S&s isa

kaz285

I have a S&S isa with the Halifax, its a year old, I have £3000 in and have lost £400 which is understandable. Ive been for a review and told him I wanted to save another £200 per month somewhere, he said without doubt I should put it in my S&S isa, he said things are picking up slowly and now is the best time to invest, he said I could save it in my cash isa but S&S are best, with interest rates being so low at the moment.

Have I done the right thing, I dont need the money for anything its long term.

Im confused my heart is saying cancel it and just save it in an account but my head is saying take a risk!!

dunstonh

Have I done the right thing, I dont need the money for anything its long term.

Nothing wrong with the concept. However, wrong provider to use.

Halifax investments are dire. Banks are rarely any good at the best of times on investments but Halifax are consistently bad.

Im confused my heart is saying cancel it and just save it in an account but my head is saying take a risk!!

The age old conflict. That is why you do both (save and invest) and only take a risk that you can afford to take. Risk is not on/off. It is a sliding scale. So, you can take a little investment risk or a lot.

Investments zig zag. Always have. Always will. You have gone through a major stockmarket and economic event and have shrugged the loss off as understandable. That limited bit of info suggests you have the risk profile. Plus, remember that investments are cheaper than last year. They could fall again but long term, the prospects for investors look better going forward then they did last year.

kaz285

Thanks, who would you reckonend I open a S&S isa with?

jamesd

Hargreaves Lansdown is popular among posters here for those who want to use unit trusts and OEICs, which is what you should be looking at using if you're new to this.

You can transfer the existing Halifax S&S ISA to HL. You'll probably have a better range of investment choices within the ISA at HL. You could also transfer any existing cash ISAs to S&S if you want to.

Now is a good time for regular investing in stocks and shares ISAs. Possibly not the best possible time, that may have been at the start of March, or last November for some markets, but still a pretty good one. Prices will go up and down but over three or more years they should be comfortably in positive territory.

dunstonh

If you DIY then HL mentioned by James is probably your best bet. If you want advice then you should use an IFA. At the moment you have used a tied sales rep and you should never seek advice that way.