Shares ISA to pay mortgage ?

Linton

colshandy wrote: »

Are you folks aware of opening an ISA through cevendish online which means you get lower charges that opening one direct with them....or is that pensions I am thinking of. What are EM trackers ? Or shall I just wait till I recieved/read this book :-)

Cheers

In general buying any fund through a fund supermarket/online broker seems to be cheaper than directly from the fund manager. There is nothing special about Cavendish here.

EM stands for Emerging Markets - an area that has done spectacularly well over the past 5-10 years. Whether trackers or managed funds are appropriate is open to continuous debate.

gadgetmind

colshandy wrote: »

or is that pensions I am thinking of.

Yup, pensions. I have opened stakeholders for wife+duaghter via Cavendish and it all went very smoothly.

What are EM trackers ? Or shall I just wait till I recieved/read this book :-)

Yes, read the book! It will explain what you can add to developed world big index investments to gain more return at the expense of (usually) more volatility. Small caps, gilts, asia, emerging markets, property, commodities, etc. can all add something, either an asset that doesn't correlate with the others (the book will explain why this is good!), and/or will reduce volatility, and/or enhance return.

It's like cooking, and a good book on investing is like a recipe book; while you can get all inventive later on, it's best to start with the classics.

colshandy

gadgetmind wrote: »

Yup, pensions. I have opened stakeholders for wife+duaghter via Cavendish and it all went very smoothly.



Yes, read the book! It will explain what you can add to developed world big index investments to gain more return at the expense of (usually) more volatility. Small caps, gilts, asia, emerging markets, property, commodities, etc. can all add something, either an asset that doesn't correlate with the others (the book will explain why this is good!), and/or will reduce volatility, and/or enhance return.

It's like cooking, and a good book on investing is like a recipe book; while you can get all inventive later on, it's best to start with the classics.

Okay, book arrived and I am upto page 100. Its a very good read so far and cant disagree with much of it.

Time for action. I am wondering what to do next for the best.

Called my existing ISA provider and I have over 8 k of this years allowance left. Given that based on say four £2k a month contributions my monthly charges will be over £100 a month I am trying to decide what is the best thing to do.

Any ideas?

Also I am looking for a new ISA provider to shift the ISA into in the next Tax year and maybe start new monthly contributions, any ideas on best one when I will be selecting low cost passive index type funds?

Thanks very much for help so far

gadgetmind

colshandy wrote: »

Also I am looking for a new ISA provider to shift the ISA into in the next Tax year and maybe start new monthly contributions, any ideas on best one when I will be selecting low cost passive index type funds?

No, because Hargreaves Lansdown *just* started charging platform fees for the HSBC trackers. I was *very* close to starting a SIPP with them (forms completed, cheque going off on Monday!) and now I need to start from scratch.

colshandy

gadgetmind wrote: »

No, because Hargreaves Lansdown *just* started charging platform fees for the HSBC trackers. I was *very* close to starting a SIPP with them (forms completed, cheque going off on Monday!) and now I need to start from scratch.

Okay, a moving target eh ? Would appreciate it if you can let me know your findings ! Cheers

Any thoughts on my decision whether or not to top up my ISA and use up the allowance given the high charges ?

gadgetmind

colshandy wrote: »

Okay, a moving target eh ?

Isn't it always?

Any thoughts on my decision whether or not to top up my ISA and use up the allowance given the high charges ?

Dunno who your provider is. Different ones are good for different types of investments.

colshandy

gadgetmind wrote: »

Isn't it always?



Dunno who your provider is. Different ones are good for different types of investments.

Current provider is Synergy, its an old type of product which includes LI/CI cover. The funds it is invested in are the same as ones thee IFA I took the product out with selected back in 2002 ! Only until now have I wised up and realise I need to shift the product to a lower charges provider and select good funds for me. Current funds are: Gartmore UK Index Acc, State Street Eurpoe ex UK Equity Tracker Fund, State Street North America Equity Tracker Fund.

gadgetmind

colshandy wrote: »

Current funds are: Gartmore UK Index Acc, State Street Eurpoe ex UK Equity Tracker Fund, State Street North America Equity Tracker Fund.

As I don't know anything about Synergy or those funds, I can close to zero use to you advice-wise.

Can you put in the £8k this tax year with Synergy and then move to a new platform without hitting their up-front fees, which I assume are you major issue?

colshandy

gadgetmind wrote: »

As I don't know anything about Synergy or those funds, I can close to zero use to you advice-wise.

Can you put in the £8k this tax year with Synergy and then move to a new platform without hitting their up-front fees, which I assume are you major issue?

I can do that but I will get stung for about 400 fees to Synergie. Even if it shows a low level of growth it wil easily make more than this, I expect it will be in the ISA for 10 years minimum.

I was just thinking would I be stupid loosing out on 8k of this years allowance for the sake of avoiding these fees but unavoidable if I dont want to loose out on this years full allowance.

gadgetmind

colshandy wrote: »

I can do that but I will get stung for about 400 fees to Synergie.

Why? Up front fees are usually as you invest in funds, not as you subscribe to the ISA but leave the money in cash.

It might be worth starting a new thread with a very descriptive subject to get more informed opinions than mine.