Does this sound like a 5 year plan ??

bigadaj

BOBS wrote: »

Where do I get advice on stocks and share isa ?
Money not ear marked for anything other than retirement nest egg in 20+ years. Almost mortgage free

Msallen. Didn't think of moving the monthly amount year on year to fixed

Best current account and regular savers for emergency savings, probably high thousands to low tens of thousands.

Not many things will beat a pension with an immediate 20-40% uplift, though money is locked away until 55-60.

Overpaying a mortgage has been a poor return option over the last decade but does give many people security.

Diversification is useful, maybe look at p2p lending for a portion as well, could fill part of the intermediate element in terms of access, so a few months to a few years.

Audaxer

BOBS wrote: »

Where do I get advice on stocks and share isa ?
Money not ear marked for anything other than retirement nest egg in 20+ years. Almost mortgage free

With the sums you are talking about, it would be very costly going through an IFA. You can get a lot of information on DIY investing in S&S ISAs on this forum and sites like Monevator. An easy way to start is to invest in a low cost passive globally diverse multi asset fund. Popular examples are Vanguard LifeStrategy funds, L&G Multi Index funds and HSBC Global Strategy funds. These come in different percentages of equities to bonds which you can choose based on your preferred risk level, e.g. 80% equities is going to be more volatile than 40% equities, but should give higher returns over the long term.

You would then need to choose a platform to invest the fund in an S&S ISA. Some platforms cost an annual percentage fee and some a flat fee. The link below shows a comparison of platforms:
http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

steampowered

chockydavid1983 wrote: »

The latter is far more diversified

Yes, a global tracker is more geographically diversified than a FTSE 100 tracker. Does it really matter? Probably not. A FTSE 100 tracker is already reasonably well diversified between different industries and geographies.

and likely to do better in the long run.

You have no basis on which to make this assessment. Maybe the FTSE 100 will underperform other global indexes over the next 20 years, maybe it will outperform. You don't know. Particularly when a global fund is likely to come with higher fees.

Though I have no basis for pushing a FTSE 100 tracker either. I simply give it as an example. Any sort of diversified stock and share investment is going to outperform than cash over the long term. It is more important for the Op to stick with something simple rather than leaving it in cash.

Those two options are much higher than the average consumer risk profile and the OP has already said they are nervous about it.

The Op said they are saving for retirement in 20+ years. If the Op keeps money in cash they are just going to lose out to inflation.

dunstonh

A FTSE 100 tracker is already reasonably well diversified between different industries and geographies.

The FTSE100 is one of the least diversified indexes going. It is a really poor option. And that is just on asset allocation and ignores the fact that the FTSE100 has been a consistently bad performer for over 20 years.

You have no basis on which to make this assessment. Maybe the FTSE 100 will underperform other global indexes over the next 20 years, maybe it will outperform. You don't know. Particularly when a global fund is likely to come with higher fees.

Fees are irrelevant as you are talking 0.0x% difference.

And actually, he can say that because the global tracker would be expected to outperform the FTSE100 tracker. Its not guaranteed of course but expectation can be discussed.

The Op said they are saving for retirement in 20+ years. If the Op keeps money in cash they are just going to lose out to inflation.

Absolutely agree. Cash may have no investment risk but when you consider all risks, it can actually make cash higher risk as you are virtually guaranteeing shortfall risk and inflation risk with cash. Whereas with investments, you "may" only suffer those. And again, we are talking expectation. You would expect investments to beat cash over virtually all long term periods.

However, moving to investments does not mean an inexperienced investor who is nervous should jump in right at the deep end of the investment risk scale (cash =1, the two options you mention are 9 and 10 on a typical 1-10 scale - Most UK consumers would be 4-6)

chockydavid1983

steampowered wrote: »

You have no basis on which to make this assessment. Maybe the FTSE 100 will underperform other global indexes over the next 20 years, maybe it will outperform. You don't know. Particularly when a global fund is likely to come with higher fees.

Of course there are no guarantees and I didn't say there were :-).
But in general, diversification is your friend and gives you a higher probability of success in the long run.
There are plenty of global funds with very low fees.

BOBS

Just checking back on ! - thank you to all who have taken the time to post this morning. I have googled and read and read and nothing I can find reassures me that I could do S&S Isas or any of the other products you all mention. I would be way to scared as it all confuses me so much. Plus everything I research keeps telling me 'capital at risk'.
But I so so appreciate you all taking time.

dunstonh

BOBS wrote: »

Just checking back on ! - thank you to all who have taken the time to post this morning. I have googled and read and read and nothing I can find reassures me that I could do S&S Isas or any of the other products you all mention. I would be way to scared as it all confuses me so much. Plus everything I research keeps telling me 'capital at risk'.
But I so so appreciate you all taking time.

Then you should consider using an IFA. IFAs come at a cost but the cost of an IFA and investing appropriately vs the cost of using cash over the long term needs to be considered. IFA cost will be tiny in comparison to the cost of using cash.

enthusiasticsaver

1.16% will not even cover inflation. I too would urge you to read up on stocks and shares. I am a cautious investor and read up for about 3 months before starting investing in funds a few years ago. Now 80% of our liquid assets are in stocks and shares isas and sipps and only 20% in high interest current accounts (Santander 123 and Tesco current accounts) and a Tesco internet saver.

If you really do not want to consider investing then look into regular savers for your £600 which will at least get you decent interest rates.

BOBS

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

1.16% will not even cover inflation. I too would urge you to read up on stocks and shares. I am a cautious investor and read up for about 3 months before starting investing in funds a few years ago. Now 80% of our liquid assets are in stocks and shares isas and sipps and only 20% in high interest current accounts (Santander 123 and Tesco current accounts) and a Tesco internet saver.

If you really do not want to consider investing then look into regular savers for your £600 which will at least get you decent interest rates.

thank you - intend to keep reading to see if any way I get my head around it all.

JohnRo

Forget all these investment questions BOBS, what's going on in that avatar?

Is it someone stroking the world's largest hedgehog?