£300 a month in stocks/shares

accy

I would like to invest £300 a month in stocks and shares, but i dont know who to do it with. I would like the company to chose what they invest in with my money.
The plan is to invest long term 3yrs+. I was going to go with hallifax isa investor but was told they charge to much.
Any suggestions please

dunstonh

If you want advice then you need to use an IFA (not an FA/tied agent) if you use funds or a stockbroker if you use shares. Shares are not really ideal for monthly payments as the costs of buying would stack up.

The plan is to invest long term 3yrs+

That isnt long term. Thats short term. Long term is 10 years plus. £300pm into equities for just 3 years isnt a sensible option for an inexperienced individual. It just ramps up the risk much higher.

accy

Looks like i'l have to invest for 10yrs then. Forgot to mention i was thinking of a stocks and shares isa with hargreaves lansdown, or is this a bad investment?
again any suggestions will be appreciated

jem16

accy wrote: »

Forgot to mention i was thinking of a stocks and shares isa with hargreaves lansdown, or is this a bad investment?

You'll have to make your own decisions then as H-L is normally for those who want to DIY. They do have an advice arm but it's quite expensive.

accy

What is the best stocks/shares isa out there that is not diy?

jem16

accy wrote: »

What is the best stocks/shares isa out there that is not diy?

There is no such thing.

A S&S ISA is just a tax-free container for your investments which can be funds or shares. What matters is what goes inside the container and that will vary from person to person according to their risk profile.

H-L is a funds supermarket where you can get funds from all the different investment companies under the one roof. They offer discounts on both the initial charge and the annual management charge. However these discounts mean that it is an execution only service - i.e. you make the choices.

If you want advice - and it sounds like you do - you should see an IFA. You will have to pay for this service.

Otherwise it's down to you to invest the time and find out about investing so that you can DIY.

accy

jem16 wrote: »

There is no such thing.

A S&S ISA is just a tax-free container for your investments which can be funds or shares. What matters is what goes inside the container and that will vary from person to person according to their risk profile.

H-L is a funds supermarket where you can get funds from all the different investment companies under the one roof. They offer discounts on both the initial charge and the annual management charge. However these discounts mean that it is an execution only service - i.e. you make the choices.

If you want advice - and it sounds like you do - you should see an IFA. You will have to pay for this service.

Otherwise it's down to you to invest the time and find out about investing so that you can DIY.

thanks for the info jem

nrsql

Have a look at the h-l comments and features of the funds and look at other sources too.
You might find that you have some funds that you are confident in choosing.
Be careful about their (and everyone elses) rhetoric. Often this is due to funds that they are promoting at the time or due to historic rather than expected performance.
Beware of funds that have inceased in value - could be too late and they are about to dip, or could be that they have a very good manager and are going to continue.

As to the term. 10 yrs - the last 10 years probably wouldn't have been long enough to be benificial - given the low values now 3 yrs might well be long enough. It's all about timing and you won't know until you look back.
10 yrs usually is a reasonable term (someone will probably come along with figures for how often that shows more profit than cash) and given the current state it implies that markets would need to increase over the next few years to maintain the ratio - no guarantees though.

If you go it alone (be cautious and it's the best way to learn) then h-l is a cheap user friendly way to buy funds.
For 300 per month you are probably talking about up to 6 funds to start.
Do it through a s&s isa (do you already have a cash isa?).

You can also create a virtual portfolio to see how you would do - look at www.iii.co.uk.

It's always worth talking to people so why not go to see a few IFAs. You might find one you like and even if they don't add much value for this they may well do in the future and for other aspects of your finances.

Also if you look back on this formum you will see some threads where people have discussed the funds they are going to invest in.

jamesd

accy wrote: »

I would like to invest £300 a month in stocks and shares, but i dont know who to do it with. I would like the company to chose what they invest in with my money.

Take a look at the Jupiter Merlin Worldwide Portfolio. The managers choose where to invest for you in various parts of the world. It's only about 5% in the UK so you may want to add Jupiter Merlin Growth Portfolio or Jupiter Merlin Balanced portfolio to get more UK involvement.

Add Jupiter Corporate Bond Fund for a UK corporate bond holding and to reduce risk.

For more up and down movement but with possibly better long term growth potential you might add say JPM Natural Resources. For some promising regional areas you could consider Fidelity SE Asia and/or Scottish Widows Latin American. Or a global emerging markets fund as well as or instead of those two regional funds.

Pick a percentage to hold in each. Once a year move money around to get the percentage back to the target you set originally. This is intended ot take money from highly volatile and booming areas during market highs and put it into other areas that haven't gone up as much or will go down less in a down cycle.

sabretoothtigger

I would like the company to chose what they invest in with my money.

Sounds more like a pension then an investment because people who dont know which type of investment usually do savings, bonds or property. Everyone knows enough to judge their own area to some extent for property

Sounds like you really are giving away alot of trust, I dont have that amount of trust in any company. They all should be questioned and held to account, so really you need to find an IFA if you dont know yourself.
Thats your next step imo, ask colleagues for recommendations perhaps

gazhawkins

Stocks and Shares ISA are no longer the tax efficient vehicles they are portrayed to be.

One G. Brown Esquire removed the dividend tax credit from ISAs several years ago.

Yes, your savings are free of capital gains tax (CGT) but you need to make PROFITS of nearly ten grand a year before you are liable for it. This is unlikely on 300/month.

Charges can also be high with some Share ISA account providers - eating up your savings.


The Share Centre (www.share.com) offer share purchases of 250 pounds or less with commission rate of 2.50, plus HM Govt. stamp duty at 0.5%. Costs 2.94/quarter (inc. VAT) to run the account.


There are any number of blue chip companies offering reasonably safe dividends of 5% or more, eg Shell, Northumbrian Water, Seven Trent...

Of course, the value of shares and dividends can go down as well as up.

NB: I hold none of the shares mentioned, nor do I intend to buy.