Is NOW a good time to invest money in Natwest stock and share account?

There is never a good time to invest in Natwest investments or any other bank. Expensive and low quality and "advised" under a sales process that is designed for mass sales by low skilled sales reps to low knowledge consumers generally at the lower end of the market.

If you want to invest and cannot DIY then use an IFA. Do not use a bank.

jonj123 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far, but how much interest are the IFA likely to generate every year? How much do they charge? and can they be trusted?

They can probably be trusted more than a sales person in a bank:)

Thanks for the replies so far, but how much interest are the IFA likely to generate every year? How much do they charge? and can they be trusted?

You were willing to accept a sales rep from a bank but have concerns over an independent. Havent you got that the wrong way round?

Banks account for the minority of regulated transactions but have over half the complaints at the FOS. IFAs handle the majority of regulated transactions but have under 2% of complaints at the FOS (and only around 1/3rd of those get upheld).

You never know what investment returns will be but compared to the Natwest fund you were looking at, an IFA would offer cheaper investments and options that you would expect to be bet better.

The FSA published averages for commission is 1.8% on collectives. The typical IFA maximum is 3%. Natwest is 5%. With just £20k you are not likely to get close to the 1.8% but you shouldnt be likely to exceed the 3%. Either way, its better than natwests 5%.

These investments don't pay interest, and they can't be compared to a bank account. They go up and down in value. In general the higher the risk the greater the potential rewards but also the greater the potential losses. Funds that perform best when the market is going up tend to lose value the quickest when the market is going down.. An IFA would have access to lots of options taking in very low risk to very high risk funds.

What are the interest figures that IFA can offer?

Interest has nothing to do with it. Investments zig zag in value and you don't know what is going to happen. In some years you get gains, some years losses. Over time you average these out.

When I went to Natwest the salesperson showed me figures of around 10-20% a year for the last 4-5 years (with the exception being 2 years ago when it went down by 20%.)

Did they also tell you that year to date its performing at rank 56 out of 72 in its sector (albeit small sector). And that over the last 12 months it is performing at 48th out of 69?

Did they also verify the risk as medium/high and typically not suited to someone that has had no previous investment experience?

Did they also tell you that they were telling lies? You say you were told it was making around 10-20% a year for the last 4-5 years. However, the fund was launched on 9th June 2008. It only has been runnning for just over 2 years. Since launch and before initial charge, it has only made 1.1% in total (not per annum - if you invested that day, you would be up 1.1% now - although with their 5% charge you would be down 3.87%).

Also do Natwest or IFAs offer money back guarantee if I decide to take my money out after a month or 2 - i.e. get my initial investment back without being charged 3 or 5%?

You dont get money back guarantees on conventional investments. And you certainly shouldnt be using investments if you need money in 2 months time. This sort of investment is really a 5-10 year plus timescale.

It is becoming clear that Natwest are living up to their expectation in selling you an inappropriate investment without any explanation of what it does and using misinformation to get the sale.