10 year savings plan just matured

jimjames

rothers wrote: »

Could you please give me examples of better saving plans?

Thanks for all your help!

And another here

http://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/isa

Low charges, flexible and can add and withdraw money at any time. Pretty much the opposite of a friendly soc saving scheme

dunstonh

The plan was with the Police Mutual

argh. One of the worst.

Could you please give me examples of better saving plans?

S&S ISA with appropriate unit linked funds.

innovate

jimjames wrote: »

And another here

http://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/isa

Low charges, flexible and can add and withdraw money at any time. Pretty much the opposite of a friendly soc saving scheme

dunstonh wrote: »

argh. One of the worst.



S&S ISA with appropriate unit linked funds.

For £14.99 a month? Won't the charges wipe out any even basic return? Assuming it is even possible to invest £14.99 a month.

jimjames

innovate wrote: »

For £14.99 a month? Won't the charges wipe out any even basic return? Assuming it is even possible to invest £14.99 a month.

Most S&S ISAs are £50 pm but maybe the OP can manage that.

Most charges are a percentage so you wouldn't be any worse off with £14.99 pm compared to £50 assuming an ISA did such a small amount.

Could always put into savings account and then top up the ISA with larger sum or use the proceeds from previous endowments to put into the ISA.

rothers

Thanks, I'll have a look at the above examples. I have 9 further plans in place(£5 per week), between 1 and 9 years old. Would it be advantageous to cash them in, put what I get into an account and add £200 per month to it? Cheers

innovate

You are unlikely to be able to withdraw from you existing savings plans without penalties.

But if you have additional £200 a month, you should certainly consider alternatives for the extra £200.

I am not convinced you should do S&S ISAs just yet because I think it is fair to say you know nothing about investments, and S&S ISAs are all about investments. You should read up about investing, perhaps - search the forum for books to read on investing.

But: we don't actually know how old you are, so who knows whether investing is the best option for you? Given you have done 17 years of these plans, you must be at least 35 but probably are a lot older? For investments, you should have at least a 7-10 year horizon, preferably longer.


Whilst you figure out whether and what investments to make, put your extra £200 a month into a First Direct Regular Saver (6% AER). If you play your cards right, you might also be able to collect £125 for joining First Direct but this might not be possible (they stipulate you close your old current account - may be good, may not be good) and it shouldn't be your prime consideration. The Nationwide FlexDirect account (5% AER) might be an alternative. Both options will give you about a year to think deeper about your options, and pay you top interest whilst you are thinking.

dunstonh

For £14.99 a month? Won't the charges wipe out any even basic return? Assuming it is even possible to invest £14.99 a month.

You can go as low as £20 with S&S ISAs. Choice is more limited but I would take Inv perp funds over friendly society any day.

rothers

Just to clarify, in order to have £200 per month to invest I would need to cash in all of my plans which are currently mid term with pmas. Would this be a wise move in order to get a better return else where?

BTW, I am 41 and, as you suggest, know little about investing!!

Cheers all!

opinions4u

rothers wrote: »

Just to clarify, in order to have £200 per month to invest I would need to cash in all of my plans which are currently mid term with pmas. Would this be a wise move in order to get a better return else where?

BTW, I am 41 and, as you suggest, know little about investing!!

Cheers all!

You need to establish the surrender values.

If you're at "break even" on a plan, or not significantly better, I'd be severely tempted to bail out.

Tough call though.

Vortigern

Would an investment trust regular savings plan be a good idea for the OP? I think there are a few with a minimum contribution of £50 per month and possibly one or two starting £20/month. Can be in an ISA, or not. Can increase contributions as more income becomes available to invest.