£75,000 to maximise

Rayling

Hi
A few years ago my wife was left £75,000 as inhertance
We have invested this all in ISA's between the both of us.

My wife has no intention of spending any of this and we wish to keep this money as a safety net to take us into our retirement in 9 years time.

Could any one please offer their opinions on our current investment strategy, is there a better way to invest, we dont like risk btw

Thanks

jimjames

Maybe if you can explain your current investment strategy and what you are currently invested in? Which funds, which platform etc?


Presumably it took a few years to get the money into your S&S ISAs so you'd have bought the funds at different times and prices. It's certainly a good way to keep money for the long term as cash will lose out due to inflation but the risk really depends on what funds you have bought.

xylophone

into your S&S ISAs

The OP has not confirmed that they are using S&S ISAs - some people say "invest" when they mean "save".

jimjames

xylophone wrote: »

The OP has not confirmed that they are using S&S ISAs - some people say "invest" when they mean "save".

Fair enough.

Use of invest and investment strategy indicated to me that it wasn't saving. Not quite sure how an investment strategy equates to leaving all your money in a cash ISA but we'll have to wait for the OP to explain more.


OP - if you do mean that you've left all the money in cash ISAs then that's certainly not a great strategy for long term money.

Rayling

Hi Sorry I didn't make myself clearer.

The money is simply tied up in a series of different cash isa's mainly Nationwide and post office
Attracting somewhere in the region of 1 to 2%

HardCoreProgrammer

Why is it a bad idea to leave the money in cash?

The ISA account where I have been saving monthly for the last 5 years is now showing a gain similar to if I had simply left it in a cash ISA.

Yes, stock markets returns were more than cash in the past, but nobody knows what it will be like in future. Some will come here soon and spout the "time in the market" nonsense - well if you listened to them last summer and chucked it all into FTSE-100 tracker, you would be looking at 20%+ loss now. You would be doing quite well to lose that much money to inflation in a savings account.

You have a 10 year horizon, and I assume you cannot bear (even if you can afford) to lose the money, so take the risk you can stomach.

Eco_Miser

If you'd prefer something in the region of 3%-6% for your cash look at this list of bank accounts and this article and read the various threads about high interest current accounts and regular saver accounts.

But please be aware that your are still taking a risk, and effectively betting that inflation doesn't reach 1970s levels or worse.

Rayling

HardCoreProgrammer wrote: »

Why is it a bad idea to leave the money in cash?
.

Thanks for your input, but I never really said it was a bad idea, I just wanted some advice on investing it

BananaRepublic

Generally the saying no pain, no gain, applies to investing. Either you take no risk, and get poor returns, or you take risk, and may get high returns, but then again you may lose.

If for example you look at the long term performance of UK tracker funds, then you will see a decent return. At the moment the market is 20% down from its peak, so in my view now is an ideal time to invest, but only for the long term e.g. 5+ years. Investing in a tracker fund is riskier than cash, but you will only lose money if the UK goes seriously down the pan.

You can also invest in actively managed funds, rather than trackers, but then you have to choose a decent fund manager. I have found past performance to be a decent guide to the future, others may disagree.

You can also invest in various markets and sectors. Some such as China are very volatile. Others such as the UK are much less volatile.

My view is that the easiest approach is to invest in a UK tracker fund. They never do as well as the better managed funds, but they are consistent, and I bet you get a very good return over 9 years.

I prefer managed funds, but I am prepared to do the research, and I am happy to take risk. If you do invest in managed funds, you are best to invest in several. But if you do not like risk, then cash is your answer.

There used to be, and maybe there still are, stock market investment products that promise to return all of your money, plus investment growth. The idea is that you invest for 5 years, and if the investments have dropped, you get your money back. If they have grown, you get a fraction of the growth. So you get some of the benefits of stocks and shares, without the risks. Personally I do not like these products, but they will suit some people.

Incidentally, why not do some reading on investing, stock markets and so on. It's fun, and informative. You may decide you still want a low risk approach, but you will have learnt something.

Rayling

Thanks for taking the time to give a nice detailed reply thats certainly given me more food for thought
Cheers