Halifax Stocks & Shares ISA

krakow

I currently have ~£5400 invested in a Halifax Bank Of Scotland Stocks & Shares ISA, in the Corporate Bond Fund, which I've had for a couple of years now. I have a minimal monthly investment of £20 at the moment, which I've just switched to go into the Cautious Managed Fund rather than the Corporate Bonds, hoping that this might be a slight improvement.

I've only realised this year that this perhaps isn't really the best place for my money, when it was pointed out that the value of my investment had decreased thus far (I know this is the nature of Stocks & Shares, but it's not inspiring).

I'm now wondering what, if anything, it might be wise to do with this money. I'm happy to leave it, hopefully untouched, for up to five years, as I have other savings to draw on if needs be. It seems, from a quick search on the forums, that the Halifax S&S ISAs aren't particularly well regarded. What might be some good possible options for me? Should I leave the money where it is to ride out the storm and hope that things pick up over the 5-ish year term I have in mind? Should I transfer to a different type of Halifax fund (move the previous investement to the Cautious Managed Fund too?)? Or transfer it to another S&S ISA entirely? Cut my losses, cash it in and put it in an ordinary high-interest savings account, maybe a fixed rate one?

I'm wary of the latter couple of options (transferal or withdrawal), because isn't that akin to selling when the share price is at a low point?

Thanks for any help.

dunstonh

I know this is the nature of Stocks & Shares, but it's not inspiring

In the corporate bond fund you are not really investing in stocks and shares. You 100% invested into a sector that until recently had a poor couple of years.

The concept of what you were doing was right (investing that is and using an ISA) but the method of which you did it was flawed. You went to a tied salesforce that cannot portfolio plan and only sells its own funds which are mostly pretty awful.

Should I transfer to a different type of Halifax fund (move the previous investment to the Cautious Managed Fund too?)? Or transfer it to another S&S ISA entirely?

Transfer out is a no brainer... if you know what you are doing (or use someone that does). However, if you don't know what you are doing you could just jump out of they frying pan into the fire. Something that occurs quite often when some people think they know better and go with fashion investing instead and only experience greater losses (and usually then go round saying how bad the stockmarket is and they will never invest in it again when in reality it was their high risk fashion investing that was at fault).

So, you need to decide if you are willing to set aside the time to learn about investing, get someone else to do it properly, take a random punt or leave it to fester in the Halifax in some hope that miracles happen and Halifax may do better in future.

krakow

I'm willing to put in a certain amount of time to try and learn enough about investment to attempt to make a more sensible informed decision this time round. As you picked up, I didn't, and still don't, know anything much about the subject - at the time I had some money above what I could put into my Cash ISA, so, at the suggestion of my bank (HBOS), I put it into their S&S ISA, taking the most cautious route available, as that's my preferred type (and still would be).

Given this, where do I go to learn about investing, with the particular aim of making a sensible cautious S&S ISA investment? Are there any particularly recommended websites or books? Should I be spending my next few weeks of lunch breaks sitting in Borders reading 'Investing For Dummies'?

Also, is transferring out when the value is so low a sensible course of action? Does that not make it the worst point to do so?

dunstonh

I will let others answer the books/websites thing as I dont know what the good ones are for consumers. The ones I use are far more technical (plus you have to pay for them).

I will say that regardless of what you read or learn, until you have experienced a major stockmarket crash (or any decline in a sector you have investments in) and seen the values drop back you dont know if you have really learnt anything or not. That goes for consumers and advisers. Experience is important.

Also, is transferring out when the value is so low a sensible course of action? Does that not make it the worst point to do so?

Not at all. Adjusting the investments for better future potential is perfectly valid and normal. What you are thinking about as being wrong is pulling out altogether and crystallising the loss. That wouldnt be the plan.

krakow

Thinking about it some more, I don't think that I have the time or the inclination to learn enough about the subject to fully make my own decisions and manage investments etc. myself and so the best route is to get someone else to do this for me.

At the moment what I would want to do is to transfer the current ~£5400 to a better S&S ISA of some (cautious) form, since cashing it in isn't wise, and possibly maintain a minimal monthly investment to it. However, I think any further spare income might be better direct towards overpaying my mortgage, rather than increasing investments, at least for now, so I'm not looking to significantly up my monthly payments at the moment (if I could stop them, I might even consider that).

So, what are my possible next steps? Find a good IFA? I see various websites mentioned here and there that seem to manage S&S ISAs for people...? Any pointers of where to start to at least try and do this transfer a little more sensibly and in a more educated manner? Thanks again.

dunstonh

I see various websites mentioned here and there that seem to manage S&S ISAs for people

That is not quite correct. The websites you see mentioned on this site are for those that want to go DIY. They do not provide advice. You would need to pick the funds and keep them under review yourself.

if you want an IFA to do that for you then go to www.unbiased.co.uk and do a postcode search to find your nearest ones. Avoid the national address/tel numbers (0870 etc).