ISA Query

carly

I currently have a Marks and Spencer Top 100 companies ISA worth around £20000. I pay in £100 month. It's always been quite volatile and not a brilliant performer and I've never known what to do with it. Didnt want to cash it in at a loss and didnt realise that I might be able to transfer to another provider.
It has recovered from the ups and downs of the last few years and I would like to reassess my options with it .

Retirement is imminent and I am reading these forums avidly and hopefully learning a lot. Starting from a knowledge base of zero it's a steep learning curve

Soon I will have around £150000 to invest and the main priority will be to provide an income to supplement my occupational pension until state pension kicks in in around 7 years.

I was quite interested in Fidelity Moneybuilder Income Gross Inc and similar products . Am I right in thinking I could transfer my M & S ISA to this type product and keep it's ISA status?

Also I see that Fidelity offer their wealth management service if I invest > £100000.
Is there a catch?

Are the ready made portfolios available here and elsewhere e.g Bestinvest a good idea for a novice during the learning phase , or is it possible to assemble my own portfolio without making expensive mistakes?

Fidelity wealth management offers a portfolio review

jimjames

YOu can move to another provider - but you need to make sure you complete a transfer form for them to do that to ensure it remains inside the ISA wrapper.

You can find much better value FTSE100 trackers than M&S that will save you money in charges, some are under 0.3% pa. If you move to a fund supermarket such as Cavendish Online or HL you will have a complete selection of funds across the range that cover worldwide markets. The important thing is to have a balanced portfolio rather than one just with a single fund in it whether it is FTSE100 or a bond fund.

xylophone

Transfer form here for your ISA https://select.bestinvest.co.uk/media/74017/152%20isa%20transfer%20application%20bundle%20060411.pdf

Might you wish to investigate other discount brokers?

Might you wish to consider seeing an Independent Financial Adviser? http://www.unbiased.co.uk/

Daniel_Elkington

I could offer my wealth management services if you have over 100k lol!

If you are looking at taking a similar level of risks and getting a good yield go on Trustnet.com and look at the sterling high yield or global bond sectors as they pay a good high yield and if you get the right one they will pay monthly.

That's what my I generally do for clients needing income. But this all depends on a variety of lifestyle factors and your attitude to risk.

The m&s funds are generally not that good though.

mania112

Your fund value probably dropped at the tail end of 2008, but since then - with a long term view - it's probably doing ok?

mania112

Daniel_Elkington wrote: »

I could offer my wealth management services if you have over 100k lol!

Are you really mocking someone for not having £100k?

Linton

mania112 wrote: »

Are you really mocking someone for not having £100k?

Err the OP does have over £100K

grey_gym_sock

i do hope master elkington was just joking and not touting for business!

OP, how much income would you like to generate from £150k? because 4% or so (just a rough idea!) should be quite possible without depleting the capital. reducing the capital very slowly might be OK, but not too fast, as you don't want to run out (i assume!).

the fidelity fund you mention is invested in corporate bonds, which might be sensible for some of your capital, but you might also want some in equity income funds, because equities give you some protection against inflation, and corporate bonds don't. this won't make much difference at first, but probably will after a decade or few. i.e. if £1 is worth half what it is now in 20 years time, then you'd want the income generated from your capital to have doubled to compensate. there's no guarantee that will happen with any investment, but there's a fair chance that something like that will happen with equities.

carly

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

i do hope master elkington was just joking and not touting for business!

OP, how much income would you like to generate from £150k? because 4% or so (just a rough idea!) should be quite possible without depleting the capital. reducing the capital very slowly might be OK, but not too fast, as you don't want to run out (i assume!).

the fidelity fund you mention is invested in corporate bonds, which might be sensible for some of your capital, but you might also want some in equity income funds, because equities give you some protection against inflation, and corporate bonds don't. this won't make much difference at first, but probably will after a decade or few. i.e. if £1 is worth half what it is now in 20 years time, then you'd want the income generated from your capital to have doubled to compensate. there's no guarantee that will happen with any investment, but there's a fair chance that something like that will happen with equities.

Thanks for your reply, that's the kind of info I was looking for.
I have no urgent need for the capital sum so am happy to tie it up for a minimum of 5 years, maybe much longer. 4% would be fine , basically just looking to exceed bank deposit rates. Not averse to some slow erosion of capital either if it means I can maintain my current lifestyle. Don't want to leave it all in the bank once I'm dead, no pockets in shrouds so they say.

marathon_man_3

With it still possible to get 4.2% with Punjab Bank, I would be tempted to place £85k with them for 2 years in the hope that rates would have started to rise by two years time. To lock it all away for 5 years at 4% is not a great idea in my eyes.

Jegersmart

Hi Carly

I use Fidelity Wealth and I get a quarterly A4 report on my holdings which also details the AMC savings I have accrued for the period and for the year. I am not sure what you mean by a "catch" - the discount they give varies from fund to fund but that is clear from their wording.

They have quite a reasonable choice of funds, I only very rarely do not find the perfect exposure I want - I am not sure whether other providers are better in that respect. They also have a P&L calculator online so you can see how things are going on your account without having to track separately.

HTH

J