BTL and a balanced portfolio

Gorgeous_George

I could spend £££s on a pension and die before receiving a penny back.

Why should pensions be so attractive? I know it keeps fund managers in business but there must be another reason.

GG

Thrugelmir

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

I could spend £££s on a pension and die before receiving a penny back.

Why should pensions be so attractive? I know it keeps fund managers in business but there must be another reason.

GG

Tax relief on contributions into scheme. Compounded tax free growth with no capital gains tax. 25% of fund can be taken as tax free lump sum.

Currently CGT is 18%. This is a tax which could be easily be increased at the (next) post election budget.

Not saying that a pension scheme is be all and end all. But should form part of owning own house outright, ISA's etc. Ie a balanced portfolio.

Investing in a BTL alone as a main investment is high risk.

sabretoothtigger

Simple trackers can be used in a pension afaik, should be quite low cost. Stakeholder is no more then 1% charges per year afaik


BTL plan should avoid the banks mistake.
Plan cashflow for the entire loan period, not just when you think you will be able to sell since it might be another ten years past your expectations

42.5% UK Shares
22.5% International Shares
20% Gilts
7.5% Hedge Funds
5% Cash
2.5% Commercial Property

commercial Im not sure but something regular like student housing seems the best property to me. One of the dragons den guys said he specialised in building old age housing and did very well


I dont know why hedge funds are needed but I would say less uk shares, less gilts and only index linked.
More in emerging or pacific (as opposed to western) markets and at least 5% in commodities or strongly related (large cap) shares or it could be combined with the cash % to hold it in gold coins if you really think so

chewmylegoff

mewbie wrote: »

I wonder what percentage BTL should form as part of a balanced portfolio of say cash, bonds, equities?

a BTL is a business, not an investment.

it's not really possible to say what percentage of an investment portfolio should be invested in any asset class, as the appropriate numbers will vary from person to person based on their risk appetite.