Investment ISA & Managed Fund Investment

Lokolo

Brooksy6791 wrote: »

Well I can definately be bothered, i'm just trying to find out the process really and who are reputable companies to go through etc. I understand that there will be some risk which I have no problem about. I'd prefer to invest a smaller amount ideally, something I could do myself then see how that goes. The main reason why I was comfortable(ish) through the bank was that I know they are a genuine company rather than some outfit who I don't really know of.

Ok well starting off with a small amount going to large amount is a start.

Have you heard of funds?

They are a collective investment where you give your money to a fund manager (who is an expert in the field.... so they say), who then invest money in different areas. These range from Corporate Bonds to Commodities; UK equities to Emerging Markets.

There is a list (Dunston, be a darling ) where you can see which are typically more risky than others.

If you want to do it, have a look at this list (I would do it myself, about to go out and get extremely drunk eek) and look at the lower risk areas.

You can look for different funds in these areas by going to:

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/
http://www.trustnet.com

These 2 sites offer information on the majority of funds available (if not all).

You will get confusd on these sites but if you have a browse and then ask any questions someone will reply (if not I will tomorrow.... afternoon...? :rotfl:)

Lokolo

whiteflag wrote: »

Hi Jem

Could you be a bit more specific for the OP and explain and give your reasons for not going with Santander (abbey).

Perhaps you could suggest your alternative and the cost (if any ) involved


Thanks

There are limited options compared to the rest of the fund market. The OP has said they would be willing to put the effort in and try themselves, so if this is case, why not eh.

The costs are the same as most on HL (0% initial cost and Abbey have a 1.1% AMC, which is about the same as most on HL), so I wouldn't be looking at costs, mainly performance and range of investments available. Why pick a team from League 2 if you could have a team from anywhere in the FL eh?

jem16

whiteflag wrote: »

Hi Jem

Could you be a bit more specific for the OP and explain and give your reasons for not going with Santander (abbey).

Their investment options are limited and don't exactly set the heather on fire.

As to Abbey's customer service, suffice to say their nickname of "shabby Abbey" is well suited.

Perhaps you could suggest your alternative and the cost (if any ) involved

If the OP intends to go DIY then Hargreaves Lansdown would offer a much better selection. As Lokolo says cost is not really the only reason to make a decision on - performance is what matters most.

If the OP needs help seeing an IFA who would be better than a tied adviser as they would be able to offer from the whole market.

Rollinghome

Hello Brooksy, welcome to the board – and the world of investment and investment salesmen.

I’d agree with the others that generally the bank advisers, especially Abbey, and their funds are to be avoided. Unfortunately, most of those who sell investments work on commission like any other salesmen and that will continue until the FSA forces through the changes it wants by 2013. That includes both bank salesmen and IFAs apart from the very few who work on an hourly fee basis and which is generally only available for fairly large sums. See http://www.moneyweek.com/personal-finance/need-unbiased-advice-youll-be-lucky.aspx

While they’re all out to flog you their wares, the bank salesmen have the added disadvantage of only being able to sell the limited number of products their company offers. An IFA will also probably try to sell the products that pay them the most commission but at least they have a wider choice to offer.

The Santander MultiManager International Equity Portfolio is a fairly new product so doesn’t have any real track record. So far it’s about average for that sort of fund. See http://www.trustnet.com/Factsheets/Factsheet.aspx?fundCode=E3FP8&univ=U

The best rule is never to invest in anything you don’t understand. With equities it largely depends on the luck of your timing. The FTSE all-share is currently about 10% down on where it was 10 years ago so anyone who invested then would have been better off just keeping his money in a bank but of course most advisers won’t tell you that for obvious reasons.

Similarly, someone who invested in the FTSE 2 years ago would still be 20% down and would have lost almost half of their money if they’d lost their nerve and sold at the bottom in March this year. Of course the investment salesmen were still pushing their products even when the banks got into trouble and the risk was obvious to more experienced investors. (In fact when I went into an Abbey branch to arrange a CHAPS transfer they tried it on me.) On the other hand, someone lucky enough to have invested in March this year would have seen the FTSE zoom up around 40% in the last few months.

Because we’ve had such a big rise recently most independent forecasters expect a fallback at some point. So if you definitely want to but don’t like the risk of losing money you might be better just gradually drip-feeding small amounts in until you know what you’re doing.

Best bet would be to get a starter book on investments such as one of those by Alvin Hall from the library and learn what it’s all about. There’s a lot more available than just the commission paying unit trust investments that most advisers sell: including tracker funds, ETFs, and investment trusts.

whiteflag_3

jem16 wrote: »

Their investment options are limited and don't exactly set the heather on fire.

Where did you get the performance stats for the funds in question.

As to Abbey's customer service, suffice to say their nickname of "shabby Abbey" is well suited

.

Thats a new one on me. You must have had a bad experience with Santander?

If the OP intends to go DIY then Hargreaves Lansdown would offer a much better selection. As ****** says cost is not really the only reason to make a decision on - performance is what matters most

Yep - so post the performance figures for the OPs funds and we can make an informed decision

If the OP needs help seeing an IFA who would be better than a tied adviser as they would be able to offer from the whole market

Jem wouldnt that just cost more for the OP with no guarantee of better returns?

lisyloo

Hi Brooksy,

In your posistion I would go for the cancellation.
There is nothing wrong with the ideas but as others have said the provider is poor and you haven't had time to research.

Also I would recommend monthly paying to S&S and not a lump sum.
Putting in a bug lump sum is risky because you might get a good price but you might get a poor price. I've been on the wrong end of the deal before when we got an inheritance.

If you put in montly then you will of course get good months to buy and bad months to buy, but it tends to balance out more rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.

We have a Novia ISA and our portfolio was put together by an advisor.
It's not that we "can't be bothered" but it's not something either of us are particularly interested in so we pay an extra 0.5% and each month we get a report from our advisor recommending how to switch our portfolio.
In general we go with their recommendations.
So for a little extra cost we get someone managing our portfoilio.

Don't be afraid of higher charges.
Chepaest is not always best.
Obviously everyone wants good value but that isn't the same as cheapest.

BTW - Novia is jsut the ISA wrapper - we have access to loads of diffeerent funds.

Lokolo

whiteflag wrote: »

Where did you get the performance stats for the funds in question.

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/UK/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?tab=2&id=F0GBR04C2I

The performance is below average for this one. I suspect it will be for the majority of the others too. If you can be bothered, look them up yourself and prove us wrong.

jem16

whiteflag wrote: »

Where did you get the performance stats for the funds in question.

As already posted the International Equity Portfolio is a fairly new fund so doesn't have much of a track trecord (as I'm sure you already know) - link for Trustnet already posted.

I made a general observation about Abbey's investment funds which, as with most banks, can usually be bettered imho. Most of the posts on here also agree with that.



Super Bond - umpteen threads on it already.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.html?searchid=71740525

Thats a new one on me. You must have had a bad experience with Santander?

Yep - although £100 compensation went a long way to make up for it.

Yep - so post the performance figures for the OPs funds and we can make an informed decision

As an IFA with all the performance figures to hand with software which is much more advanced than anything I can come up with, you surely don't need me to post them so you can give your opinion? ( apart from the obvious fact that there are none available anyway )

Jem wouldnt that just cost more for the OP with no guarantee of better returns?

Nothing is guaranteed in investments.

whiteflag_3

jem16 wrote: »

As already posted the International Equity Portfolio is a fairly new fund so doesn't have much of a track trecord (as I'm sure you already know) - link for Trustnet already posted.

I made a general observation about Abbey's investment funds which, as with most banks, can usually be bettered imho. Most of the posts on here also agree with that.

Thanks for clarifying that Jem- you are correct, I knew it was a new fund so couldnt understand why you were advising the OP to cancel based on fund performance, you last post clears that up for the OP

As an IFA with all the performance figures to hand with software which is much more advanced than anything I can come up with, you surely don't need me to post them so you can give your opinion? ( apart from the obvious fact that there are none available anyway )

Correct again- I personally found this

http://www.santanderam.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1205453896916&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600


quite interesting and would like to see what the IFA comes up by way of an alternative , once the cancellation proceeds arrive

jem16

whiteflag wrote: »

Correct again- I personally found this

http://www.santanderam.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1205453896916&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600

I found that too. However the percentages didn't seem to match up with Abbey's info so I wasn't sure if it was the same fund or not.

http://www.abbey.com/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&c=Page&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1210610577378&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_TemplateB2

I also found this but again percentages don't match.

http://www.santanderam.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1205453896930&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600

Last one I found was this which seems to be the fund but again I'm not sure - do you have more access to ISIN numbers that would verify the fund than I have?

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=F000003YMZ&lang=en-GB

quite interesting and would like to see what the IFA comes up by way of an alternative , once the cancellation proceeds arrive

It would be interesting. However I don't know if the OP has gone down that route.