Question

[#1]

How many people here have feel that managing their own money is better than giving it to a professional,and has it worked out better for you?I know many factors play a role like size and expectations..knowledge..cost etc..I for one pulled my cash along time ago and I'm interested to hear your views

[sasa]

Also pulled mine. Gave it to a professional in naivety, paid a nice big commission, and only heard when I contacted him, while my investment dwindled!

[jo_soap]

I split it between some managing myself and some with a professional. Still early days (I started investing myself in mid 2009) but it definitely looks like the stuff I am managing is doing better.

[#4]

looking after 3 share portfolios, all doing better. I am seeing someone tomorrow to close and take one policy, the other two are pension and have to stay, they not doing very well.

[Alonzo7]

I manage my own funds. Works out much better. Cheers

[redbull363]

I agree

[Major]

Most of my money is managed by professionals. I don't have the time to look after it all myself, although I have kept an online share portfolio to play with since 1999. Over those 12 years, professionals have outperformed me about 50% of the time, so overall I don't see much of a performance disadvantage to splitting the funds.

[geordie1]

The people on this forum are highly unlikely to admit they are not managing their money as well as a professional-after all that is one reason why they opened up an account here.My tied money(provident fund) has done well say 14% over the last 20 to 25 years-I am ver happy with that.My own investments have done exceptionally well and better than that in some areas-worse in others and a couple of losses-on balance I believe(not professionally measured I must add) that I have done better than the professionals but only because I did a few exceptional trades with biggish money and huge profit-without those I reckon I would have just done better but only because the account I run does not have upfront commission,monthly admin and investment fees and more freedom to move money around hopefully at the right time.I have been doing my own investments now for 15 years and the main motivation is I enjoy it and with luck,time in the market and some good judgement I have done better than the professionals-long mat that continue so I can look forward to a comforteable retirement when I hit 70-that's the target-realistic I hope.

[FEK]

I think it is better to manage your own money, but at times it can be nerve wrecking. I stopped my endowments and now buy shares which have done quite well. I guess you pay commission to have peace of mind, if only the investments are doing well.

[#10]

I am generally against unit trusts, unless they are locked into a pension or RA, so that I get the tax benefits. Having said that though, there is a lot of sense in looking at listed fund managers - like coronation, Zeder and PSG. I like these companies because they ahve some of the best dividend payouts in industry - they are much better at what they do than me - and they have a lot more capital to spread their risk than what I would be able to do myself. Mostly, what I like about them, is that they invest in unlisted entities, which makes the ups and downs of the stock market less relevant

[striker]

- Manage my own porfolio - but it took years of losses and pain before I got it right. I always say ; why pay an investment manager to lose your money , when you can do it yourself for no fees.

[#12]

I was part of the 'professionals'.....once.As a Pro Trader for years now, I say....NEVER be managed.How to get around it, if you have no knowledge ?SUBSCRIBE to A-list trading/investment people eg : Monty Guild,Jim Sinclair, Robert Prechter and his Elliottwaves..there are others.You will need PROVEN guidance.Adios.

[#13]

Best advise I have seen for ages - good one.

[Blik]

I do a bit of both. I basically split any my saving into two types. Firstly my small monthly savings usually get allocated to a monthly stop order to eather Allan Gray or Standard Bank Auto Share Invest into SATRIX. Secondly my larger annual based dividend income is put into my own portfolio which I manage. I used to have a monthly stop order into an OM Max account, which over the past five years, until i cashed it in, lost me about 10% - and I figure that's due to cost, since surely our local fund managers cannot be so bad as not to make a profit from the market recovery over the past two years - said tongue in cheek. Anyway since I would probably have spent that money on sin, it doesnt stress me too much that I am down. But I wont trust my cash to them again. Maybe over the next 20 years Allan Gray will do better than me, and it also provides me with easy offshore exposure. But the bulk of my savings I am now managing myself.

[Douw]

I also manage my own. Pain was my best tutor.

[Preston]

I manage my own portfilio whilst my wife manage my profits and turns a blind eye to my losses.

[SimonPB]

Robert Prechter ?? surely you jest ?? last time he wqas right was 1987 .. he got his 15 minutes of fame, an nothing since ..

[#18]

I look after a share portfolio and have fun buying and selling with OST.I am sure my health suffers when the markets go down. My RA's and Endowments are looked after by a broker, but it is not hands on. Things only happen if I chase, so I have just approached a smaller "professional" to get a more hands on approach and get a wider spread of investments instead of them all being looked after by one big company. I did put some cash into Marriott Div Growth 2 years ago after a broker gave me a tip. Best investment Ive done. One only has to look at the fancy buildings the big companies operate from to know they are doing well from their clients portfolios.

[#19]

I only tell the wife of my good times otherwise my health would deteriorate even faster.

[warhippo]

I once heard a guy say- I think it was the "owner" of Las Vegas Sands - but not sure who said this originally "I don't take financial advice from people with no money" - not all but some truth!