NS&I 5 year index linked saving certs 2011 issue - half way point!

gadgetmind

We're at -

58% pension (about 20% bonds)
16% S&S ISAs (about 10% bonds)
10% unwrapped equities (about 20% fixed interest )
8% cash (NS&I linkers, term accounts at 2.5%, instant access at 3%)
8% unwrapped equities in three technology companies with lashings of capital gains!

We're busy living in our only property so I refuse to include this! I also don't directly have those tech shares in my plans other than feeding them into S&S ISAs in future to diversify.

chucknorris

gadgetmind wrote: »

We're busy living in our only property so I refuse to include this!

Quite correct, I also didn't include my home in the 59% that I quoted, that 59% is only investment property. I would include my home if it was a breakdown of 'wealth', but I consider 'portfolio' to mean something else.

Wilkins

slinga wrote: »

But NS&I does tie your money up for a certain period. Withdraw it early and you might lose interest.
With a UT ISA fund or even a UT fund you can withdraw at any time and gain or lose depending on how the fund is doing at that time.

Pay your money and make your choice.
I was putting forward an alternative to the miniscule interest the Gov gives with NS&I.

Indeed. However, I think you will find that the more sophisticated investors here understand that equity based investments give better returns, but that they hold a certain amount of cash as savings (which may include ILSCs), not investments, in addition to their market-based portfolios, in order to facilitate long term strategies.

veryintrigued

The online calculator has now been updated with Jan inflation stats.

Good work from the NS&I as this used to take a couple of days to update. Seems they've made some changes to make it slicker.

Quite a jump in this months valuation

Edit - jump of circa 0.5% since last month if my numbers are correct

lisyloo

But NS&I does tie your money up for a certain period. Withdraw it early and you might lose interest.

On the older ones you get complete months if you're past the first year, so don't lose very much at all.
The later ones are much worse Ts and Cs, but I agree you need to be aware of the the Ts and Cs.

With a UT ISA fund or even a UT fund you can withdraw at any time and gain or lose

Agreed, and many people don't want or can't risk capital loss.

Pay your money and make your choice.
I was putting forward an alternative to the miniscule interest the Gov gives with NS&I.

I agree that it's a choice.
I believe many people do actually choose to have guarantees against capital loss.
Also my belief is that the vast majority of the population are not sophisticated investors and don't actually understand equities.

But I agree fundamentally with what you are saying.

I am saving to pay off my mortgage and personally I don't want to take any risk of losing that money (I have other money I take risks with).

talexuser

veryintrigued wrote: »

Edit - jump of circa 0.5% since last month if my numbers are correct

Yep... you're right.

kidmugsy

Wilkins wrote: »

equity based investments give better returns.

To be more exact, equities in the US and UK have given better returns if you look at long enough periods. In Japan, for instance, they've given rotten returns for a generation. In Austria, notoriously, equities bought in 1913 have done very poorly. So the question is: are you absolutely sure that Britain in 2014 is more like Britain in 1913 than Austria in 1913? Is the US like Japan in 1999? etc. And the answer is not known in advance.

zerog

If you had bought them in May (like my wife) you would have gotten a better return (at the halfway point) than if you bought them in August (like me) due to deflation during July 2011.

ebayingnovice

I have an Index linked savings certificate coming up for renewal. If renewed it would pay RPI plus 0.05 per year. Dec 2013's RPI was 2%.

I am wondering if the RPI is likely to move further down and if I might not do better tomove the cash to a Santander current account which pays 3% taxable. The bond is taxfree.

These index linked bonds have not been issued for a while, so if I cash in this one, the same product is not available to purchase again.

Your thoughts on this please.

noh

December 2013 RPI was 2.7%
CPI was 2%
Index linked certificates are linked to RPI.
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/finance/retailpricesindexandconsumerpriceindex.htm