£20K ISA allowance - Invest Now?

Sally57

It seems that a few platforms such as HL and Fidelity are advertising the merits of investing early in a S&S ISA.

They provide statistics to back up the fact that you can receive far better returns by investing early rather than drip feeding although they go on to say past performance is never a guarantee for future returns/performance!

I know last April it would have been far better to invest the full £15,240 straight away at the beginning of the new tax year because the market returns have been great. However, this year its a case of either invest the full amount now, drip feed or hold fire in cash just in case of a market correction or crash (so basically trying to 'time the market')?

I personally intend to invest the full amount now, mainly because I cannot see any major world influences that would disturb the world markets at present but obviously that is pure speculation! Any thoughts?

ColdIron

Sally57 wrote: »

I cannot see any major world influences that would disturb the world markets at present

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know.

We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.

And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones

- Donald Rumsfeld, February 12, 2002

jimjames

Sally57 wrote: »

I personally intend to invest the full amount now, mainly because I cannot see any major world influences that would disturb the world markets at present but obviously that is pure speculation! Any thoughts?

I think you must have very different world view glasses to me! I can see a few world issues that could cause major disturbances, who knows if they will actually happen though and how markets will react!
I just invest when I have the money, if I had the full amount I'd add it now. Remember you also get a year's worth of dividends too, at 3% or so for the FTSE that's significantly more than you get from a cash ISA alternative.

greenglide

who knows if they will actually happen though

Crucially, for use of ISA contributions the time frame is constrained by 5th April 2018 so a lot of the nasty things we can "see" ahead "probably" won't happen in that year.

As to the year after ...........

AnotherJoe

Statistically, since over time stock markets tend to rise, then you are better off to put a lump sum in in one go as soon as you have it. Most times that will be the winning strategy. Some fewer times it will be the losing one

If you are of a nervous disposition, then you psychologically might be better off forgoing some expected gains to mitigate the losses of a big drop.

If the big drop occurs a year or more from now you are no better off though, other than you've had the benefit of a rise along the way but not as much as if you'd put it all in now.

kidmugsy

Sally57 wrote: »

I cannot see any major world influences that would disturb the world markets at present

You are overlooking the looming risk of Syria invading the USA. I'll bet you are the sort of person who overlooked the earlier risks of Libya invading the USA, Iraq doing it, Serbia doing it, ......

grey_gym_sock

ColdIron wrote: »

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know.

We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.

And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones

- Donald Rumsfeld, February 12, 2002

rumsfeld was an unlikely source for such a neat statement of epistemology. there's just 1 thing he missed: unknown knowns - things we don't realise we know

Sally57

kidmugsy wrote: »

I'll bet you are the sort of person who overlooked the earlier risks of Libya invading the USA, Iraq doing it, Serbia doing it, ......

Sort of person - positive, straight forward and fairly laid back. Going back to my original post, I feel that any world unrest will have to be dealt with politically mainly between Russia and US/G7.

Russia always maintains they're not bothered by sanctions but in reality it hurts them a lot and that is why I believe they eventually stopped further action in Ukraine.

There could be some world issues that cause major disturbances but as a positive type of person I am investing my 20K now.

pharmice

I invested mine via HL into a monthly income fund. I'm positioned to receive an income of £102/month from the total investment of £20,000.

Sally57

pharmice wrote: »

I invested mine via HL into a monthly income fund. I'm positioned to receive an income of £102/month from the total investment of £20,000.

Which HL monthly income fund guarantees an income payment of £102 per month?

pharmice

Sally57 wrote: »

Which HL monthly income fund guarantees an income payment of £102 per month?

Twentyfour select monthly income ltd.