CIS UNIT TRUST - Keep it, split it or get rid?

helen_l_winter · 23 January 2008 at 3:46PM

I have (had) £7k invested in a CIS Unit Trust ISA. Its been in there since June 05 and only seems to be losing money not making any. In fact its never been worth the £7k since the day it was paid in. I know this is a five year investment but after nearly three years it is now worth nearly £1k less than it was originally.

Should I keep it? Should I take £3k out and put it in a cash mini ISA where it will at least earn some interest? Or should I call it quits and move the whole kit and caboodle elsewhere?

Sorry if this seems like a very basic question but I really don't know what to do about it.

Aegis · 23 January 2008 at 3:53PM

If you're willing to put some time and effort into researching your own investments, I'd personally get in touch with a broker like Hargreaves Lansdown and ask them to transfer across your ISA to them. At that point you could essentially create your own investment portfolio with them, one likely to do better than a single-fund investment such as the one you currently have.

If you transfer across £6k or so, you should probably aim to get about 6 unit trusts or OEICs with £1k in each to ensure that you have a decent amount of diversification.

dunstonh · 23 January 2008 at 5:51PM

If you arent willing to spend your own time doing it then get a real financial adviser involved like an IFA. Not the tied salesman from the CIS.

£1k per fund is a good option on a small investment.

nnop · 29 January 2008 at 5:17PM

Hello Helen,

I had a CIS UK Growth ISA and compared to other funds was very dissapointing. Their website was awful and I could never access to check how it was doing. After reading this site. I took the decision to transfer via Hargreaves Lansdown which offered many funds to choose from. The transfer was simple and I decided to split my investment:-

Jupiter UK Growth
JP Morgan Natural Resource
Neptune Russia
Marlborough UK Special Situations

Hopefully, these will perform well for me in the longer term.

Also, their website give a very simple view of how the funds are performing and the option to swap investments.

Just my experience anyway...Good luck!

Aegis · 29 January 2008 at 5:46PM

If you've split more or less evenly, you've increased your risk level by making this change. If you're happy with higher volatility and the potential for much larger drops, you should be fine.

Just thought I'd mention it in case you weren't aware of what you'd done.

nnop · 30 January 2008 at 3:04PM

To clarify, my split :-

Jupiter UK Growth 75%
JP Morgan Natural Resource 10%
Neptune Russia 10%
Marlborough UK Special Situations 5%

CIS UNIT TRUST - Keep it, split it or get rid?

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