what should I do?

jem16

ok364125247 wrote: »

To be honest, not quite sure? It was an fa that our business bank manager introduced us to.

It probably is them and he may well be an IFA - I'm sure you will be able to check that out.

I would probably say, in your circumstances, that seeing 2/3 IFAs and getting an idea of cost from each would be a good way to go. Each may have a different view on where/how to invest but that's normal.

As to whether you need an IFA - personally I would use one for that amount of money. If you know what you are doing great then you go DIY and save some money. If you don't know what you are doing you could lose a lot more than you save. Main thing to look for would be a servicing IFA as opposed to a Transactional IFA. A servicing IFA would keep the portfolio under review at least yearly and rebalance, Bed&ISA as appropriate. A transactional adviser would simply set it all up and forget about it - not a great idea.

ok364125247

westy22 wrote: »

Divide the total figure by 10 - so, say you had £50,000 to invest and that was your total capital. Having researched how you would choose to spread your risk and diversify your investments you decide on a portfolio or basket of investments. If you were confident enough to invest say £5,000 of that (10%) into something like Aberdeen Emerging Markets fund, then why would you not be confident of investing £50,000 (the same 10%) there?

Just because you have £500k to invest does not mean that you necessarily have to broaden the spread or invest in hundreds of different things - it is just a number! You have obviously operated a highly successful business and made a great deal of money so clearly a sound knowledge of maths, business acumen, trade experience and good judgement are already skills you possess - all you need to add is some investment knowledge and some research.

Investing is not rocket science and remember, no one will look after your money as well as you will! Good Luck!

Thank you for your positives words, always nice to hear!!!:beer:

I will give the next few weeks time for serious research and see where it takes me.:think:

ok364125247

jem16 wrote: »

It probably is them and he may well be an IFA - I'm sure you will be able to check that out.

I would probably say, in your circumstances, that seeing 2/3 IFAs and getting an idea of cost from each would be a good way to go. Each may have a different view on where/how to invest but that's normal.

As to whether you need an IFA - personally I would use one for that amount of money. If you know what you are doing great then you go DIY and save some money. If you don't know what you are doing you could lose a lot more than you save. Main thing to look for would be a servicing IFA as opposed to a Transactional IFA. A servicing IFA would keep the portfolio under review at least yearly and rebalance, Bed&ISA as appropriate. A transactional adviser would simply set it all up and forget about it - not a great idea.

Thank you also, it is very interesting to have Westy22's and your comments together! As said above I think after serious research I might invest so much with one IFA or a couple and keep some money to invest myself and learn steadily over the next few months what investing in the stock market is all about!:rotfl:

ok364125247

When doing it diy style as oposed to go through an IFA do you find yourself checking and spending a lot of time looking at your shares online forever hoping and stressing much more than if it was all taken care of by someone professional???

Jake'sGran

westy22 wrote: »

Why abandon it? It is your ISA, not theirs, so just re-register it or transfer it to a new manager - you can easily find a new manager that will make no initial charge and may even pay you a 'golden hello' to have £100,000 transferred to their platform.

If you are interested in this idea please remember that you can't transfer the ISA yourself. It has to be done by the new broker, BS etc.

I have a large sum, not as much as £500k and it is spread around in funds, fixed rate BS bonds, shares and Investment Trusts, all of which I have chosen myself. I have never used an IFA and have done quite well.

The majority of investors on this board use Hargreaves Lansdown for funds as they discount the initial charge (usually around 5%). The discounted amount buys extra units, you don't get it in cash.

gadgetmind

ok364125247 wrote: »

When doing it diy style as oposed to go through an IFA do you find yourself checking and spending a lot of time looking at your shares online forever hoping and stressing much more than if it was all taken care of by someone professional???

Hoping, yes, stressing, no.

I'm happy with my asset and territory spread, and I'm not under/over exposed to any one country, sector or company (except one, but that's a long story!) so I'd expect to be able to weather storms as well as anyone else.

I do have a few "conviction flutters", such as some banking preference shares, but the risk versus reward ratio is pleasing.

I personally think the financial sector employs about 1000x more people than it actually needs, all trying to get rich from other people's life savings, and that fees need to come down to tiny fractions of a percent and they all need to get proper jobs.

The signs are looking good and HMG actually seem to be on our side. Crazy but true!

sabretoothtigger

Only 500.00

Oh well, I was just looking at this product. You do need an IFA for such things really but I'd ask Socgen for a brochure, 8.5% per year it says which is nice
http://www.selftrade.co.uk/quote-f100_sg____e__a---1uSG92.L

fairleads

bluewater wrote: »

We were in a similar position in July 2006 and invested £500,000 with Lloyds Private banking. The portfolio was growth orientated (called progressive equity profile),

Value of the portfolio went up to £550,000 in 2007 and dividends were about £15,000 pa but then gradually the value fell and the 2008 crunch saw it plummet to £380.000. We left it alone and it has now recovered to £490,000. But the projected dividend is now around £8,000 pa. We could change the portfolio to a more income related one but quite honestly we have lost faith in the whole thing and intend to cash it all in and put the money on deposit in 3 or 4 accounts - instant, fixed for 1 year and fixed for 3 years. This might not be the strategy that financial advisers would recommend and Private Banking will try very hard to dissuade but we don't trust their motives. Since 2006 we have paid over £30,000 in fees to them.

Each year they have put the maximum into ISAS so now about £100,000 is protected from tax should any gains be made in the future. It seems a shame to abandon this ISA but the alternative is to transfer it to another fund of some kind which will immediately attract an initial fee of around £3,000 followed by 1.5% pa.

At least with the money on deposit we can sleep ant night knowing that even if we take all the interest as income we will still have £500,000

One downside of course is that we will pay 20% tax on this instead of the 10% if the income was derived from share dividends.

Bearing in mind that a major driver of growth is re-invested dividends, then have to say that, from a capital point of view -taking into account the income taken and extra fees paid and the volatility of the market during the period in question - the scenario is not that bad.
But the decline in divi income is a worry.

atush

I am disgusted, Bluewater.

I have to agree with fairleads. For the first time.

you haven't taken into acct all the income received and the compound interst on divs.

ok364125247

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Only 500.00

Oh well, I was just looking at this product. You do need an IFA for such things really but I'd ask Socgen for a brochure, 8.5% per year it says which is nice
http://www.selftrade.co.uk/quote-f100_sg____e__a---1uSG92.L

Thank you for your input, but where do you see %8.5 in the link above???