Cash ISA to Tracker Fund -

Shaps

Can anyone please advise me .

I am looking to invest around 15K I currently have in a Cash ISA in some sort of
Tracker Fund for the long term ( over 5 years ) as the money has been sitting in the account for 3
years genertating very litte.

I have around 50k in various savings / current accounts achieving between 3 - 5% , I am 35 with no debts .
I have no experience with shares etc s so not too sure about the best ways to go about it , I have done some reading up in the last month or so and have been looking at the Fidelity Tracker .


I have not used my S&S isa allowance this year either .

Any help to a novice investor would be much appreciated .



J

masonic

It would probably be worth you having a look at the monevator site, in particular:

http://monevator.com/category/investing/passive-investing-investing/
http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

dunstonh

Tracker Fund for the long term ( over 5 years )

5 years is short term. its half an economic cycle. Its the barest minimum for investing a single premium.

If you take a crude 1-10 risk scale, that is moving money from risk 1 to risk 10. Thats quite a jump. Are you prepared for that level of volatility?

Single sector investing is considered a bad way to invest (eggs all in one basket).

TheTracker

dunstonh wrote: »

5 years is short term. its half an economic cycle. Its the barest minimum for investing a single premium.

If you take a crude 1-10 risk scale, that is moving money from risk 1 to risk 10. Thats quite a jump. Are you prepared for that level of volatility?

Single sector investing is considered a bad way to invest (eggs all in one basket).

Once again here is dunstonh assuming someone who wants to invest in a tracker fund will do so in a single sector. And worse, labelling it with the highest risk.

Poppycock. They are plenty is more risky ways of investing. Single stocks. Funds with very high fees. Fashion investing. Single sector active funds. Alternative investments. etc.

What's the worst tracker that a novice would realistically buy? Probably the FTSE100. A popular poor choice. And what's the historical risk there? Drawdowns of maybe 20-30% over 5 years? Probably less.

Sure it is risky. But 10 out of 10? I expect more from an IFA.

To the OP: throw it in a balanced fund of trackers, like Vanguard LifeStrategy 60. I wouldn't invest anywhere without an 8-10 year horizon.

'techniques shrouded in mystery clearly have value to the purveyor of investment advice. After all, what witch doctor has ever achieved fame and fortune by simply advising ‘Take two aspirins’?”' - Warren Buffett.

Eco_Miser

After considering the suggestions on here, and studying the monevator site, choose an appropriate platform, study the instructions on their site, open an S&S ISA with them, download their ISA transfer form, fill in the details of your cash ISA, and send the form back.
Then when the cash is in your S&S ISA, log in and buy the investment(s) you want.

dunstonh

Once again here is dunstonh assuming someone who wants to invest in a tracker fund will do so in a single sector. And worse, labelling it with the highest risk.

No assumption. The op says in post #1 quite clearly: "in some sort of
Tracker Fund"

I suppose they could have a 100% gilt tracker which would not be high risk from a volatility point of view but it would still have increased risk for being 100% in one area.

oppycock. They are plenty is more risky ways of investing. Single stocks. Funds with very high fees. Fashion investing. Single sector active funds. Alternative investments. etc.

of course there are more risky ways of investing. Still doesnt make single sector investing right though. The conventional invesmtents risk scale used by most includes conventional unit linked investing. It does not include unregulated schemes which are all deemed above that.

It is strange that you feel a single sector active fund is risky but not a single sector tracker fund. In general, you would class them as the same level of risk as, for example, 100% UK Equity managed is little different to 100% UK equity tracker in risk. There could be minor differences (which could see the managed fund slightly higher or slightly lower in risk but broadly similar).

Sure it is risky. But 10 out of 10? I expect more from an IFA.

Sorry you feel that way. However, that is the typical risk score of a single sector 100% equity fund when measuring against conventional investing. I cannot help that you do not understand that. Although it does appear you do understand that as you said in your post that single sector investing was high risk (albeit with your failure to understand active and managed has nothing to do with asset class). So, one has to question your motive for writing that.

To the OP: throw it in a balanced fund of trackers, like Vanguard LifeStrategy 60. I wouldn't invest anywhere without an 8-10 year horizon.

That is a multi-asset fund and the sort of option that the OP should be looking at. Strange that you criticise my response as being wrong but then go and recommend something that the OP hasnt asked for but more akin to what I would be suggesting.

Shaps

Thanks taking the time out to answer my post , I will look into the Vanguard Lifestyle funds but I think i need to do some more research as my knowledge of investing is very limited .

Superscrooge

I agree it is higher risk to put all your investments into equities. But from what you say you have another 50K in addition to this 15K

Having less than 1/3rd of your investments in equities doesn't appear too high risk to me?

Investing in individual shares is more risky than investing in a broadly diversified fund. The longer the time period the less risky equity investing becomes.

If you do go down the tracker route, it is best to build up your investments across different stock markets. This can be done by investing in a selection of single market trackers or by investing in a world index tracker. Fidelity have a good range of low cost index funds

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/investor/tracker-funds/our-range.page