Investment Trust ISA?

fish10

Thanks again, Ed. You're a star!

Sillychuckie, maybe the limits won't be a factor at present, but it's still useful info for me and anyone else reading this thread - thanks.

cheerfulcat

fish10 wrote:

With regards bonds, would these be gilts and/or corporate investment grade bonds? I got the impression that MSE thought these were inflexible and incurred high charges, or have I, once more, got it wrong?!
Thanks
fish10

I would be astonished if MSE knew anything about gilts and corporate bonds! As Ed says, they seem overpriced right now and are not the safe havens they once were though IMO there is still a possible place for them in an income seeker's portfolio.

I thought CC was recommending the tracker on a drip feed basis?

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I would suggest making regular contributions from income,that is, as the money arises, into a tracker; but I think that a large lump sum is best invested more quickly, partly because the length of time that money is invested is just as important as the annual rate of return.

Hi, Sillychuckie,

As I want to use up my remaining 4k mini-ISA allowance, I looked into the brokers too because I wanted to know whether they would allow 8 funds @ £500, or 4 @ £1000 etc. Turns out many of them have a 1k minimum for each fund (e.g. Hargreaves Landsdown). I see you want to invest more anyway, so probably not going to be a factor.

Have you considered ETFs? They are funds but are traded as shares, so there's no minimum spend. They are trackers, not managed funds ( so relatively cheap ), and there is a pretty good variety. They are free of stamp duty and, in a Selftrade ISA, purchase commission .

Sillychuckie

I looked into ETF's months ago but thought trackers were a little too risky for me. Also, I came across a nice calculator that advised me what funds were suitable (and I haven't found a decent ETF equivalent), so I have just kept funds in the back of my mind as opposed to anything else. Maybe I should go back and look at ETF's again.
For now, I keep putting off investing and shoving money (as I get it) into alternative products (e.g., recently, the Abbey 5.5% fixed bond abd more regular savers), but I think I'll definitely do it within the next few months for a longer term investment (10 years ish) once my next pay cheque comes in.
Thanks for the reminder, but as someone that doesn't REALLY understand the intricacies, any ETF calculator/advisor things out there would be useful links if you could provide them.
Ta.

cheerfulcat

There is a very in-depth explanation of ETFs here. It's an American site so some of the tax stuff may not apply but it gives you a good idea of how they work.

I looked into ETF's months ago but thought trackers were a little too risky for me

It is IMO not a good idea to avoid risk since, to paraphrase Willie Sutton, that's where the money is. Better to manage risk within a portfolio. Thinking of, and treating, your investments as a portfolio, rather than a collection of funds/shares picked up randomly along the way, will go a great way towards reducing risk.

HTH

Cheerfulcat

EdInvestor

It is IMO not a good idea to avoid risk since, to paraphrase Willie Sutton, that's where the money is.

True, but IMHO trackers/ ETFs are quite a risky way to invest in shares.There are less risky ways of taking a risk, for instance High Yield Portfolios (if you want to hold shares directly) and Equity Income funds ( if you prefer a pooled investment).

cheerfulcat

True, but IMHO trackers/ ETFs are quite a risky way to invest in shares.

But that's my point. Risk is good; it's what brings returns. In any case trackers are no more risky than the closet trackers masquerading as managed funds.

fish10

Hi,
I've just joined V_2's thread "What to do with 60K?" as it seemed more appropriate than my initial query about an investment ISA!
fish10

dunstonh

With the asset allocations mentioned on this thread, there is no mention of European, US, Japan, Far East, Global Specialist, Emerging markets.... Failure to include those gives you a half baked investment.

EdInvestor

With the asset allocations mentioned on this thread, there is no mention of European, US, Japan, Far East, Global Specialist, Emerging markets.... Failure to include those gives you a half baked investment.

No - fish10 has chosen other areas for his higher risk exposure.

There is no need for investors to have money in every single category of fund - this would mean that there are simply too many investments to be monitored. Useful for the advisor who wants a bit of back protection, as are 'fund of funds', but not appropriate for someone who is doing it themselves unless they have a great deal of time to devote to investment matters.

EdInvestor

fish10 wrote:

Hi,
I've just joined V_2's thread "What to do with 60K?" fish10

Click here for V-2's thread


Or try an update for a simpler explanation on How to invest 300k for income