investment account advice

gotmaintvtr

im looking at putting some money into an investment portfolio (this is alongside savings) the one im looking at doing is with the abbey (alot of people dont like them but i banked with them for years with no probs)

the portfolio i have chosen is the international equity portfolio i will be paying 1500pounds initial payment then 400pounds a month into it.

my question is what experience do people have with these portfolio's?

also

what do people think for the future of the schemes as in is there money to be made?

one of the reasons i chose a portfolio with the bank is because the money wont be invested in just one place ect.

heres a link to the FT.com table for the investment

http://funds.ft.com/ListedFundFactsheet.aspx?mid=AQEQR

the fund hasnt been around for a year yet

thanks in advance

Lokolo

What are the charges?

And you're going to a bank so your money isn't all in one place? Eh? You're putting all your money into one fund......

gotmaintvtr

sory that was worded wrong.

the money once invested wont just be invested in one place. i will invest mine in one place but after me it will be split up.

sorry im new to this hence looking for advice

the charge is an annual management charge at 1.9% is this alot?

Lokolo

gotmaintvtr wrote: »

sory that was worded wrong.

the money once invested wont just be invested in one place.i will invest mine in one placebut after me it will be split up.

sorry im new to this hence looking for advice

the charge is an annual management charge at 1.9% is this alot?

Typical fund charges through Hargreaves Lansdown (which is a company where investors buy funds through them, self selected), are around 1-1.25% so you are overpaying for the odds on that.

From the look of the funds Abbey offer, you are going for a typically higher risk on the scale.

With your investments, how much would you be prepared to lose? How long are you planning on having this money invested?

gotmaintvtr

as i save the same amount again each month plus more if i do overtime i wouldnt like to lose all of it but at the moment i could afford to risk that. i weighed it all up and chose to only invest that amount rather than any more so not to risk all my savings.

i beleive i can leave this money in there for at very least 2 years but aim for 3 or more years

thanks for the replies

Lokolo

Ok 2-3 years is very short for investing. The majority of people should really stick to savings. Typically, investments are made for those going 5-10+ years. The reason of this is because of the bumps along the way.

If you look at the performance graph you can see there is a general trend upwards, but along the way it hasn't just gone straight up, there have been a lot of dips, to get rid of these dips, its usually best to keep it in for a long time.

If you are happy for these dips to occur a lot in your first 2 years, thats fine, but it may mean you come out with a loss, especially with the fund in hand.

Hopefully another poster will come along and give some more information....

gotmaintvtr

ok thanks for that advice

Rollinghome

From what I can see it's one of their fund of funds that's only been going since December so there's no real track record. Added to that, Santander are a truely awful bank.

If you *really* wanted a managed fund and it had a track record you could compare it with the best managed fund performers such as Jupiter Merlin etc. here: www.trustnet.com/Investments

2-3 years is a short time-frame but there are likely to be better ways to invest. You might want to compare it for example with global growth Investment Trusts, many of which offer savings schemes. Some global ITs have management charges below 0.5%.

dunstonh

alot of people dont like them but i banked with them for years with no probs

Banking has nothing to do with investing. Their investments products are pretty poor.

one of the reasons i chose a portfolio with the bank is because the money wont be invested in just one place ect.

It will also be the most expensive way to buy and you will have to use thier in house products and their sales staff will have restrictions on portfolio advice they give making their recommendations fairly basic.

the fund hasnt been around for a year yet

And for most of that year it has underperformed the sector average. Although thats mainly as its a higher risk fund than most of the others in its sector.

the charge is an annual management charge at 1.9% is this alot?

Under advice, the average AMC is 1.5%.

There are plenty of whole of market active managed funds that are cheaper, lower risk and have a better spread and more detailed published information available.

i beleive i can leave this money in there for at very least 2 years but aim for 3 or more years

That is on the short side as mentioned above. If you accept the risks then you can still do it but given that you are looking at Abbey and dont really understand investing, then for 2-3 years you really shouldnt be doing this. Remember that the bulk of your money will actually have less than 2 years or 1 year.

gotmaintvtr

cheers for this advice i think ill give it a miss then and save the money for now.

just got to break the news to the man in the bank and cancel any paperwork that we had started.

gotmaintvtr

just souble checked the charges and its 1.4% annual managment charge