Loosing money - no diversity - Help required

money4ah

I currently have a Standing Order of £50 a month going into a CIS UK Growth Trust ISA which looking at a recent statement has lost me about £800 in the last 12 months I think.

I have been looking at cancelling the S\O and possibly going with H+L instead and giving them my future payments, but what should I do with the money already invested in the CIS UK Growth Trust?

Would I be best off:
* taking the loss on the CIS plan and moving the money over to someone like H+L and into better performing Trusts with more diversity, but may incur and exit fee

* stop the S\O leave the rest where it is as it was always for a longer plan of 10years plus and it will hopefully do me well.

Any help greatly appreaciated.

Thanks

dunstonh

I have been looking at cancelling the S\O and possibly going with H+L instead and giving them my future payments, but what should I do with the money already invested in the CIS UK Growth Trust?

Pick an investment from the same sector using HL and your loss would have been similar. Changing the ISA manger isnt going to change the loss position. You may get a little less or a little more but when the markets move you dont find many that can buck that trend.

Would I be best off:
* taking the loss on the CIS plan and moving the money over to someone like H+L and into better performing Trusts with more diversity, but may incur and exit fee

Which investments funds are going to be better going forward than what you have?

* stop the S\O leave the rest where it is as it was always for a longer plan of 10years plus and it will hopefully do me well.

What is your objective for investing?

The comments above are partly devils advocate and also to make you think about what you are doing and why things have happened. Personally, I wouldnt have the CIS fund. However, are you able to pick the right funds going forward that will be suitable? Do you understand the reasons for the loss? etc

martinman3

You mention that the £800 loss is based on a recent statement, how recent ? How much do you have invested ?
This fund like others has grown by almost 30% in the last 6 months, you should check the current value of your investment.

money4ah

Thanks for the reply.

I do appreciate that any other fund within the same sector woud have also struggled just as much in the current climate.

But my concern currently is do I still want to be putting money into a fund which is currently not doing so well and continue down the route of all eggs in one basket or because it is not performing so well at present am I getting more for my £50 a month at present?

The other thing is now I have some money in this sector rather than keep ploughing more in would I be advised to build up a portfolio of other funds to hopefully cover those which are not performing as well? Maybe also look into Gilts \ Bonds and other Markets \ Sectors?

My plan has always been that of longterm and to hopefully get a better return on my investment over standard Savings account interest rates on this portion of my Savings.

I already have my necessary 6 months in Savings immediately accessible just in case, so would like better returns on the investments portion of my money.

I am also looking to put my currently not allocated yearly allowance into a Cash ISA when I see what happends after 6th October with the changes being made - Hopefully some better deals may arrise.

dunstonh

I do appreciate that any other fund within the same sector woud have also struggled just as much in the current climate.

The recent "current climate" has seen significant growth. Things change so quickly!!

my concern currently is do I still want to be putting money into a fund which is currently not doing so well

Past performance is no indication of future returns. Using the phrase "currently not doing so well" would indicate very short term and on that basis, this fund is currently top quartile over 3 months ranked 11 out of 74. 6 months it drops to second quartile and further back 4th quartile with it almost bottom of sector.

So, actually, it has shown a more recent improvement. Possibly down to the fact that prior to May 2007 it had virtually no oil and gas stocks. it increased them in the years following and currently has 12.85%. It also went lighter in financials prior to the troubles but increased them in April. It also had a new fund manager join in June. That may have helped things. Although the old one stayed on as well.

i still wouldnt have the fund but "current performance" is pretty good.