Best way to invest a six figure sum

keepguessing

Hi all,

New to the forum, so apologies in advance if I say anything that rubs anyone up the wrong way; that is genuinely not my intention.

I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction to start looking into different investment options. I have a feeling the answer is to find a professional financial advisor that I trust, but I thought I'd ask here first in case there were other sensible suggestions.

I have a six figure sum sat in an NS&I account. I am very risk averse, but would like to make it grow; the interest rate on the account is very poor and not likely to improve any time soon.

I am in my early thirties, am mortgage free and don't have any other debts.

I realise that this is a nice problem to have, but to be honest I'm a little scared stiff of squandering or losing a significant amount of money.

I work full time, so don't really need income from it at the moment, unless I can find away for the interest to pay the equivalent of my salary. I'm don't think this is really an option at the moment with interest rates being so low.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

SailorSam

Don't ask a gang of strangers who know nothing. If you've got that type of money, get professional advice.

enthusiasticsaver

I was new to investing a few years ago and read up on it and started slow. Monevator, Trustnet blogs were really helpful and just educating on how to choose funds which matched our risk profile. In the end we went for Vanguard Lifestrategy funds and did a combination of investing lump sums and drip feeding monthly amounts in. It is possible to do it yourself or as you say find an independent financial advisor you trust. We have just used one to discuss my OHs pension as he retires in October but will not be using him to invest as he charges 2% which on the sum we are talking about would be £3000. I am not willing to do that as he was definitely leaning towards more risky funds than I am comfortable with and started talking about offsetting risk (one high risk for one very cautious fund). That may work for some but not us.

Even if you do use a professional and are happy to pay £2k for that I would still suggest you read up on investing and risk.

dunstonh

I am very risk averse

What risks are you averse to as everything has some risk. Even cash savings (shortfall risk, inflation risk, provider risk)

Even if you do use a professional and are happy to pay £2k

The price of one professional is not an indication of what the other 20,000 professionals would charge. Some may be more, some maybe less.

lesta1980

not far off the same situation i was in a few months back, I won't bore you with what i've done as it's irrelevant but I have started reading Smarter Investing by Tim Hale (think it's him)

I was reluctant to get advice before as well due to not knowing who to trust. Have a look at unbiased.co.uk and see if any match your needs

System

Which vanguard lifestrategy fund? 40% 60% 80% 100%

I have been looking at 60% or 80% to replace my woodford fund

Alice_Holt

Also consider pension contributions, particularly if you are a higher tax payer.

SIPPs can be a useful financial planning tool, now that it is possible to access the fund at age 55 / 57.

Re Financial Education - The OU have good info on Investing, and I think it is available on line at no cost.
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/managing-my-investments/content-section-overview

enthusiasticsaver

mrlegend123 wrote: »

Which vanguard lifestrategy fund? 40% 60% 80% 100%

I have been looking at 60% or 80% to replace my woodford fund

I went for Vanguard LS60

Eco_Miser

SailorSam wrote: »

Don't ask a gang of strangers who know nothing. If you've got that type of money, get professional advice.

However, asking a bunch of strangers who've been there, done that and got the tee-shirt can be very illuminating.
Just be aware of the difference between advice and opinion, don't follow recommendations blindly, do your own research, and maybe still go to an Independent Financial Adviser for detail, after you've got some idea what they'll be talking about.

Monevator has lots of informative articles on investing.

You might also consider that you can get 3% to 6% on limited but significant sums with absolutely no risk (except inflation and the FSCS failing) from multiple accounts with banks and building societies listed here.

2010

Finding a "good" advisor is probably near impossible.
A few years back some advisors thought more of their commissions than their client`s actual needs.
I now believe they either charge you by the hour or an agreed fee upfront.
No matter what, even finding the best advisor in the world, they can only tell you how "investments" have performed in the past and give no guarantee for the future.

The US markets are at all time highs and the UK is getting close to it.
A so-called recession here, shortly, is being touted.
China is slowing at a rapid pace.
There is massive debt everywhere.
There is so much debt that if the BoE had increased the bank rate by .25% instead of cutting it, hundred of thousands would have lost their homes and thousands more would have been badly affected.
The whole UK government economic plan is to get people to borrow and spend.
Hardly a great time to invest a six figure sum.

Get the most you can out of current accounts,read up on investing and above all diversify when you do take the plunge.
It may take you quite some time to invest that amount.
You say you`re in your early thirties, at least time is on your side.
You`ll need it!

george4064

I would suggest you took a look at the various Vanguard LifeStrategy funds and decide which one is for your dependant on your risk preference.