ISA Millionaires

qwert_yuiop

bostonerimus wrote: »

Such abuses and "irrational exuberance" have made it harder work for the UK investor than necessary. I've had a self managed 60/40ish US based dumb index portfolio for 30 years. I've followed simple principles of indexing and rebalancing and saved aggressively. My average annual return over that time has been 8.5%, it is literally nothing special because all I did was invest in indexes. I passed the 1M (dollors or pounds) portfolio value a long time ago because I started saving a large percentage of my income early on and have had access to good pension plans.

How do you define "large amounts"?

bostonerimus

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

I got a 25 year Scottish widows endowment policy back when I started off in 1992, paying just over £68 a month (the extravagance). They wrote to me ten years later to say it wasn't doing very well, and was worth a lot less than I had put in. I complained, wanting to know how I could be losing money in a period where the stock market had trebled, the only possible reason being they'd paid themselves far too much, pointing out the salesman who'd got me this was cruising around in a jaguar with private number plates. They eventually gave me £500 consolation.

Now, after paying £20,484, I've just been told I'm getting a transfer next week for just over £41,000. I don't understand it either.

This is why I'm not a fan of over complicating investing. Wrapping things up in insurance policies is sure to add costs and often makes the performance of those investments more opaque.

qwert_yuiop

bostonerimus wrote: »

Wrapping things up in insurance policies is sure to add costs and often makes the performance of those investments more opaque.

I suspect that was the whole point.

bostonerimus

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

How do you define "large amounts"?

At least 20% of salary.

bostonerimus

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

I suspect that was the whole point.

Yes. as a rule I never combine financial products as the complications offer lots of chances to impose hidden fees. If I need insurance I buy that, if I want to invest I go directly to the fund company and when I had a mortgage it was a simple repayment type.

TheTracker

An interesting twist on the OP’s intent is to motivationally ask WILL you become an ISA millionnaire? Eg, with say a 100k pot and 7% return (before inflation) it’d only take 17 years, and that’s with a £20k annual contribution. Of course a million would be worth less then than today, but shows it’s not astronomic.

dividendhero

My ISA's worth several hundred grand but not the magic million, but pretty pleased overall. Strategy has mainly been to buy and hold good old fashioned IT's such as CTY & FRCL...