25000 lump sum to invest over the short term(i.e. about 6 years)

donmaico

bowlhead99 wrote: »

Generally you would expect share-based investments to do well over the long term but in the short term the prices could move anywhere. Some gain or some paper loss in 15 months is basically just "noise" when retiring in your early 60s and potentially having the prospect of spending the last of your pounds when you're in your early 90s or 100s. If anything, it tells you it's a little cheaper to buy those same investments today than it was over the average of the last 15 months. So perhaps you should buy more, if things are on sale.

Whether the investments are up or down depends on what exactly the funds invest in, for example since the ends of last year, some types of company shares are down a bit, some down a bit more, and government bonds are up a bit, generally. So it is about having a balance of different types of holdings if you want to end up with a sustainable pot of assets to draw upon, rather than just cash or just bonds or just UK shares or just international shares or whatever.

How did you lose money with your ISA investments before? Did you just wait until they were down in value from what you paid, and then sell out at the bottom? Do you know what they would have been worth today if you had kept them and potentially kept adding to therm at the low values? Generally the trick is to just keep them and accept that the income from them might go down from time to time before eventually recovering and growing again.

Still, it's not for me to tell you that you're doing it wrong, we simply have different attitudes and there is more than one way to skin a cat. But if your wife has 4 days a week "free" which she used to spend on her day job, that's plenty of time to learn about investment allocations and the maths of compound investments returns versus bank account returns.

impetuousness I got carried away with the tech bubble and looked at the volatile funds and bought them just before the crash in the early naughties not really having an understanding.Oddly the one I paid into in monthly instalments was also volatile but I hung on to it and sold it when it was on the up so i did ok .

I have not checked their current worth but originally I went for lump sums into Invesco European and the European Smaller companies funds and a monthly into Henderson global tech (within skandia) .I transferred the funds into a Fidelity European which did better. My wife bought a Schroder midcap 250. again monthly, and whilst it was rubbish in the early days , it picked up.|
My main issue was with the Invesco fund because it took me years to get it back (almost) to where i had started so from that point I vowed not to use lump sums unless I could get the timing right and I have no idea how one would do that.
I appreciate your comments by the way, and whilst my wife's maths were never very good I am sure she will take greater interest in investing

jimjames

donmaico wrote: »

I guess we are both rather risk averse. Having, in the past, lost money with lump sum share Isa investments

donmaico wrote: »

impetuousness I got carried away with the tech bubble and looked at the volatile funds and bought them just before the crash in the early naughties not really having an understanding.Oddly the one I paid into in monthly instalments was also volatile but I hung on to it and sold it when it was on the up so i did ok .

I think it gives a very false picture of investing to base your opinion on one experience of following a fashionable investment and investing in an incredibly high risk single sector rather than a balanced portfolio. Even your most recent investments are not really very balanced and look to be similar fashion trends.
If you read up on www.monevator.com you should find some ideas for being able to build a balanced portfolio that will suit you for years to come - not one that is a rollercoaster that goes off the scale.

donmaico

jimjames wrote: »

I think it gives a very false picture of investing to base your opinion on one experience of following a fashionable investment and investing in an incredibly high risk single sector rather than a balanced portfolio. Even your most recent investments are not really very balanced and look to be similar fashion trends.
If you read up on www.monevator.com you should find some ideas for being able to build a balanced portfolio that will suit you for years to come - not one that is a rollercoaster that goes off the scale.

I know but as experiences go it wasnt great, so much so i lost confidence .The funds were recommended to me by an IFA and I just went for them without giving much thought .It was the graphs that excited me . I have since stopped using his services .
My most recent(recommended) investment is more cautious or at least i am told so .Fundsnetwork:
Close Diversified Income Portfolio Fund - X (Accumulation)
F&C MM Navigator Distribution C Acc
Schroder MM Diversity Income Fund Z Acc
Threadneedle Managed Port 4 RDR Z Inc
Vanguard LifeStrategy 40% Equity Acc.

This investment is supposed to represent the first step towards my goal of creating a pot from which I can derive an income .When the time arrives I shall make point of not drawing more than about 4% from it but I accept that over a period of time the pot will lose value.That in itself is not a major concern because my wife and I have and will have other sources of income to draw from
I am quite prepared to make further investments if I feel confident enough to do so.At the end of the day we as clients have to trust the advice of those who have far greater knowledge .My first experience wasnt great but I made the choices myself .This time I hope I have been more prudent but given some of the advice above I am now wondering about making a further lump sum investment

donmaico

bowlhead99 wrote: »

Generally you would expect share-based investments to do well over the long term but in the short term the prices could move anywhere. Some gain or some paper loss in 15 months is basically just "noise" when retiring in your early 60s and potentially having the prospect of spending the last of your pounds when you're in your early 90s or 100s. If anything, it tells you it's a little cheaper to buy those same investments today than it was over the average of the last 15 months. So perhaps you should buy more, if things are on sale.

Whether the investments are up or down depends on what exactly the funds invest in, for example since the ends of last year, some types of company shares are down a bit, some down a bit more, and government bonds are up a bit, generally. So it is about having a balance of different types of holdings if you want to end up with a sustainable pot of assets to draw upon, rather than just cash or just bonds or just UK shares or just international shares or whatever.

How did you lose money with your ISA investments before? Did you just wait until they were down in value from what you paid, and then sell out at the bottom? Do you know what they would have been worth today if you had kept them and potentially kept adding to therm at the low values? Generally the trick is to just keep them and accept that the income from them might go down from time to time before eventually recovering and growing again.

Still, it's not for me to tell you that you're doing it wrong, we simply have different attitudes and there is more than one way to skin a cat. But if your wife has 4 days a week "free" which she used to spend on her day job, that's plenty of time to learn about investment allocations and the maths of compound investments returns versus bank account returns.

I shall discuss with my IFA the possibilityof making further lump sum investments but it seems to me timing is crucial so that a downturn would be food time to do that