Suman works as a junior doctor at an NHS hospital in Liverpool. He came to the UK in 2015 but started his investment journey in 2010 while he was living in India and where he invested in Indian equities.

‘I started investing for myself primarily, and the reason I started was to try and get significant returns. I didn’t initially have a long-term strategy in place, all I thought is I can put some money in, it grows, and I can then reinvest,’ he says.

Suman gets his investment ideas by reading Shares which he finds a useful source of information, as well as looking at Google Finance for news and occasionally reading comments about investing on social media network Reddit. He also creates his own investment-related videos via YouTube as a way of sharing everything he’s learned about investing.

The doctor invests £500 a month via the AJ Bell platform into various funds and investment trusts held across a Stocks & Shares ISA and a Lifetime ISA. Additional money is invested where possible into a portfolio of ETFs (exchange-traded funds) held with another platform provider.

WHAT DOES SUMAN INVEST IN?

Suman is happy to take extra risks when investing in the search of higher returns. He says: ‘If you are not prepared to explore and manage risk within your portfolio, you may not make a significant return on your investment.

‘I am interested in holding emerging markets, so I invest 30% of my ETF portfolio in that area. I play a risky game investing in emerging markets, but this is part of my psychology.’

The 30% ETF portfolio component for emerging markets is split two-thirds into the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets IMI ETF (EMIM) product and one-third into an ETF that follows an index of Indian equities, namely Franklin Templeton FTSE India ETF (FLXI).

‘Apart from India, I do not feel confident in buying financial products in other emerging market economies directly. I would rather go through a tracker fund or use active fund managers who have more portfolio knowledge and expertise than me.’

Investments held across his Stocks & Shares and Lifetime ISAs provide further exposure to emerging markets including shares in Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (SMT) which has various Chinese holdings including online marketplace Meituan (3690:HKG), technology and entertainment platform Tencent (0700:HKG) and TikTok social media network owner Bytedance.

The doctor also has money in JPMorgan Emerging Markets (JMG), an investment trust which seeks to invest in what it considers to be high-quality companies, both large and small, with the potential to deliver sustainable long-term growth.

The rest of the ETF portfolio is split 20% into an iShares product tracking the US Nasdaq index and the same again for a US S&P 500 tracker and a further 20% into a FTSE 100 tracker to get exposure to UK stocks.

The remaining 10% of the ETF portfolio is invested in an investment product that tracks the performance of companies related to the artificial intelligence theme. And in the rest of his ISA portfolios, Suman has money in a few global funds.

FUTURE PLANS

‘I have a five-to-10-year view of my investments; I have an even longer perspective to take into consideration for funding my children’s education. I am also saving for retirement which is another 28 years from now,’ says Suman.

Currently, the doctor holds no individual company shares in his portfolio. This is down to two principal reasons: first, he has lost money in the past investing in shares on an individual basis; and second, he doesn’t know when to get out.

‘I can see good companies around me, but I do not know when to exit the stock. That needs a lot of knowledge and research which I do not have to do by owning ETFs, investment trusts and funds,’ he adds.

For now, he is happy with sticking to his current plan and says he will continue to stash money away in his portfolios whether the economy is good or bad.

‘The macroeconomic picture will not stop me from investing in the future. Whenever things go wrong, I put a lot of money in the markets, for example during the Covid pandemic. This was a time I went all in, as well as at the end of the last quarter of 2022.’

DISCLAIMER: Please note, we do not provide financial advice in case study articles, and we are unable to comment on the suitability of the subject’s investments. Individuals who are unsure about the suitability of investments should consult a suitably qualified financial adviser. Past performance is not a guide to future performance and some investments need to be held for the long term. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and rules may change. ISA and pension rules apply. AJ Bell referenced in this article publishes Shares magazine. Daniel Coatsworth who edited this article owns shares in AJ Bell.

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