NS&I index linked certs

milton19700

Apologies - thanks we crossed messages

milton19700

And does the rate shift on a daily / monthly basis in line with RPI or (say) every quarter ? .. if the rate shifts at all

Or is the logic that the rate applicable is retrospective i.e. Oct 12 interest is based on Oct 12 RPI (when confirmed)

Thanks again - puzzled why the NS&I website couldn't be clearer

oneilly

Wondering if it's time to get back into stocks?

masonic

oneilly wrote: »

Wondering if it's time to get back into stocks?

I suppose that depends on the reason you haven't been in stocks over the past few years.

xylophone

A retired couple of my acquaintance has decided to hedge bets.

One is rolling over the certs while the other has encashed, made a gift, split some with the spouse so that both can make additional investments in their S&S ISAs, and has the rest on hold in interest paying accounts until the new Pensioners' Bonds become available in January.

kidmugsy

xylophone wrote: »

A retired couple of my acquaintance has decided to hedge bets.

One is rolling over the certs while the other has encashed, made a gift, split some with the spouse so that both can make additional investments in their S&S ISAs, and has the rest on hold in interest paying accounts until the new Pensioners' Bonds become available in January.

We'll probably hold on to our ILSCs and use maturing Cash ISAs for those old-folk activities. If we part with ILSCs we can't expect ever to be able to replace them.

oneilly

masonic wrote: »

I suppose that depends on the reason you haven't been in stocks over the past few years.

As in get out our these and invest holding back into the market.

masonic

oneilly wrote: »

As in get out our these and invest holding back into the market.

Many who try to buy into the market when it looks cheap believe now is the time to get out of the market because it's starting to look expensive. Some have predicted a stockmarket slump on the horizon.

Personally, I don't think I can predict when is a good time to enter and leave the market, so I stay invested throughout.

So what was your reason for leaving the market and getting into ILSCs and what has changed such that you are now considering moving back into the market?

bowlhead99

oneilly wrote: »

As in get out our these and invest holding back into the market.

Yes, we know what you mean by wondering if you should sell the NSANDI holdings and buy S&S in the market. But the question is why have you not already been in the market: what was driving you to keep the NSANDI holdings up until now?

By not being in the market for the last 3-5 years, the market has maybe doubled without you (depending which part of the stock market we're comparing). If you wanted market risk and market returns from stocks, when stocks were relatively 'cheap' 3 to 5 years ago, you wouldn't have picked a guaranteed product that gives a virtually fixed real terms return.

So, now, stocks are not relatively cheap - after everyone who owns them has doubled their money while you haven't. So the questions is why do you now want to go back into market risk? There are no doubt a lot of people who had taken the market risk and are now looking to sell at these high prices and flee to the safety of a guaranteed inflation protected tax exempt return, but they are not allowed to because the government is no longer offering them to new prospective customers. I and no doubt some other people would happily swap £10k+ of our S&S fund holdings at the current price, for the same amount of your ILSCs, if it were possible.

So, if you didn't want cheap equities before, why do you want less-cheap equities now? Perhaps your personal circumstances have changed, which is a perfectly valid reason. Perhaps the recent golden era of market returns has caused you to realise that taking a risk to get several percent ahead of inflation in the long long term using the stockmarket is something that is worth doing, even though occasionally crashes can happen. That would be a valid reason too.

Whereas, "well, the market doubled in the last five years so if I buy in it will, on the balance of probabilities, likely double again in the next five years, which is way better than just getting a guaranteed inflation-equalling return, because RPI isn't going to double in the next five years!", would not be a very good reason.

[edit - ah, I see that since opening this tab an hour or so ago Masonic has already asked the same thing more succinctly!]

oneilly

Thanks for your replies I'm invested elsewhere in the market, I was pondering getting out of theses which were a safe haven in 2011 and investing in stock.

It seems the common view is the market has peaked and will retrace, what's your predictions??