ISA advice desperately needed!

wannalot

Hello all

I've had some great advice here in the past, so I'm turning to you again!

I currently have the following savings:
£19100 in an HBOS Cash ISA - now down to 0.5% interest.
£20500 in a Halifax "Cautious Managed Fund" ISA Investor (into which I put between £250 to £350 per month).
£6850 in my HBOS current account.

I had a meeting with a Halifax "adviser" a few months ago, and I left it feeling pretty annoyed at the poor service. I asked about a better cash ISA, and the adviser basically refused to advise me on that, saying the meeting was solely to deal with my S/S ISA (which I now know is a pretty bad option). Here too, I feel the advice was bad, since I was advised to move to an equivalent Scottish Widows cash ISA.

Anyway, following the meeting I decided to do nothing (my usual approach!), but wait until the new ISA year and then try to be a bit more responsible and active in managing my finances (unlike me, but a positive development!).

So I'd appreciate any advice on what accounts I should look at.

Should I move my S/S ISA (I have no clue how to do that)? What accounts should I be looking at?

Or should I leave my current ISA where it is, but open a new S/S ISA with a different provider (I intend to feed in money from my current account gradually, as well as a monthly amount). If so, can anyone recommend a new account.

If I don't transfer my S/S ISA, I thought about having a go at a self-select ISA, where I would spread my new saving over a wide range of funds. I think the Hargreaves Lansdown account is a cheap way of doing this?

Or maybe I should see a proper impartial financial adviser?

I'm saving money because I know I will probably need to buy a house in around 5 years but I won't be withdrawing any money until then. I'm confused, but trying to be proactive, and get a bit smarter about my money!

What would you do in my position?

psychic_teabag

wannalot wrote: »

Hello all

I've had some great advice here in the past, so I'm turning to you again!

I currently have the following savings:
£19100 in an HBOS Cash ISA - now down to 0.5% interest.
£20500 in a Halifax "Cautious Managed Fund" ISA Investor (into which I put between £250 to £350 per month).
£6850 in my HBOS current account.

You should definitely get that cash ISA rate fixed. You can just fill in an online form to get it redesignated within Halifax to their current best rate. That's not the best rate available, but if you're a bit lazy, it's a no-brainer.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/transfer-isa/transfer-existing-variable-isa/

For a bit more effort, you can get it transferred to another provider offering a bit more. I think the best at the moment is 2.3% (for instant-access).

You can use partial transfers to split this pot, if you wanted to keep some instant-access and fix some. You could redisignate it now (as instant-access), and still transfer all or some out elsewhere later.

I had a meeting with a Halifax "adviser" a few months ago, and I left it feeling pretty annoyed at the poor service. I asked about a better cash ISA, and the adviser basically refused to advise me on that, saying the meeting was solely to deal with my S/S ISA (which I now know is a pretty bad option). Here too, I feel the advice was bad, since I was advised to move to an equivalent Scottish Widows cash ISA.

Anyway, following the meeting I decided to do nothing (my usual approach!), but wait until the new ISA year and then try to be a bit more responsible and active in managing my finances (unlike me, but a positive development!).

So I'd appreciate any advice on what accounts I should look at.

Should I move my S/S ISA (I have no clue how to do that)? What accounts should I be looking at?

There are two aspects to transferring. One is picking the platform that will house the ISA, and the other is actually transferring the funds. It might be possible to just transfer the fund holdings as they are ("in speccie" , or something like that), but it might be necessary to transfer as cash, where Halifax sell them, send a cheque to the new provider, and they buy either that same fund, or some different funds.

The new provider will only accept the transfer as a fund if they themselves offer that fund. If it's a Halifax specific fund, they might not have it.

Or should I leave my current ISA where it is, but open a new S/S ISA with a different provider (I intend to feed in money from my current account gradually, as well as a monthly amount). If so, can anyone recommend a new account.

That is an option. You could start a new one now, and then if you like it, transfer the old one over later. Don't need to decide that now.

Note that, like cash ISAs, you can subscribe to only one per financial year. So as soon as you make a payment to Halifax, that becomes this year's ISA. You'd have to do a transfer to move it to somewhere else.

If I don't transfer my S/S ISA, I thought about having a go at a self-select ISA, where I would spread my new saving over a wide range of funds. I think the Hargreaves Lansdown account is a cheap way of doing this?

HL aren't the cheapest, but possibly one of the easiest to use. They may well pay you some money to entice you to transfer to them.

Or maybe I should see a proper impartial financial adviser?

I'm saving money because I know I will probably need to buy a house in around 5 years but I won't be withdrawing any money until then. I'm confused, but trying to be proactive, and get a bit smarter about my money!

What would you do in my position?

5 years is usually considered to be too short a timeframe for investments. It's as likely that the markets will be down in 5 years time as up, when you need your money. On average over the long term you tend get a better return from investing, but it tends to be quite a bumpy journey.

xylophone

If you lack confidence in your own decision making then see an IFA?http://www.unbiased.co.uk/find-an-adviser?gclid=CPSf6piMyLYCFdHMtAod5DEAdg

In your position, I'd certainly be moving the cash isa with HBOS to a better rate- if you won't want the money for five years you might even consider a fix with Halifax http://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/

Otherwise the Cheshire?http://www.thecheshire.co.uk/isas/

If you are opening a cash isa for this tax year you might consider the Coventry Poppy ISA http://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/savings-and-investments/cash-isas/cash-isa/cash-isa.aspx

I would consider moving the S&S ISA to Hargreaves Lansdown - you can research funds on their site.http://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/isa
You can continue the monthly saving up to the appropriate ISA limit.

MoneySaverLog

wannalot wrote: »

I had a meeting with a Halifax "adviser" a few months ago, and I left it feeling pretty annoyed at the poor service.

If I don't transfer my S/S ISA, I thought about having a go at a self-select ISA, where I would spread my new saving over a wide range of funds. I think the Hargreaves Lansdown account is a cheap way of doing this?

Or maybe I should see a proper impartial financial adviser?

Halifax will only "advise" on their group products, which when it comes to investing are not necessarily the best for you. Think of it like a sales adviser.

Your own self select ISA would be a far better option HL look to be good for mix matching of funds, ETF's and shares in SIPP and ISA.

Don't know if there is a minimum amount you need before a IFA would be worthwhile. Sure someone more experienced with them will advise further.