Dipping a toe in the water . . .

MadMat

I'm currently saving £100/week into a cash ISA. (I account weekly not monthly)

I want to keep most of this going into the cash ISA for now, as I'm becoming more and more aware that my 8 year old car is going to need replacing sometime in the next few years, and that paying cash rather than using finance for the next car will save me more than I could gain from any investment.

But I'd also like to get some sort of long term investment going - even if it's just on a small scale to start with.

So after spending some time reading these forums along with some other sites I've come up with the plan of opening a TD Direct ISA account, and setting up a regular £50/month direct debit to be invested in Vanguard LifeStrategy 80%

Just posting here to make sure before parting with any cash that I've fully understood what I've read, and that this is currently the cheapest way to get started with a medium risk fund that I can then build on later once I'm happy that my cash reserves can cope with buying a decent second hand car along with any other little problems life throws at me

Mat

BLB53

So after spending some time reading these forums along with some other sites I've come up with the plan of opening a TD Direct ISA account, and setting up a regular £50/month direct debit to be invested in Vanguard LifeStrategy 80%

Looks like a good plan. The only comment would be that there may be a fee with TD for a/c under £5,100 so worth checking the up todate position.

If you have not already, check out www.monevator.com

takesyourchances

MadMat wrote: »

I'm currently saving £100/week into a cash ISA. (I account weekly not monthly)

I want to keep most of this going into the cash ISA for now, as I'm becoming more and more aware that my 8 year old car is going to need replacing sometime in the next few years, and that paying cash rather than using finance for the next car will save me more than I could gain from any investment.

But I'd also like to get some sort of long term investment going - even if it's just on a small scale to start with.

So after spending some time reading these forums along with some other sites I've come up with the plan of opening a TD Direct ISA account, and setting up a regular £50/month direct debit to be invested in Vanguard LifeStrategy 80%

Just posting here to make sure before parting with any cash that I've fully understood what I've read, and that this is currently the cheapest way to get started with a medium risk fund that I can then build on later once I'm happy that my cash reserves can cope with buying a decent second hand car along with any other little problems life throws at me

Mat

Hi Mat,
All very similar to myself and you may have seen my post on the other Vanguard Topic.

My car is 10 and a half years old and I know this is something I will need to replace in the near future, so I am expecting to buy a used car out right to not enter car payments and in the mean time keep driving my car as long as it lasts

I have just went for the Vanguard LifeStrategy with H&L with a S&S ISA and my initial opening went live today. I decided on the 60% equity option.

My plan was to drip feed in £60 a month from old payments I have just stopped from another policy, I then changed this to £100 a month. Now it has went live I have been looking at the options to learn the account and even though you can drip feed in £50 a month to your S&S ISA, each additional buy into the Vanguard LifeStrategy is min £250 after you open it.

So I might change my monthly amount to £125 per month and buy £250 every two months. Or I can add additional money on top of the monthly amounts. Something for you to keep in mind that to buy after you open is min £250 each time while saving your £50 up each month.

I feel happy with going with this fund as also dipping my toe into S&S ISA for the first time and am prepared for the long term with this and the fund layout seems suited to what I am after.

Good luck, this is new to me as well so hope this helps.

Best regards.

westy22

My plan was to drip feed in £60 a month from old payments I have just stopped from another policy, I then changed this to £100 a month. Now it has went live I have been looking at the options to learn the account and even though you can drip feed in £50 a month to your S&S ISA, each additional buy into the Vanguard LifeStrategy is min £250 after you open it.

So I might change my monthly amount to £125 per month and buy £250 every two months. Or I can add additional money on top of the monthly amounts. Something for you to keep in mind that to buy after you open is min £250 each time while saving your £50 up each month.

I'm pretty certain that is incorrect. As far as I know your minimum monthly contribution replaces the minimum charge for 'one-off' purchases.

atush

That is a good plan, but a pension should be considered as well.

gadgetmind

MadMat wrote: »

paying cash rather than using finance for the next car will save me more than I could gain from any investment.

I've always bought cars with cash as I start saving for the next one as I empty my car account to buy the current one.

But I'd also like to get some sort of long term investment going - even if it's just on a small scale to start with.

What do you mean by "long term"?
Are you ever likely to need to raid this at short notice?

Anyway, watch fees as until your pot grows, you might be better off with a fund with percentage fees than a tracker that might have fixed fees.

takesyourchances

westy22 wrote: »

I'm pretty certain that is incorrect. As far as I know your minimum monthly contribution replaces the minimum charge for 'one-off' purchases.

Thanks for pointing that out as it is new to me this account. I just pressed through the options as if I was going to buy more funds into the fund and when it came up to enter the amount it said min £250 when buying more into the fund.

So maybe I have picked this up wrong, as I then thought the drip feeds of say £50 per month would need to sit in the S&S ISA until it reached £250 to buy more or is this drip feed directly into the fund?

All learning at the moment for me

Best regards

ColdIron

So I might change my monthly amount to £125 per month and buy £250 every two months. Or I can add additional money on top of the monthly amounts. Something for you to keep in mind that to buy after you open is min £250 each time while saving your £50 up each month.

This isn't right unless I have badly misunderstood it

With HL you can drip feed £50 per month
The £250 figure is for one off lump additional payments NOT drip feeding

takesyourchances

ColdIron wrote: »

This isn't right unless I have badly misunderstood it

With HL you can drip feed £50 per month
The £250 figure is for one off lump additional payments NOT drip feeding

Thanks for this, as I was confused by this so excuse me about it all.

So when the monthly payment goes into your S&S ISA does this get allocated to the Vanguard fund then as the drip feed amount?

This is better for me if the £250 is for extra lump sums.

Sorry for these questions. I will also look more at my account.

Best regards.

Eponym

ColdIron wrote: »

This isn't right unless I have badly misunderstood it

With HL you can drip feed £50 per month
The £250 figure is for one off lump additional payments NOT drip feeding

I don't have LifeStrategy but I do have a £50 monthly savings with HL. They take £50 by direct debit and it goes into the fund. They do that every month. I have never needed to add extra money.

On all the funds I own, the £250 refers to people who don't have monthly savings, or who want to make an additional payment above and beyond that.

takesyourchances

Eponym wrote: »

I don't have LifeStrategy but I do have a £50 monthly savings with HL. They take £50 by direct debit and it goes into the fund. They do that every month. I have never needed to add extra money.

On all the funds I own, the £250 refers to people who don't have monthly savings, or who want to make an additional payment above and beyond that.

Thanks Eponym for that, that is good as I have a monthly direct debit starting on Feb 7th for £100 into my S&S ISA that the Vanguard fund is held in so I am sure it will become clearer how this works to me when the first monthly payment goes in.

Best regards.