My ISA problem

ReportInvestor

Major_R.Don wrote:

I can still remember her words 'if your not going to buy for another year you can invest and have alittle extra in a years time'

That's mis-selling in my book.

Your aims did not match the appropriate investment timescale.

Is this money still intended as a future house deposit? And on what time-scale?

dunstonh

Just to keep things simple for now, if i was to stay with SW i would have them move my money into maybe 10 other funds that they have, yes?

That is an option. However, there may be switching charges. These may be more expensive than the options. The other funds are also likely to end up below par to the major fund houses (you can never tell but historically they have performed below par).

If i research myself i still need to find an IFA to implement things wouldn't i?

You can use one of the discount IFAs mentioned on this website in Martins guide.

That's mis-selling in my book.

Your aims did not match the appropriate investment timescale.

It does very much sound like a something you can complain about. However, guessing their response, I would say that why are you complaining after 4-5 years when you wanted the money out after 1.

cheerfulcat

f i research myself i still need to find an IFA to implement things wouldn't i?

No; many brokers offer self-select ISAs.

ReportInvestor

dunstonh wrote:

It does very much sound like a something you can complain about. However, guessing their response, I would say that why are you complaining after 4-5 years when you wanted the money out after 1.

So it was mis-selling at the time, but not anymore :rotfl:.

The fact that the OP was "shell shocked" after year 1 and didn't know the workings of the financial services industry doesn't come into it?

dunstonh

ReportInvestor wrote:

So it was mis-selling at the time, but not anymore :rotfl:.

The fact that the OP was "shell shocked" after year 1 and didn't know the workings of the financial services industry doesn't come into it?

I didnt say that was right or wrong. I just said that I reckon thats what their response would be.

Why wasnt the money withdrawn after 1 year? Why wait 4-5 years? Could the complaint really be performance related and if so, we wont have to uphold it.

These are the sort of things that would go through the complaints handler's mind and would no doubt be raised.

MajorR

My feelings at the time were that i couldn't really complain about the stock market crashing when other people were having to jump out of sky scrapers. And iv'e been waiting every since for the money to grow.

How do you guys decide on choosing a fund, do you just look at the past years history? The $6million question (or £6,000 in the case) i know. Looking on here http://www.trustnet.com/ut/funds/ for example Number 8 - THREADNEEDLE LATIN AMERICA 1 looks good over the last 5 years. is that all i can do to decide?


My novice status tells me i need to see a IFA but if i can do things online with one of the discounted companies without to much hassle i will, but only if i can make a reasonable choice of what funds are good or bad.

cheerfulcat

MajorR wrote:

How do you guys decide on choosing a fund, do you just look at the past years history? My novice status tells me i need to see a IFA but if i can do things online with one of the discounted companies without to much hassle i will, but only if i can make a reasonable choice of what funds are good or bad.

I normally buy individual shares but I will go for a fund if I want exposure to an area ( geographical or sector ) where it would be difficult for a private investor to research or buy shares. So I might think that Japan,or commodities, or small US tech stocks (these are just examples!) , will do well for the next year or so; I would go to Trustnet or Morningstar and find funds which invested in the area of interest. I look for respected fund managers as many funds are closet trackers ( that is, they don't outperform the index ). I also prefer funds which have been around for a while.

If you are willing and able to do the research, you don't need an IFA.

Oops! You edited while I was posting :-) so I see you've been to Trustnet. No, don't go just by performance; try to find out how the fund has performed compared to the index; if it's not benchmarked to an easily understood index you can compare it to other funds in the same class - look

al_yrpal

FWIW Heres what I do:-

Very simple.

Read normal papers, keep observing the world, take a distanced view on it, trying to remain uninvolved and objective. Constantly update that. Do not particularly follow recomendations or fashion, or worry about every financial trend invisible to the general public. Thus make own decisions on the broad public view.

Constantly observe which fund sectors have the best growth momentum coupled with an excellent recent track record as a sector.

Look for best immediate past fund performance, and search for funds with an excellent track record over at least a three year period.

Check manager out, and look for a presence which agrees with that excellent track record.

Check out recent industry and geographical spread history, looking for ordered, stable situation with high growth.

Buy only those funds which can be continuously monitored on Trustnet.

Have a sell strategy. ie sell when equivalent annual growth drops below 20%.Sell dogs ruthlessly.

I will probably get slated by one and all for this, especially by the share nerds! But, in a global advancing market, it has returned excellent results over the last few years. This is my personal strategy, there are many others.

Investing is not only about what to buy, but when to buy, what and when to sell. When to sell is probably the most difficult - less so if you have some rules.

The important thing is to have an exit strategy worked out in case there is a spectacular downturn like the extended dot com plunge which wasn't at all clear at first.

Best of luck. Remember you can't be a lazy investor (but you already learnt that lesson!)

dunstonh

My novice status tells me i need to see a IFA but if i can do things online with one of the discounted companies without to much hassle i will, but only if i can make a reasonable choice of what funds are good or bad.

There is also the middle option of picking an IFA to just select the funds and get the IFA to do it on no initial commission basis. Many IFAs would agree to that (mainly those not attached to salesforces). This way you avoid the initial commissions but can use the IFA to get you started. Once you are ready to take control, then you can.

EdInvestor

Fidelity recently published a list of the most popular funds picked through its fund supermarket.IFAs will have done most of this choosing

The list

-Most funds from the Equity income sector, of which the star ( for more than 15 years!) is Invesco Perpetual Higher Income.

-Next is Special Situations (Fidelity's is the star)

-There is one corporate bond fund ( for older and more risk averse people)

-Plus the venerable JPFM oil and ommodities fund, which of course had a boom because of the oil price:)

[Missing from the list, but will no doubt appear next year are the new Commpercial Property unit trusts which will be available in ISAs from this year and which all IFAs, rightly, like. Not an asset class to be ignored. ]

The vast majority of funds are rubbish and should be ignored.In general, it's almost always better to choose funds from fund management companies not insurance companies like Scottish Widows.

If you want an ethical/environment type fund, the best one is run by F&C.When you look at it closely, it is really an Equity Income fund, which explains it's good performance.

All these good funds have high charges, so make sure you move your ISA and expand it through a discount broker like www.cavendishonline.co.uk which will rebate the charges back to you.