Shares - what to do

Besttoask

Hi, new to forums but not this site. Advice :- do I ditch £10K Santander portfolio shares before they drop further or do I wait until after the eu referendum ? I cant afford for them to drop below £9.5K really unsure. What would you do? I do not have a lot of savings so am in
state of uncertainly, as I guess are many others.

Thanks

bigadaj

If that is all or most of your money then it should be in savings rather than investments, and your panicked view if what are really minor fluctuations in share values indicate you're not suited to holding investments.

You are probably best selling them and putting the money into high interest current accounts until you have enough that you are prepared to accept risk and volatility. The difficulty is that after you sell they may go up, if this is of concern then don't check after you've sold.

nushnush

if you cannot afford for them to go down then you shouldnt have them, investing is a risk and risks are not always rewarded.

marina0403

Share prices can fluctuate suddenly, and sometimes very sharply, and this is why shares are considered a higher-risk investment than cash, bonds and property. It’s also the reason why they’re more suitable as a longer-term investment – if you invest over a longer period you’re in a better position to ride out any fluctuations in the market.

Aretnap

Nobody here can tell you what the result of the EU referendum is going to be, or how Santander's share price will perform between now and then. If I was able to predict the day to day movement of share prices I'd be sitting on my yacht in the Carribean, not sitting at my desk pretending to be busy and posting on here out of boredom.

We can however tell you that having most or all of your savings in the shares of any single company is extremely risky - even without the referendum complication they could very easily fall by well over 50%, and there's a non-trivial risk that they could be wiped out entirely in the event of, for example, another banking crisis.

I'd suggest that you sell the shares and reinvest the money in a portfolio which better suits your needs and risk profile. If you can't afford a drop of even 5% (presumably because you need the money in the short term, or as an emergency fund) then most or all of it should really be held as cash rather than shares, or even bonds.

DrSyn

No one can tell you what any share will do in the future!

If you cannot afford for your investments (i.e. shares) to drop by that amount and you also worry about such small changes in the share price, you should not be in investments in the first place!

From what information you have supplied, I think you would be much happier if you got out of shares. Then deposited the money in a high interest paying current account.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest#currentaccount

Q1.
It is not clear if you hold a £10K portfolio of share held by Santandar, or you hold shares of Santandar. Which is it?

Q2. How did you get into share in the first place?

Shmo

Santander shares like most European banks have had an awful run lately. The dividend cut did them no favours and the yield at current share price is around 4% which is decent but nothing special. You can get many well diversified funds with similar yields that also have capital growth potential that would protect your capital much better than shares in a single company.. You're really gambling with your savings having it all in the shares of single company.

I have 7k Santander shares and have no intention of selling but it's my worst performer in a portfolio of 20+ shares. I'd be surprised if the sector doesn't recover and they offer a decent return someday but it could be one or twenty years from now. I certainly wouldn't be holding them as my only investment.

Besttoask

Thanks for the replies, I have held the 70% shs portfolio shares for 6 years and they are a portfolio of shares held by Santander, I was advised by a Santander Financial Advisor to buy the shares along with other investments which have matured now with a good growth, Because I have now retired I am more concerned but I do have other savings and ISA's. Will have to decide whether to go with the flow or jump ship,

bigadaj

Besttoask wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I have held the 70% shs portfolio shares for 6 years and they are a portfolio of shares held by Santander, I was advised by a Santander Financial Advisor to buy the shares along with other investments which have matured now with a good growth, Because I have now retired I am more concerned but I do have other savings and ISA's. Will have to decide whether to go with the flow or jump ship,

Ok, so sounds like you were sold a product and incidentally it has done fairly well for you.

If you are very risk averse then you would be best to cash them in, look at the 5% loophole thread and article for info on how to maximise returns.

If you are interested in investments, which is normally the best route for people with larger sums and longer time horizons then monevator.com explains things quite well.

AnotherJoe

Besttoask wrote: »

Advice :- do I ditch £10K Santander portfolio shares before they drop further or do I wait until after the eu referendum ? I cant afford for them to drop below £9.5K really unsure. What would you do? I do not have a lot of savings

Easy peasy then, sell them tomorrow. seriously it's a no-brainer. You shouldn't be investing if you wish to have savings, and / or you can't afford for them to drop. Savings and investments are different things and you are mixing them up. You can get a guaranteed 4-5% on cash savings for your amount of investments as cash no trouble.

slowpoke_rodriguez

What shares are in the Portfolio?