Vanguard LifeStrategy® 60% Equity Fund - how to set up

QuickPeter

I’m about to set up a modest Vanguard LifeStrategy® 60% Equity Fund investment.

Has anyone done this, or for a similar investment?

Are there any tips and or pitfalls?

I’d like to set it up right first time so as to avoid making changes later, which can be troublesome as you know.

QuickPeter
MacBook Pro running Quicken for Mac 2017 Ver 4.8.6

Frankx

Hi @QuickPeter,

Thanks for the clarification and additional information.  I have visited your contry many times and enjoy it and its people.

Yes, Vanguard is a very large financial services company headquartered just outside Philadelphia offering investment vehicles directly to consumers.  I was able to access Vanguard's UK website and reviewed the information regarding the fund you plan to invest in.  Unfortunately, after searching the website, I can find no references to Quicken. personal financial software, or downloading account data, so I strongly suspect those options will not be available to you.  Which means that you'll simply need to setup an "offline" account (an account for which you will need to make manual transaction entries rather than downloading transactions).

The steps are "Add Account" > "Offline Account" > "Investing & Retirement" - "Brokerage" type > insert account name & select currency > the next screen asks for data from your last account statement.

The following screen asks for information about the specific investment (it says "What securities are in this account?").  If you search on Vanguard you'll likely see this screen... 


Unfortunately, in the US the fund you'll be investing in does not appear, however that may not be the case in the UK, since I understand these Vanguard UK funds are listed on the LSE.  So you'll need to, determine if downloading is available in the UK and enter the appropriate ticker symbol.  If that isn't available, you'll need to track price changes manually.

Hopefully this information will be useful to you.  If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to ask.

Frankx

Frankx

Hi @QuickPeter

It believe that the fund you are going to invest in (the Vanguard LifeStrategy® 60% Equity Fund) is not offered directly to retail consumers.  Is that correct?  If so, you will need to "setup" in Quicken the account (likely a pension, profit sharing, or similar account) of the brokerage firm, investment firm, insurance company, or other fiduciary/plan that will hold that investment.  This is the entity that you receive statements from, or if you get statements from your current or former employer, the financial institution that the employer uses to make/hold those investments.

If you can you tell us the name of that entity, it will help us to provide information to help you.

Frankx 

QuickPeter

Frankx, thanks for your interest.

To begin with, I need to let you know that I’m based in England, UK. That might make difference.

The fund is a mutual fund offered by Vanguard from their UK website. It’s definitely a retail product available to all.

The entity you refer to is Vanguard, which are a large US organisation, right?

I created accounts for similar investments some time ago on my MacBook Pro Quicken for Mac 2017 and just wanted to be reminded of the steps that I need to take.

QuickPeter

Frankx

Hi @QuickPeter,

Thanks for the clarification and additional information.  I have visited your contry many times and enjoy it and its people.

Yes, Vanguard is a very large financial services company headquartered just outside Philadelphia offering investment vehicles directly to consumers.  I was able to access Vanguard's UK website and reviewed the information regarding the fund you plan to invest in.  Unfortunately, after searching the website, I can find no references to Quicken. personal financial software, or downloading account data, so I strongly suspect those options will not be available to you.  Which means that you'll simply need to setup an "offline" account (an account for which you will need to make manual transaction entries rather than downloading transactions).

The steps are "Add Account" > "Offline Account" > "Investing & Retirement" - "Brokerage" type > insert account name & select currency > the next screen asks for data from your last account statement.

The following screen asks for information about the specific investment (it says "What securities are in this account?").  If you search on Vanguard you'll likely see this screen... 


Unfortunately, in the US the fund you'll be investing in does not appear, however that may not be the case in the UK, since I understand these Vanguard UK funds are listed on the LSE.  So you'll need to, determine if downloading is available in the UK and enter the appropriate ticker symbol.  If that isn't available, you'll need to track price changes manually.

Hopefully this information will be useful to you.  If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to ask.

Frankx

QuickPeter

Frankx, thanks for spending your time doing this research. I'm very grateful.

I don't mind entering the data manually and tracking the price changes.
In fact, I've had to do this since I started using Quicken (in England, UK) because we cannot access these features.

It's really not a problem to me because I've only got a relatively small amount of investments.

"The steps are "Add Account" > "Offline Account" > .... "
Yes, that is familiar. It's all coming back to me now!

I will start to set up the account and as you say, if I hit problems I'll be back here asking for advice - which I always get. I don't know how I'd manage without this forum.

It was interesting to me to know where Vanguard are based. They are quite successful here I believe but seem to keep a very low profile - no big advertisements or press releases. That may be good, because it helps keep the fees down

Thanks again, QuickPeter

NotACPA

@Dan Glynhampton  Can you offer any advice/assistance here?

@quickpeter, Dan is a UK based SuperUser of Quicken.

Frankx

@QuickPeter,

Feel free to revert!

Take care.

Frankx

QuickPeter

NotACPA, thanks for doing that. Let's see what happens. It would be nice to have a UK Buddy! QuickPeter

QuickPeter

Frankx, I will - thanks. QuickPeter