Do I have to put all my equity ISA allowance into one fund?

LondonSarita

Hello all

After ages of ummi-ing and aah-ing I have decided to take out an S&S ISA. I have done my research till it's coming out of my ears but there's so much I still don't understand.

Anyway I was looking at a list of tracker funds (passive investing is all my brain can handle at the moment) and HSBC's 250 Shares Index came up as a good one to put your money into.

My question is, would I have to put all my allowance in that fund, the same as you can only hold a cash ISA with one provider?

Also, if I set up a direct debit, would I be able to put in the odd lump sum when I can or does that vary with provider?

I can't seem to find an answer anywhere so my apologies if those are dim questions.

Thanks

S

blueberrypie

LondonSarita wrote: »

My question is, would I have to put all my allowance in that fund, the same as you can only hold a cash ISA with one provider?

No, you can invest in any number of funds. Some providers have a minimum investment per fund, but it won't be anything near your full S&S ISA allowance.

Also, if I set up a direct debit, would I be able to put in the odd lump sum when I can or does that vary with provider?

It varies with the provider - it should be clear on their website when you're signing up.

LondonSarita

Great, thanks for that

I thought you could only invest in multiple funds if you were going for managed funds through a fund supermarket

Still got a lot to learn!

S

dunstonh

I thought you could only invest in multiple funds if you were going for managed funds through a fund supermarket

Its the ISA manager that matters. Its one ISA manager per tax year. However, you can use any investments offered by that ISA manager.

If you intend to use HSBC and not buy through a fund supermarket (why?) then you can only buy HSBC funds but you can buy multiple HSBC funds. A fund supermarket is logical though.

LondonSarita

Don't fund supermarkets just offer managed funds though?

I had looked into them but was put off as I just wanted a simple tracker with as low fees as possible

Mikeyorks

No. You can get the HSBC fund via Hargreaves Lansdowne ............. if you wish.

Far more versatile than tying yourself to HSBC directly.

LondonSarita

That's great thank you.

S&S ISAs are like soap, I just think I've got a grip on them and they slip out of my hands again!

Mikeyorks

And to add - you can either put money into HL via Debit Card - or set up a regular saver facility. But worth knowing about the initial funding requirement :-

HL_website wrote:

Please note that the minimum lump sum investment for a new account is £1,000 if you are setting up regular savings into the ISA and £3,000 if you are not setting up regular savings into an ISA.

LondonSarita

Oh, good point, thank you

Do you think it's a good idea to set one of these up as we're potentially on the brink of a double dip recession or do you prefer the adage that it's not when you join the market, but how long you're in it?

I suppose thought that if we all had the answer to that we'd be millionaires?

dunstonh

Do you think it's a good idea to set one of these up as we're potentially on the brink of a double dip recession or do you prefer the adage that it's not when you join the market, but how long you're in it?

1 - no-one has a crystal ball
2 - for every report saying one thing you will find another saying the opposite
3 - accept the risk of the investment. If you cant then invest on a lower risk basis or not at all

What you want to invest in are higher risk investments (FTSE250 based on what you said earlier). Are you sure you have the risk profile for that?

LondonSarita

Am willing to take a bit of a punt with some of my savings and see what happens. Fed up with it sitting in savings accounts and getting hardly any interest. I figured if I put it through fund supermarlket as advised I could put some in an all-shares tracker too