Scottish Widow Balanced Growth Portfolio Shareclass A Accumulation

wheresmydoshat · 13 March 2008 at 2:21PM

I just did a long post on this and lost it, so in a nutshell !

I invested two lots of £7,000 in the Scottish Widow Balanced Growth Portfolio Shareclass A Accumulation ISA around 3 years ago.

After initial charges, last summer it was close to being back to £14,000 but with the state of everything since it is now £13,200.

I put this to one side to stop me spending it, and so it was safe with a good chance of a small return. Risking it was never my intention, but I was aware there is always some risk.

Now I am passed half way through the 5 years I intended on leaving it, I am starting to think I would have been better off putting this in smaller chunks into mini cash isa's.

So, do I sit on it until 5 years as planned, swap it, or just stop worrying and realise i will probably just get my 14k back and have regrets I didn't just put it into my online saver and trust my will power in not spending any of it !

dunstonh · 13 March 2008 at 2:43PM

I invested two lots of £7,000 in the Scottish Widow Balanced Growth Portfolio Shareclass A Accumulation ISA around 3 years ago.

Oh dear. Never mind, At least you can learn from your mistakes.

I am starting to think I would have been better off putting this in smaller chunks into mini cash isa's.

You were probably better off getting real investment advice and not seeing an insurance agent from a bank who isnt authorised to give proper investment advice. Thats why they sell these jack of all trades, master of none funds.

So, do I sit on it until 5 years as planned, swap it, or just stop worrying and realise i will probably just get my 14k back and have regrets I didn't just put it into my online saver and trust my will power in not spending any of it !

If you cannot do it yourself, get an IFA to review the "portfolio" (of one fund!) and ask them to build a proper investment spread.

EdInvestor · 13 March 2008 at 3:15PM

wheresmydoshat wrote: »

After initial charges, last summer it was close to being back to £14,000 but with the state of everything since it is now £13,200.

If you decide to move it (don't cash it in, you will lose the tax privileges) consider opening the new account with a discount broker such as https://www.h-l.co.uk which will rebate the initial charges, so you won't have to pay them again.

Have a look at some of the information on the HL site about investing, choosing a fund portfolio etc.You really need to pick a larger selection of funds ( at least 5) and it sounds as though you should go for "cautious" (primarily low risk) funds.

Markets tend to rise, fall and then rise again, hence the advice to always keep your money in for 5 years, so there is enough time for the cycle to complete itself. It does help to choose decent funds in the first place of course.Unit trusts, rather than insurance company funds are usually better though there are some exceptions.

Funds are rated here:

https://www.citywire.co.uk/Funds/Home.aspx

(select "IMA" for unti trusts and "ABI" for insurance co funds.)

wheresmydoshat · 13 March 2008 at 3:45PM

yeah nowadays i would do a bit of research but at the time it was just a way of putting it away where i couldn't get at it.

"If you cannot do it yourself, get an IFA to review the "portfolio" (of one fund!) and ask them to build a proper investment spread."

this would cost me though would it not ? taking into consideration it will probably not be in whatever i could change it to for that long is it worth it ?

can i take any positive from the fact it hasn't dropped massively over recent months ? i had read that if your ISA had only dropped by say 1-3% you were one of the more luckier ones ?

dunstonh · 13 March 2008 at 4:16PM

this would cost me though would it not ?

Not necessarily or if it doesnt it will tend to be minimal. Some may get gready and charge a lot. Others may take an initial 0-1% just to cover the admin. Remember SW are charging an annual charge and part of that goes to the adviser (or employer if bank used). If you use an IFA, they will get paid that 0.5% p.a. instead. For an increasing number of IFAs, the value to them is not the intial commission but the funds under management.

can i take any positive from the fact it hasn't dropped massively over recent months ?

No.

i had read that if your ISA had only dropped by say 1-3% you were one of the more luckier ones ?

Depends on how much it had gone up in the first place. If you fund went up 70% and then dropped 30% then you are still 40% up. If you fund went up 2% and then down 3% then you are worse off.

wheresmydoshat · 13 March 2008 at 4:48PM

okay, thanks for your advice.

bit of a shame but not the end of the world, you live and you learn i suppose.

so my best bet will be to get some advice, move as appropriate, and thank scottish widows for nothing !

dunstonh · 13 March 2008 at 5:01PM

so my best bet will be to get some advice, move as appropriate, and thank scottish widows for nothing !

Yes. I wouldnt have my money there. How you change it is up to you. You can decide if you want to do it yourself or use a proper adviser and not a bank tied agent.

If you were to look back at "complaints" on this forum about investment advice you will find that they nearly all come from people that have gone to their bank. Most tied agents are not allowed to portfolio plan. Whereas IFAs have to recommend funds, tied agents document it as you chose the funds. They will present fund options available to your risk profile for you to pick (thats how it is documented but in real life it doesnt often come across that way). This inevitably means you end up in one or two funds when a greater number would suit diversification.

LloydsTSB (Scot Wid) seem to have had a higher trend of unhappy individuals recently as well. More than any other bank.

wheresmydoshat · 13 March 2008 at 5:11PM

thanks, i will look into this and see what I can do.

munk · 13 March 2008 at 11:28PM

I have a bugbear over Scottish Widows investments, search for 'scottish widows' on this forum and you'll find most are angry Lloyds customers

I think your question has been answered above but fwiw I would recommend transferring your ISA over to Hargreaves Lansdown as cash (they don't do stock transfers from Scottish Widows). Once the ISA is transferred you can choose a new selection of funds that are less sluggish - you shouldn't lose out too much because the majority of funds on HL have an initial charge between only 0-0.25% (compared to SW's 3.5-5%) - plus HL offer rebates on the annual charges made by most of the funds so you get back 0.1% or so on many funds AND you get a loyalty bonus from them too which is even more icing

There's a largish post here about the pros/cons of going with a tied agent/direct (as you did) vs going with an IFA vs going DIY:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=7928011#post7928011

wheresmydoshat · 14 March 2008 at 10:06AM

thanks a lot, all food for thought

wheresmydoshat · 14 March 2008 at 10:29AM

"Once the ISA is transferred you can choose a new selection of funds that are less sluggish"

so when you say less sluggish, what is my best tactic for choosing funds considering i want less risk but a half decent return ? and say i have 13k, putting into half a dozen funds would be my best option ?

Scottish Widow Balanced Growth Portfolio Shareclass A Accumulation

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