Shares ... ISA & Pension..

wymondham

I pay both S&S ISA and a new Pension. I appreciate I need to keep paying the pension as it's a: long term and b: probably a good time to pickup cheaper shares, but I'm not so sure about still contributing to my Stocks & Shares ISA? - as this is shorter term does it still make sense in the current climate as i can't seem to decide??!!

dunstonh

I'm not so sure about still contributing to my Stocks & Shares ISA? - as this is shorter term

Depends on what you mean by shorter term.

wymondham

I intend to keep it going idefinately if it's the right thing to do, but just thought it might be different in some way to pension thinking!

trej

Correct me if im wrong here but wouldnt you be better off contributing to your s&s shares isa now more than ever considering how cheap many shares are at the moment?
As DunsonH said it depends really how short is short term?

dunstonh

pension is the ultimate long term regular contribution plan (unless you are aged 64 )

Bear markets like this can more or less be ignored for most people paying into pensions as on average you will get 6 or 7 events like this during the average life of a pension. Your value goes down but your contributions buy units cheaper and in the long run when it goes up again the cheaper units make the most money.

You can tweak/change the pension investments to suit your risk profile just as you can tweak the ISA investments. Virtually the same investment options exist for pensions as they do for ISAs. So, the fundamentals are the same when it comes to investing. The only real difference is the timescale. For many people ISAs are being used with no specific aim or objective. Some will use them also for retirement planning. Others for defined dates or specific aims. Length of time is really the main difference and that is the main thing which will impact on how you should invest.

wymondham

excellent, i'll consider it the same as my pension then.....