Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

PasturesNew

All these people giving helpful postings on S&S/ISAs.... I'm still 200% in the dark and so am now stepping 200 yards away from any ISA/savings discussions postings

There's an odd WHOOOSH noise when I try to read them.

tomterm8

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Pitch Fibre = Tar paper. Some wag in the States realised that underground cables wrapped in tar paper tended to last a long time and jumped to the conclusion that the centre of a toilet role soaked in enough creosote would last for ever - well I exaggerate a bit - but the British Authorities thought it was the answer to the maiden's prayer in the 1950/1960's before it was realised that .

Some manufacturers decided to add asbestos into the mix, apparently, because creosote covered toilet role is not dangerous enough.

This dang pipe... it must go on for miles. And we have no idea where to. But it goes in precisely the opposite direction to the nearest public sewer.

PasturesNew wrote: »

All these people giving helpful postings on S&S/ISAs.... I'm still 200% in the dark and so am now stepping 200 yards away from any ISA/savings discussions postings

There's an odd WHOOOSH noise when I try to read them.

If you are going for a share isa, go for one which tracks an index, and charges the least amount of money. and doesn't charge anything up front.

It sounds more complex than it really is... (a) you can't beat the market (b) go for the cheapest tracker which doesn't try to beat the market at great expense.

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

All these people giving helpful postings on S&S/ISAs.... I'm still 200% in the dark and so am now stepping 200 yards away from any ISA/savings discussions postings

There's an odd WHOOOSH noise when I try to read them.

1. Do you have money to invest?
2. Can you manage without immediate access?
3. Do you pay tax?

If the answer to all 3 questions is yes, then you probably need an ISA. After that, it's a question of your attitude to risk. Essentially, the question is "Are you prepared to invest in investments that can decrease sharply in value (but may go up), or would you rather see your savings gradually eroded by inflation?"

tomterm8

Oh, there's a basic rule of investment. If you have any credit card debt, you should pay it off first. Followed by any high interest debt. And you should invest in shares, whether via tracker or otherwise, only when you have three months worth of cash savings.

PasturesNew

Well, I'm one of those nasty STR types.... so I have a big house pot. And I've shoved the max into cash ISAs for the past 4-5 years .... but .... I've no idea when I'll be buying a house. Could be next month, might not be for 5 years. So I can't tie it up. I have to assume I will be spending every last brass farthing I have on my next house, so if there's any left over it'll already be in those ISAs.

As for risk, put me down as a 0 risk cowardly type.

And I have no debts.

I do pay tax, theoretically .... I do a tax return every year and every year so far I've had to pay tax, but I can't predict whether this year my income will be above the tax free limit or over it. I usually do pretty well, May looked good... but my income could dry up overnight, starting tomorrow.

STing

GDB2222 wrote: »

M&G do that for free. You just apply for the ISA and specify the Index Tracker Fund. M&G don't charge any fees apart from the unit charges, so it's a bit of a bargain if you get the whole lot for 0.3%.

Here's a link to the application form for the ISA and key features, so you can double-check. http://www.mandg.co.uk/Consumer/Images/App-ISA-Consumer-KFDs_tcm1481-36235.pdf

I don't know whether Fidelity are the same, but probably.

That's good to know. If investing in one fund, going direct through M&G direct seems ok. I've never used M&Gs platform, is it a basic homebrew or bought from another platform provider? I generally prefer to do business with better known providers (like Fidelity), I find their platforms both more flexible and easy to use.

The TER for the M&G fund is currently 0.46%, the AMC of 0.3% understates the total charge.

It is still a good choice and inexpensive compared to most.

STing

PasturesNew wrote: »

All these people giving helpful postings on S&S/ISAs.... I'm still 200% in the dark and so am now stepping 200 yards away from any ISA/savings discussions postings

There's an odd WHOOOSH noise when I try to read them.

When people invest and hold shares (i.e. part of a company), they pay tax on the investment (tax being difficult to avoid).

Placing the shares (or funds which invest in a portfolio of shares) in a stocks and shares isa (a tax efficient financial construct) helps minimalise the tax paid to the government.

It's another form of tax efficiency. Like you being able to offset some of your living expenses (heating e.t.c.) against income from your websites, if you work from home.

PasturesNew

STing wrote: »

It's just another form of tax efficiency. Like you being able to offset some of your living expenses (heating e.t.c.) against income from your websites, if you work from home.

Sounds good on paper, that tax efficiency thing, but it kind of works out better for people with bigger houses and bigger lifestyles as they can flex things more. Small lifestyle, small income, no chance of pulling a fast one

It's not worth jail for the sake of being able to claim an extra £10/month or so.

PasturesNew

So really ... shares aren't "for my sort of person" at all. At least I know that now then - and don't feel I'm missing out on something/some trick.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

Sounds good on paper, that tax efficiency thing, but it kind of works out better for people with bigger houses and bigger lifestyles as they can flex things more. Small lifestyle, small income, no chance of pulling a fast one

It's not worth jail for the sake of being able to claim an extra £10/month or so.

big house, big lifestyle/income = small lifestyle/income= same disposable income often!