UK or AUS investments?

[Anita Melbourne 0]

Hello,

I currently hold UK funds and stocks via Hargreaves. I also have been working and saving in Australia and have opened a NAB Trade account.

I am new to AUS investments but have noticed that shares here are not as expansive as it is in the UK.

I am wondering, because I am not so familiar with ASX, to transfer all my AUD savings to my UK account and invest in LON?

Or are there better reasons to keep it AUD and invest in the ASX instead?

If so, where can I get reliable investment news and advice which are similar to what Hargreaves offer?

I am mostly a long-term investor, looking for something steady and stable over a year or longer which is why i have mostly funds.

Thanks in advance.

[Andrew from Vista Financial 670]

Hello Anita

I think that first and foremost you need to consider your forex strategy, it's likely a bigger gain or loss will be made from currency conversion as opposed to the actual investment (well certainly in the short term).

If your decision is to maintain Australian Dollars and invest here then take a look at M-Funds, this service may satisfy your requirements: https://www.asx.com.au/mfund/index.htm  

Regards

Andy

[Ken 1,702]

7 hours ago, Anita Melbourne said:

Hello,

I currently hold UK funds and stocks via Hargreaves. I also have been working and saving in Australia and have opened a NAB Trade account.

I am new to AUS investments but have noticed that shares here are not as expansive as it is in the UK.

I am wondering, because I am not so familiar with ASX, to transfer all my AUD savings to my UK account and invest in LON?

Or are there better reasons to keep it AUD and invest in the ASX instead?

If so, where can I get reliable investment news and advice which are similar to what Hargreaves offer?

I am mostly a long-term investor, looking for something steady and stable over a year or longer which is why i have mostly funds.

Thanks in advance.

You say you are a long-term investor but not what your long-term plan is. In the long-term will you want to have AUD or GBP? If you're going to want AUD in the future then converting it in to GBP now and then back into AUD in the future gives you an exchange risk (and a corresponding opportunity of making a big gain if the FX rate go in your favour rather than against them). In this scenario it depends on your personal risk profile. If you're a conservative investor who doesn't want to take a big risk even if that means losing out on the chance of a big gain then you'd keep your money in AUD. If you're less risk averse you might want to gamble on exchange rates.

If in the long term you are going to want GBP then it's a matter of balancing the exchange rate you can get now with the returns you can get in the UK with the returns you can get in Australia and the exchange rate you can get in the Future. If you want the answer to that equation let me assure you that if I knew the answer I wouldn't be wasting my time typing here I'd be off making millions!

If you don't know which currency you will eventually need you might want to aim for a point where half the value of your investments are in GBP and half is in AUD making you fairly neutral to any exchange rate movement whichever way you go.