Where is everyone putting their £5,100 on April 1st?

cashbackproblems

Wobblydeb wrote: »

I've got a regular saver on the go at 5% AER.

Not opened it yet, but I'm considering the Newcastle Building Society Balance Builder ISA for 2010/11. It allows transfers in, and pays 3.4% as long as you make 9 monthly payments. I don't have the £5,100 upfront but got quite a bit from previous year's ISAs so maximising the amount on balanced transfer is key for me.

.... and then adding £425 / month suits my plans.

cheers for this tip, suits me perfectly as i dont have the full amount few a few months and it allows online access.

Happychappy

MsDee wrote: »

I might go with this one actually. Is it 4.4 EACH year or 4.4 in total, because I calculate that if I put my £5,100 in for three years, I'll get over £600 in interest - is that roughly correct?

Yes it is per annum, added on 31st March

Mickygg

MsDee wrote: »

I might go with this one actually. Is it 4.4 EACH year or 4.4 in total, because I calculate that if I put my £5,100 in for three years, I'll get over £600 in interest - is that roughly correct?

Nationwide closed this 2 weeks ago. Replaced it with a 4 year fix at 4.25%.

MsDee

Hi again,

Thanks for all the replies.

After ALL that, I've decided to do a U Turn just go with A&L ISA 3.2%- the bonds work out with less interest than the ISA's. (BTW, the 4 year bonds aren't available anymore) http://www.nationwide.co.uk/savings/bonds/

I'd rather just stick it in a different ISA each year and make more interest.

relaxtwotribes

Primrose wrote: »

I think this new tax year's full allowance will be going into equities, probably funds with most of their investments overseas in view of the uncertain political/economic situation here in the UK.

In that case, why don't you look at a FTSE 100 index tracker. The majority of the earnings of these 100 companies comes from abroad.

For me, it's a S&S ISA for Mrs relaxtwotribes and myself. Fortunately, we are both HRT payers so dividend income in an ISA makes sense. However, I don't purely chase high dividend investments. I have a good percentage in emerging markets which pays very little income presently. The aim is to make a larger capital gain over the next 5 years and then to realise that gain and re-invest into good dividend-paying shares then (i.e. I shall have more capital with which to buy a larger income stream)

DrDolittle_2

MsDee wrote: »

Hi again,

Thanks for all the replies.

After ALL that, I've decided to do a U Turn just go with A&L ISA 3.2%- the bonds work out with less interest than the ISA's. (BTW, the 4 year bonds aren't available anymore) http://www.nationwide.co.uk/savings/bonds/

I'd rather just stick it in a different ISA each year and make more interest.

You are looking at the bond page rather than the ISA page.
The 4 year ISA mentioned by the poster further above for 4.25% IS still available for others interested.

QuietDragon

cashbackproblems wrote: »

How do you purchase these funds, what is their charge and what are the risks of the fund going down?

At the moment i regularly invest in ftse 100 stocks as the dividends alone pays double what isa's offer and your shares are increasing (if you choose the right companies).

Three questions, and here's my two good answers and one appalling answer:

How do I purchase these funds?

I have an account with FundChoice (www.fundchoice.co.uk), although other fund supernarkets exist (such as Hargreaves Lansdown and iii). Within an account with such a provider, you can set up a stocks and shares ISA, and (depending on the provisions of the provider) invest monies in ISA-allowed funds - such as the ones I listed - and/or shares.

Charges?

I can't speak for the other fund supermarkets, but the FundChoice ISA has the following charges:

Initial fund charges vary, but are usually advertised at between 3% and 5%, but then "discounted" by 2½% to 3%, so the initial charge usually works out at 1% to 2%.

Effectively, if you invested £1000 in a fund, around £970 to £980 would actually appear in your ISA on the purchase date, the other £20 to £30 being taken as the initial charge.

Net annual expense ratios on funds vary, but for example:

Aberdeen Emerging Markets A = 1.62%
AEGON High Yield Bond A = 1.10%
First State Global Resources A = 1.57%

Switches between funds 0.25%

What are the risks of the fund going down?

If by "going down" you mean the whole fund crashing and burning and you (the investor) loosing all of your investment, frankly I have no idea whatsoever.

If by "going down" you mean the value of the fund fluctuating and its value temporarily dropping below what you originally paid for it, well that's what funds sometimes do as the value of the underlying shares and bonds fluctuate, interest rates change, political and economic events occur, and market sentiment drags county, regional or industrial indices hither and thither.

The purpose of funds is that, within a suitably diversified portfolio, you can be exposed to the growth potential of specific regions, indices or industries which are not perfectly correlated, so movements in one region, index or industry need not affect (much) another region, index or industry.

I don't invest directly in shares/stocks, and as you can see from my list, my exposure to the UK FTSE is distinctly lower than might be expected from a bloke who lives in Leeds.

Hope this answers your questions.

Newly_retired

I haven't added to my S & S ISa set up a few years ago. It still has not recovered from major losses on two occasions, and as I am not a Higher Rate tax payer any more there would seem to be few advantages.

relaxtwotribes

cashbackproblems wrote: »

At the moment i regularly invest in ftse 100 stocks as the dividends alone pays double what isa's offer and your shares are increasing (if you choose the right companies).

The Hargreaves Lansdown S&S ISA allows you to invest in such shares (as well as funds, etc) and the charges are 0.5% + VAT subject to a limit of £200 (£235 with the VAT). Therefore, once your ISAs rise above £47,000 the commission rate as a percentage begins to fall.

For me, this is more attractive than losing ca.1.5% in fund management charges.

Bernie

cagneyfan wrote: »

Hi, sorry to bother everyone again, but has anyone looked into this one and do they think it's a good deal.

I know a lot of folk only wnat to fix for a year, but as another person said previously - there's always delays and hassle moving the isas, so I thought maybe a two year deal might be a good idea. Comments/advice welcome

Saga Fixed Rate ISA - 3.60% AER
Minimum deposit: £30,000+ (to qualify for the higher rate).
Monthly interest option available? Yes. See here for monthly interest rates.
Notes: Fixed for two years from account opening. Balances totalling £1 - £29,999 receive a rate of 3.50%.

I don't know what to do. I have currently got a Lloyds isa from last tax year and don't know where to go now. Any advice?

...moving from Lloyds FRISA to Saga, joining my one that moved last year at 3.9%. I am a higher rate tax payer and am keen to keep as much stuff out of the taxman's reach as possible.

We think that the future government will have to jack up the tax take all over the place therefore we will continue to stuff as much cash as possible in our His&Her ISA. Gordon's lot will have their hands in your wallet before the dust settles if they get in - and go twice a deep to fund their wasteful ways.

(Optional Political Whinge: Don't you love the way Darling says that there's £11b to save but he's happy to let that waste of tax payer's money carry on until next year - they've been wasting that for the last umpteen years so not going to bother getting stuck now in case they don't need to)!

:beer: