How Safe are my investments

WHITEVANMAN

Jonbvn wrote: »

Could you let me have next Satuday's lottery numbers please?

Sorry, but nobody is able to predict/time the market as you state. Even trying to do it will lose you far more money than you gain. I would suggest you google some stats about how being out of the market during only a few of the best days will massively reduce your overall return.

Depends how you play the game really.
Forget the stats, and set your own targets.
While you may not make maximum gains if you miss a few days in the market at the wrong time, that is only a paper potential loss.

Play the game with a target aim, and a cover for your allowable loss.
If you reach your aim, you can let it ride until such time as a decline down at which point you can sell out at a point you are comfortable with, anything above your target is extra gain.
At this point you can either look for different investment which offer better upward moving opportunities perhaps in different markets or if you feel there is an opportunity to by back your original investment as it reaches a supported lower level then start the process again.

Its all in the Psyche really, if you dont set realistic plans for your investments you can get too attached to the idea of missing out on maximum potential gains and you can often get caught holding out for too long (which may end up with you looking at it and feeling like you have made massive losses from the peak value) when you could ideally be making your money work better for you by managing it and your expectations correctly.

Of course you should be sufficiently diversified and do your own research and if you havent the capability to do it yourself get a proper IFA.

pqrdef

You're talking about a trailing stop-loss. If you keep track of the peak price of a fund, and sell if the price falls say 10-20% below the peak, you lock in a good chunk of your profit while not losing out if the price keeps going up.

There's the danger that the price fall is only temporary and the price goes straight back up again after you've sold. But the cost is only opportunity, not actual money. Your money might do well enough, or even better, somewhere else.

When prices start falling, it's tricky to know when to sell, but fortune doesn't usually favour the brave. Usually the smart money gets out early and the fools follow the price all the way down, insisting that a loss isn't real if you don't sell.


Could be the investment you've been sold was a bit too risky for your circumstances. "Low risk" in the markets is a relative term. Even gilts are overpriced and in line for a fall.

You should probably be thinking about switching another £10K into ISAs before April, and the rest after April 6. You might want to put half of that into a Cash ISA.

If switching funds into an ISA, make sure you don't get stung with charges.

pqrdef

Jonbvn wrote: »

I would suggest you google some stats about how being out of the market during only a few of the best days will massively reduce your overall return.

Of course, those who make money from shares make the bulk of their profits from other people's losses. Not too surprising if there's a share-ramping industry out there encouraging people to lose money.

Imnoexpert_2

I think DunstonH's graph is brilliant.

If you think about what it is saying and the implications then it answers most of the questions about investment that crop up on this site.

I'm going to print it out and put it on the wall!

jimjames

Imnoexpert wrote: »

I think DunstonH's graph is brilliant.

If you think about what it is saying and the implications then it answers most of the questions about investment that crop up on this site.

I'm going to print it out and put it on the wall!

Agreed, I think it really sums it up well.

You've only got to see the headlines in the papers from March 2009 to think that the world was ending and you should sell everything. In reality the opposite would have been better.

k.grogan

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Sorry, but I don't fully understand your comments (marked in red).

Looking at your figures, your funds seem to have grown.

Nobody can really tell what will happen in the short term (say for the rest of 2011). Very few people are predicting a 'big crash'. Some are predicting quite a rocky ride this year. Ups and downs. Others are suggesting that with inflation rising, but bank rate staying low, equities (funds) are more likely than cash to keep pace with inflation.

We know very little about you or your overall financial position, and so please understand that no-one is in a position to recommend what you do. A lot depends upon what you are investing for.

If you are investing quite long-term, then to attempt 'going in' and 'coming out' of funds is risky in itself and requires a lot of knowledge and/or confidence. Many of us leave it there and 'ride' the ups and downs.

If you are investing for something coming up shortly (within 12 months) and therefore need the money at a certain time in the near future, then being invested in funds was probably a bad idea.

Sorry for long wait.

Regarding the coments marked in red basically at some point in the recession both my ISA Investor and my invesment both went down quite a bit and my financial advisor from Halifax called me at work "Said we need to have a meeting ASAP to dicuss your inveatments" during the meeting he said if it goes down even more you will have to put more money into both of them to get them moving in the right direction. Never did and over time they recovered and started to make profits (today they are £9,693.05 & £22,805.97)

My financial position currently 21 leaving with parents no major outgoings. Both my investments are to simply to make money instead of sitting in a account if you understand me. I have had some ideas of what to do but were talking possible 20+ plus years down the line.

My ISA Investor and my Investment is based on my risk assessment mine is Medium but for money to achieve a higher potential it spread into this:

ISA- All share class C
Medium, UK growth fund, value 2,872.976
Medium, UK Equilty Income fund, value 2,775.012
Cautious/Med, Corporate Bond Fund, value 2,644.584
Med/Adventurous, International Growth Fund, value 1,400.481

Same with my other one but for some I cant click on it

jimjames

k.grogan wrote: »

Sorry for long wait.

if it goes down even more you will have to put more money into both of them to get them moving in the right direction. Never did and over time they recovered and started to make profits (today they are £9,693.05 & £22,805.97)

If you had put more into them at the bottom or even near there then not only would they have recovered but you would have been sitting on 60% profit on that additional investment. The adviser might have not put it the right way but investing after a big drop can be a good move to benefit from the bounce.