm not really too pushed if they are slighty more expensive than other methods

Due to the magic of compounding, small differences in percentage rates (charges or returns) make for large differences in total return over the long term.

You really do need to be pushed about these things

I think annual charges are calculated daily and included in the daily price of the funds. But I'm not absolutely sure.

Peanut

I'm investing small amounts for a relatively short term, so the difference is going to be a lot less than someone investing 20k for 15 years.

The main objective was just to get the money out of sitting in a current account!

BendiBus

Peanut wrote:

I'm investing small amounts for a relatively short term

I don't know your definition of short term, but just understand you can get seriously whacked by investing in equities for the short term. The risk is high and unpredictable.

Peanut

Yes I know, I'm taking a gamble

That's why I am happy enough with Rabo being able to move between their savings a/c and their funds within the one site.

PDelux

Do you have some sort of threshold set so that you will bail out if it drops too low? Things could get really bad with the US recession at the end of the year/start of 2007, emerging markets will be hit the most.

BendiBus

PDelux wrote:

Do you have some sort of threshold set so that you will bail out if it drops too low?

Buy high, sell low. The guaranteed way to make someone else rich

Diarmuid

PDelux wrote:

Things could get really bad with the US recession at the end of the year/start of 2007

Is that a crystal ball based prediction? (ie on what basis are you making that prediction, I'm not saying you're wrong :-)

PDelux

I thought it was generally accepted but yes, of course i could be wrong...i hope i'm wrong. I get alot of my information from the FT and Businessweek, i read them regularly.