FTSE all share tracker ISA

adonis10

Currently have ~2k in this ISA which I try to top up at the right time (dips in the ftse) and just looking for a little advice as to whether this is the best strategy. I have other savings in high interest accounts so am happy for 2-3k to be in this type of ISA, which will build over time but currently house saving takes priority over higher top ups.

I monitor the FTSE all share price daily and so attempt to top up when there is a dip, thus obtaining more units. Basic investment strategy, really. I'm happy that I won't need these funds urgently so will ride out the peaks and troughs. Any other advice? Also, the ISA is with Virgin which I believe to be one of the more expensive ones so am looking for a good alternative - any advice on this?

InvestInPoker

Virgin is an extremely expensive all share tracker at 1% per year.

You can get all share trackers starting at 0.06% per year on other platforms. The platforms are variable cost. Look at the passive (tracker) funds offered by Vanguard/Fidelity/Blackrock/Legal and General etc

For your amount of money I would suggest an all share tracker is bad in an all eggs in one not great basket kind of thing. Try to be a bit more globally diversified which you can do with just one passive fund. Research vanguard lifestrategy or similar types of things.

pejt

Diversifying across other investment types maybe worth some thought, rather than having all eggs (apart from cash) in equities. Personally I quite like buying structured products saving myself loads of time looking at the markets daily. I figure there are better things to do. I use sipp centre.

dunstonh

Virgin is awful as already mentioned. So is investing 100% into UK equity. Also for reasons given. You should go with multi-asset solutions.

Personally I quite like buying structured products saving myself loads of time looking at the markets daily.

Structured products are high risk (no FSCS protection and 100% loss potential if market counterparty fails as happened with many during the credit crunch). The FCA recommend that no more than 25% of investable assets are in SCARPS and no more than 10% is with any one market counterparty.

adonis10

dunstonh wrote: »

Virgin is awful as already mentioned. So is investing 100% into UK equity. Also for reasons given. You should go with multi-asset solutions.

Which fund would you go for, given my novice level of knowledge and small investment?

digannio

You could also have a read up on the Legal & General Multi-Index funds. They are multi asset (including property), globally diversified, rebalanced for you and with reasonable costs. Just choose the one that best suits your risk profile.
Usual caveats apply... ie, I know nowt:D

jimjames

pejt wrote: »

Diversifying across other investment types maybe worth some thought, rather than having all eggs (apart from cash) in equities. Personally I quite like buying structured products saving myself loads of time looking at the markets daily. I figure there are better things to do. I use sipp centre.

I figure there are far better things to do than buying structured products. You don't need to monitor markets daily just because you have bought a fund in a index tracker or multi asset fund instead of a structured product.

dunstonh

adonis10 wrote: »

Which fund would you go for, given my novice level of knowledge and small investment?

I'm regulated and cant say. It would be a breach of board rules and I would also fall foul of regulatory requirements if I did.

Plus, you havent given enough to go on either. Others who are not regulated may go further than I can and naming examples.

jimjames

adonis10 wrote: »

Which fund would you go for, given my novice level of knowledge and small investment?

You may want to look at Vanguard LS series of funds. If you're happy with 100% equity as with Virgin then the LS100 may be suitable. Charges are substantially lower and it covers markets across the world to balance the risk.

Sam_J12

The Blackrock/Ishares and Vanguard index tracker products tend to be excellent so I recommend checking out those products.