how to ensure im not duffing this up......

Tygermoth

Hi everyone,

This is my first foray into ISA stocks n shares.

On sitting down with the OH today we were reviewing our pensions and realised we need to try and add to future income in a small way (hopefully)

We both have had pensions all along however I had a accident and ,as per my sig, ended up with a significant cognitive disability.

With time to get back on my feet, adapt and get back to work this took a number of years out of the pot.

So today i set up my saver with £25 per month - not big bucks but we are playing catch up

The account gave me the options to pick funds and heavily researched and picked one i was happy with because my thinking was £25 is such a small amount.

then i was thinking on this ...... or is it better to place small amounts over lots to spread the load?

(please be gentle with me - i have issues with taking on new information - that doesn't mean i don't want to learn or understand - it's just it can take a while - but once its in... im cooking on gas)

JohnRo

Hopefully the investment you eventually chose was one of the various Global Multi-Asset funds at a low cost provider?

There's definitely nothing wrong with keeping it simple.

Tygermoth

Yes it was

It had a medium term listed. So would you keep with it for several years at £25 per month?

I believe the long game is the best all round option?

Linton

Which platform are you using? Some have fixed charges which could be rather large if you are drip feeding £25.

Tygermoth

Also does anyone know if there is a very good trusted guide in the most simple plain english?

Even better a video - i do better with visuals rather than walls of text

Thank you

Hargreaves Lansdown, as was recommended to be as a pretty idiot proof'ish

ValiantSon

Which fund did you invest in and on which platform?

Tygermoth

Sorry I wasn't sure if you were allowed to give details - I wasn't being deliberately vague.

Blackrock (is this enough details or do you want the full info) - hargreaves lansdown

bostonerimus

Which Blackrock fund?

Using H&L to buy a Blackrock multi-asset fund is pretty boring.....which is exactly what you should be doing. So well do if that's what you did.

ValiantSon

I'm assuming you mean Blackrock Consensus.

Hargreaves Lansdown are one of the more expensive platforms, your total costs will be 0.67%. However, some of the cheaper platforms don't seem to offer the fund, so you may be best with Hargreaves Lansdown.

The impact of costs can be significant, though. If you were tempted towards BlackRock, then it might have been worth considering HSBC Global Strategy, which is a cheaper fund, and available on a cheaper platform. For example, the "Balanced" version would work out at only 0.44% on Charles Stanley Direct.

Hargreaves Lansdown will also charge you £55 to transfer out, whereas Charles Stanley Direct will charge you £10.

For further comparison, Vanguard LifeStrategy on Vanguard Investor will only cost you 0.37%, and they don't charge any exit fees.
Have you actually bought this fund yet? If not, it might be worth exploring an alternative option.

Linton

ValiantSon wrote: »

I'm assuming you mean Blackrock Consensus.

Hargreaves Lansdown are one of the more expensive platforms, your total costs will be 0.67%. However, some of the cheaper platforms don't seem to offer the fund, so you may be best with Hargreaves Lansdown.

The impact of costs can be significant, though. If you were tempted towards BlackRock, then it might have been worth considering HSBC Global Strategy, which is a cheaper fund, and available on a cheaper platform. For example, the "Balanced" version would work out at only 0.44% on Charles Stanley Direct.

Hargreaves Lansdown will also charge you £55 to transfer out, whereas Charles Stanley Direct will charge you £10.

For further comparison, Vanguard LifeStrategy on Vanguard Investor will only cost you 0.37%, and they don't charge any exit fees.
Have you actually bought this fund yet? If not, it might be worth exploring an alternative option.

The OP is investing £25/month, so £300 in a year. 0.67%-0.37%=90p/year.

Focussing on charges and ignoring everything else is foolish.

Alexland

ValiantSon wrote: »

I'm assuming you mean Blackrock Consensus.

Hargreaves Lansdown are one of the more expensive platforms, your total costs will be 0.67%. However, some of the cheaper platforms don't seem to offer the fund, so you may be best with Hargreaves Lansdown.

This week, during a discussion about LISAs, TheShape made me aware that Hargreaves Lansdown have a special 0.13% discount on Blackrock Consensus 85 and 100 so the total cost is 'only' 0.54% and 0.55% respectively.

However as these funds have such a high proportion of shares there will be significant ups and downs which might be very stressful. The other lower volatility Consensus funds are available without any discount.

There are still cheaper options but at £25 per month it's unlikely to be worth paying the exit fee and the HL service quality might meet the OPs needs.