Axa Self investor- HELP!

Coombies

Hello. Please help.

Many years ago I was advised to open a Stocks and Shares ISA as I do not have a pension. I have (what I have recently realised is a pretty poor) Natwest Stocks and Shares Isa. My money was not working to its full potential in this isa so I have moved it to the Axa Self investor Stock and Shares Isa as advised on the MSE site. With my Natwest Isa they invested my money where they thought fit, however for the Axa one i have to choose where I want the money invested.....Help!! where do I start with this? does anyone have any arise as to which funds to go for? I am not a very big risk taker and I don't think I fully understand it although I keep trying to. Thanks Rachel

BLB53

You may be a bit limited on choice with AXA but I would suggest go for the lower charging funds - Vanguard Developed World, Vanguard UK Equity Inc, B/Rock Corp Bond and B/Rock Gilts Tracker may do the job.

Unfortunately, I think they do not offer the all-in-one solution Vanguard LifeStrategy which would be ideal.

Coombies

Thank you! would you advise splitting my money between all of these funds or choosing one to put all of my money in? Sorry if this is a dumb question.

xylophone

Have you no private provision at all? How old are you?

Are you employed?

When do you expect to draw state pension?

dunstonh

so I have moved it to the Axa Self investor Stock and Shares Isa as advised on the MSE site

The MSE site does not give advice and is not authorised to give advice.

With my Natwest Isa they invested my money where they thought fit,

Not quite. Banks were tied agents selling their own poor quality products. They "should" present the funds that match your risk profile to you for you to select. However, the banks often got round this by only having one fund in each risk profile. So, that avoided the need to present options.

however for the Axa one i have to choose where I want the money invested.....Help!!

Why are you picking an investment platform before deciding where to invest? It should be the other way around.

does anyone have any arise as to which funds to go for?

Are you knowledgeable enough to run a portfolio of multiple funds?

I am not a very big risk taker and I don't think I fully understand it although I keep trying to.

What do you mean by "not a very big risk taker"? Can you put some context on that? i.e. how much of a loss in a 12 month period could you accept before pulling out?

BLB53

Thank you! would you advise splitting my money between all of these funds or choosing one to put all of my money in?

It depends on how long you will be investing the funds - longer term, say 15 - 20 yrs then perhaps tilt the balance more towards equities.

Of course, it also depends on how you would react when the markets turn down - equities are more volatile than bonds. A balanced allocation would be to split your investment equally between the four funds. If you maintain the portfolio at 25% in each and then rebalance periodically if one part gets out of balance, you probably won't go far wrong.

This is the advantage of the Vanguard LifeStrategy funds - you select your allocation between equities and bonds at the start and then it automatically rebalances for you.

You could perhaps ask AXA if they could add this to their list as they offer the other Vanguard funds?

colsten

dunstonh wrote: »

Why are you picking an investment platform before deciding where to invest?

It is, disturbingly, what MSE tell people to do. MSE have also chosen to ignore their error when they were made aware of it.

Investing in a stocks & shares ISA is a two-stage process. First you need to pick which provider to buy your ISA from, then you need to decide what investments to put in it.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas Need-to-know no. 5

dunstonh wrote: »

It should be the other way around.

You and I and a whole lot of investors know this.

Coombies

BLB53 thanks for your help- that was really useful advice

xylophone- I am 31 and the company I have worked for since leaving uni does not offer a pension- however they will be in the next few months under the new law. For this reason I have been saving as much money as possible to use to top up whatever pension I do have when it comes to retirement. I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket so I have money in a cash ISA, money in a high interest current account and money in a stock and shares ISA. Therefore not all of my money will be in this stocks and shares ISA. I am just making sure all the money is in the best place possible (I like to review it every now and then). I expect to draw a state pension at retirement age.

Dunstonh- Thanks for your input. I guess I meant 'documented' rather than 'advised'. I am really not very knowledgeable about Stocks and Shares (as you can probably tell!) I was advised by my bank to open a Stocks and shares Isa quite a few years ago and just want to make sure my money is in the best place- like I said above not all of my 'pension' money is in this ISA. I am trying to get my head around it all but still don't fully understand it. Yes as Colsten pointed out it does say to Choose a platform then decide what to invest in so thats is what I have done. I had large platform charges with my last Isa so have swapped to this one to take advantage of the 0% charge for the next year. No I do not think I am knowledgable enough to run a portfolio of multiple funds but I am trying to learn so any advise would be very much appreciated With my last Isa I invested in the 'low risk' funds so think it would be best for me to stay with doing this as I want minimal chance of losing any money- obviously i know this means i also have minimal chance of making money- such a tricky subject!

Archi_Bald

Coombies, sorry to hear you stumbled from one bad ISA provider to a mediocre one, but perhaps it isn't too late to get onto a good footing.

S&S ISAs are simply tax wrappers for investments. So you need to have at least a basic grasp of investments to DIY them, or you need to pay for professional advice.

There are many great suggestions for reading materials in https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5043692, from "Investing For Dummies" right through to serious books like "Smarter Investing".

If you want the DIY approach, you could just read this: http://monevator.com/category/investing/passive-investing-investing/. It should help you determine what sort of investments you want in your ISA, and it could be as simple a one Vanguard Lifestrategy fund. This is neither a recommendation nor advice. If you want advice, you need to find - and pay for - an IFA (check unbiased.co.uk).

Once you know what you want to invest in, you then need to find a suitable provider. It is true that cost matters (on both, the investment and the provider) but just choosing the cheapest isn't necessarily the best. Aside from that, the provider cost depends on how often and how much you trade. Monevator has a comprehensive summary of who offers what, and comparefundplatforms lets you model your requirements.

Coombies

Thank you Archi Bald, you have been really helpful. I am wondering whether it actually might be better for me to just scrap the S and S isa as i don't really know enough. hummmm, got some thinking to do. thanks.

Archi_Bald

I wasn't meant to put you off an S&S ISA - - with a little investment of your time, it should be easy enough to understand. Give yourself a couple of weeks to digest it all, then see how you feel then.

Investment ISAs for Dummies is actually quite a good bit of reading to start with but read the health warning here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=67543551&postcount=27