Should I cash all in now?

GillyFlower

Several years ago I wrote in about these same investments and decided to leave them as they were.

We have -

1. AXA Distribution Investment ICVC Distribution R - Income Shares valued currently at £7,758
2. Framlington UK Growth Acc Accumulation Units valued at £8,239
3. AXA UK Investment ICVC Distribution Class R - Accumulation Shares valued at £10,495
4. Prudential Managed Trust (M & G Stocks and Shares ISA valued at £12,089

Now we are seriously considering, have to go through Planning permission etc which could take several months, to build a garden room on side of cottage. The money to be used would be the above and other ISA funds if needs be.

I did read an article that said, if I understood it correctly that Framlington were worth thinking about.

As I am not familiar with Investments I do know that I have had all of these above in for at least 10 years and we are both past retirement age now mid 60's. I am wondering if whether we build onto our cottage or not the time to cash in all of these would be now as the FTSE is going up a bit but who knows for how long. So I know it is a gamble when to pull out but I think maybe we need to secure as much as we can now and re-invest in general savings that are low interest but guaranteed getting your money back.


I should ad that being on State Pension only we are now needing to think about using savings to boost our income. We do also have around £50k in NS & I Inflation proof, ISA's, etc.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Reaper

If you have a specific purpose coming up and have the funds you need in investments then I would suggest cashing them in and moving to a savings account.

The stock markets might rise in which case you will be kicking yourselves, but equally they might fall and you could then find yourself unable to afford the extension you wanted.

There isn't a right answer, but cashing them in is the lower risk option.

dunstonh

Investing is about the long term. Once you are in the short term you should be phasing down the amount of risk you take. In the very short term you should be in cash.

the FTSE is going up a bit but who knows for how long.

What the FTSE does it not the onlyconsideration. After all, your investments only has part exposure to UK equity. (AXA distribution for example will be around 50% UK equity) and the M&G managed would only an even smaller exposure as its a portfolio fund that has all the major sectors within it (i.e. it is more global and has fixed interest securities and property as part of it).

atush

I agree if you are in reetuirment I would think about cashing soem of them in.

As to the house, how long do you plan to stay there? Will you downsize in the near future? how much will the addition of the sunroom increase the value of your property? I would ask an agent. If you won't gain back any of the investment, it shouldn't be done.

As to cost, have you gotten 3 quotes? Had plans drawn up (or is it permitted development?). the above funds total 38K or so, and is far more than you would need for a sunroom extension- so you may be being overcharged for it.

CLAPTON

I may have mis understood but if you are on state pension only is it wise to use much of your savings on a house extension?
what's your thinking here?

Jegersmart

CLAPTON wrote: »

I may have mis understood but if you are on state pension only is it wise to use much of your savings on a house extension?
what's your thinking here?

I agree - your reasons are your own but still.....

GillyFlower

Just a quick thanks and will study your replies in more detail later.

We do have some farm land that would raise hopefully £100K if we sell but feel it is best sat there for when we really need it - as they don't make land anymore and we are in 'control' of that.

atush - We do have an agent coming tomorrow to value our cottage and to see if they can give us some guidance on what value an extension would put on it. Yes - I would like to see a return on any money invested.

As for downsizing - we still enjoy living here and have done for 30+ years - we know the day will come when we have to downsize but for now we are hoping we have a few more years yet.

Thanks again and will look in later.

GillyFlower

Well - agent said a garden Room would look very nice and just may help sell the cottage. BUT - because the cottage is in a good location, etc, etc it will sell itself and we most probably would not see a return on our money we spend to build it.

So it would be up to us and he said without a doubt it would be really nice but we do it for 'us'. So we have some thinking to do and maybe start by getting some quotes. That maybe would guide our thoughts one way or other.

In the meantime I feel we have had this money invested for the long term e.g. 10 years and I have arranged for breakdown of what was invested with each company. I know it sounds rather careless to not have kept my eye on original investments but looking into all the paperwork I am pretty sure we were talking £6K in each and some have done far better than the others. (They were originally B & M and one Prudential.)

So with that in mind some have performed OK but I feel quite twitchy now and my gut reaction is even if we don't use it for extension then perhaps it needs to go into a safer option.

Any input is gratefully received as it helps to talk it through.

kidmugsy

I'm a great fan of the ns&i Index-Linked Savings Certificates: you can each buy £15k. Be sure to keep them for at least a year, so that the penalty for cashing in is trivial.

GillyFlower

Yes - Kidmugsy - we each have one that we invested £10k in 1997 a 5 year issue 091L(?) I think it was.

I have rolled it over several times and it matures again in 2012. Each is now valued around £18,500.

When I look at the other investements it seems to have been as competitive hasn't it and without the worry of losing the original investment.