Have CIS sustainable leaders trust

sidi5

Hello there,

Have Sustainable Leaders Trust with CIS with 4.5K in it in aims to save enough one day to buy a small tent before I drop dead. But it doesn't seem to be doing much - everytime I ask all I get is it is a long term investment and the markets go up and down especially right now that there are better ones out there with variable risk so could end up losing a lot more but it is up to me.

Can I have some advice please that doesn't seem to want to sell me any product at all.

dunstonh

It's not a very good fund. Like most funds of its type, it had a boost a few years ago but has spent most of the last 4 years as a 4th quartile performer (i.e. in the bottom quarter of funds in its sector).

When investing in UK equity you need to look for something that offers a difference over the benchmark that you will offers greater potential for growth. Otherwise you may as well invest in an index tracker. This fund doesnt have anything that you look at that makes you want to invest in it.

Can I have some advice please that doesn't seem to want to sell me any product at all.

If you bought it via CIS and not an IFA or DIY then you are probably paying quite heavy charges on it is as well. It sounds like you have probably bought it via a CIS sales rep.

All that said, yes it is correct that investments are for the long term and you will get short term volatility.

sidi5

So would I be better to get out of the fund and go to say Legal and General or with the small amount I have just get a cash ISA instead as there are some that seem to have 3 percent.

It is all very confusing.

dunstonh

sidi5 wrote: »

So would I be better to get out of the fund and go to say Legal and General or with the small amount I have just get a cash ISA instead as there are some that seem to have 3 percent.

It is all very confusing.

L&G offer a range of funds. Some are good, some are poor. I can't say whether the one you would pick would be better (although with UK equity being the sector used, your fund is virtually bottom consistently so it would be hard to pick worse)

The idea of investing is fine if you are looking long term. The implementation you have is poor. You may well be better with a self balancing portfolio fund. These are not the cheapest funds but they do all the work for you inside of them. Something like Jupiter Merlin Income Portfolio or Trojan O Income. They are not recommendations. They are just examples of self balancing portfolio funds. Portfolio funds have a spread of assets (UK equity, overseas equity, fixed interest securities etc). So, you are not reliant on just one thing performing.

When you invest, you either DIY and that means do everything yourself or use a fund that does a lot of it for you (or just a random hit and hope and that rarely works) or use an IFA. However, your amount isn't big enough to use an IFA. Using a salesforce (like CIS) is not ideal as you end up with an own brand product being set up expensively with no investment knowledge or understanding by the seller beyond absolute basics.

sidi5

The implementation you have is poor. You may well be better with a self balancing portfolio fund. These are not the cheapest funds but they do all the work for you inside of them

Have never heard of these before so will have to have a find out about them - though am not to hot on the idea of risk.

As for stocks and shares ISA, just kept hoping I suppose things would pick up especially considering the way economy was.

Are comparison websites a good starting point as many seem to have L&G at top to see what is available myself or not.

sidi5

Was wondering considering the small amount involved and the hopefully short term goal of saving (deposit) would it possibly be a more prudent idea to shift money to cash isa/savings account until I can get my head around the idea of investments properly?

dunstonh

Are comparison websites a good starting point as many seem to have L&G at top to see what is available myself or not.

Comparison websites are dire for investments. What you are probably looking at are L&G structured products rather than unit linked investments. L&G structured products tend to be mid table (which shows how comparison sites must be if they have them coming out top).