Guidance and advice to investing in a Stocks and Shares ISA please

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dunstonh wrote: »

The problem is that trying to time the market is so often futile. You cant tell whether you are buying at the top or bottom of a market until sufficient years have passed and you look back.

There are clues to the state of things. In 2007 it was endless TV ads offering big loans to bad credit risks. Now it's people with 2.5% mortgages overpaying. In what scenario are these things not crazy? Too much money sloshing around looking for value that's not there.

To say that we can't tell whether a market is overpriced or underpriced would be to say that we don't know the value of anything at all.

Of course a bubble can carry on growing before it bursts, so as you say, timing it is probably too tricky. But that's just greedy. At any rate, it's not an argument for buying into a discernible bubble without even the intention of trying to time an exit.

dunstonh wrote: »

On the advice front there is a greater movement away from fund picking for "lazy investors" but using active portfolio management funds instead, such as portfolio funds, which can adjust sector allocations and rebalance and retain a risk profile within the fund.

Much more like it. Wherever my money is, somebody ought to think it's a sane place to be today. I don't want to be there just because I was put on a random rollercoaster ages ago and told to hang on.