Stocks+Shares ISA?????

wannalot

Hi all

I recently had a savings review with Halifax. It was recommended that I stop contributing to my Cash ISA (containing £10000+), and instead start putting to a Stocks+Shares ISA (what they called a "cautious managed fund"). The first payment into this (£250 per month) is due to come out this month, but the events of the past few weeks have left me completely confused as to whether this is a good time to start (as this is a good time to buy into a tracker as the units are cheaper at the moment - I think this is what the adviser said, albeit six weeks ago) or whether i should play safe and stick with my cash ISA (as everything else seems a bit scary). Does anyone have any advice as to what I should be doing??? - to be honest I'm about 2 bad headlines away from taking all the money out of the bank and sticking it under my bed!

Lokolo

I am not sure how good this fund is but it is a complete waste. You saw a sales rep who will only sell you certain products and not give you the best overview of the market.

If you do want to start investing then you should go and see an IFA rather than your bank.

dunstonh

The Halifax flog the cautious managed fund to nearly everyone. It is a very poor quality fund and with £250pm it would be better to spread the contribution over multiple funds.

but the events of the past few weeks have left me completely confused as to whether this is a good time to start (as this is a good time to buy into a tracker as the units are cheaper at the moment - I think this is what the adviser said, albeit six weeks ago)

It is a good time to be paying into a monthly contribution ISA.

or whether i should play safe and stick with my cash ISA (as everything else seems a bit scary).

Dont let the media scare you. Things are not that bad.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I should be doing???

See an IFA and get the ISA put into better quality funds that average out to match your risk profile.

to be honest I'm about 2 bad headlines away from taking all the money out of the bank and sticking it under my bed!

Your money isnt in a bank. Its in a stocks and shares ISA. You need a bit of training to understand what it is that you have and where it stands in the scheme of things.

ldn-100

I originally took out an investment ISA with NatWest. After a while I realised it was foolish to be putting all my money in just one fund. I did some research and transferred over to Interactive Investor. I selected five funds in order to spread my risk. I did this by extensive research, using on line resources such as the Financial Times. If you are not comfortable with this, you need to get some advice. I have the larger part of my pot in the lower risk funds and a smaller part in the higher risk funds. This profile suits my expectations and the length of time I intend to invest. Your portfolio will be different and you need to think about what you want to achieve. You also need to leave plenty of cash available for immediate withdrawal as you should not expect to have instant access to these funds. You need a certain kind of personality to get the most out of this kind of ISA. You need to be able to see your investment go significantly down in value and think "this is a good time to buy" rather than "I don't want to throw good money after bad" or "lets get out of this!". If you do not think this is you, I would not bother. You also need to constantly review your portfolio.

dunstonh

I did this by extensive research, using on line resources such as the Financial Times.

Just to point out that the risk rating FT use for their funds is very poor. It would be very confusing for an inexperienced investor as their baseline is not cash. You find them calling high risk funds, low or medium risk.

I originally took out an investment ISA with NatWest. After a while I realised it was foolish to be putting all my money in just one fund. I did some research and transferred over to Interactive Investor. I selected five funds in order to spread my risk. I did this by extensive research,

Excellent. Thats the way to do it.

cheerfulcat

wannalot wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice as to what I should be doing??? - to be honest I'm about 2 bad headlines away from taking all the money out of the bank and sticking it under my bed!

On the whole I think that it's best to stay within your comfort zone. There's no point in making a fortune if the stress is going to kill you! Having said that, W Buffet's dictum of " be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy " will undoubtedly stand you in good stead over an investment lifetime.

FWIW my method for maximum peace of mind is that the money I must not lose goes into cash and gilts and the rest is spread amongst equities and corporate bond funds. All dividends are re-invested.

As dh suggests, regular monthly investments are great for when markets are scary.

Oh, and stop reading the newspapers!

pem2

Keep the cash ISA (but not necessarily with Halifax unless you are getting a least 5.75) and transfer to a bank/bs which is offering more (see link) although you may have to consider a fixed rate for at least 1 year, the best variable appears to be ICESAVE at 6.10. http://www.moneyfacts.co.uk/searches/savings.aspx

Lokolo

dunstonh wrote: »

Just to point out that the risk rating FT use for their funds is very poor. It would be very confusing for an inexperienced investor as their baseline is not cash. You find them calling high risk funds, low or medium risk.

What would you suggest? I've been using morningstar as some other users suggest on this site but now I am thinking differently...?

dunstonh

Lokolo wrote: »

What would you suggest? I've been using morningstar as some other users suggest on this site but now I am thinking differently...?

Morningstar is fine. Trustnet/financial express also. I use the latter but that is personal preference.