Portfolio Assessment

Vet

Hi guys,

For the past few months i've been looking at ways at improve my portfolio prior to (hopefully) buying a house in the next 4-5 years. Pension with work at max at 3% salary - they wont increase their contributions (2%). I'm not planning on getting married/having children within this time frame.
I can afford to save approx £1000 per month. I am currently 24.
Currently I have:

• Skipton LISA - £9k - Waiting on 2018 bonus + 0.78% interest
• HSBC Current acc with linked 5% saver - £300 in curr, adding in £250/month to saver
• Nationwide current acc with linked saver - both 5% - £2.5k in curr and £250/month in saver
• First Direct current acc with 5% regular saver -£1.3k in current acc + £300/month in 5% saver
• TSB Current acc (5% up to 1.5k) and 2% saver - 2.7k in current acc + £250/month in saver
• Shawbrook 1.3% acc - £12.1k
• 2 x Atom Bank 2% fixed 1 year saver - Each £1k, planning to open 1 per month
• Gatehouse - £1k - 2% interest + £50 bonus from Raisin
• Legal and General S&S ISA £1.4k - paying £100/month

Total Assets: £39.6k (with LISA bonus)
My current plan is to open up an Atom bank saver every month using the Shawbrook money to achieve a 2% interest (hopefully this will rise this year) which I why i'm not currently putting the full £12k at once.

Is there anything i'm missing?
What can I do to increase my return?
Is the L&G S&S ISA pointless?

Thank you for your help!!

dunstonh

Is the L&G S&S ISA pointless?

Not pointless but if the money is going towards the objective of buying a house in 4-5 years then it is "unsuitable" rather than "pointless".

Vet

dunstonh wrote: »

Not pointless but if the money is going towards the objective of buying a house in 4-5 years then it is "unsuitable" rather than "pointless".

I might just keep this one for the longer term i.e. 20-25 years - just as an extra. It's only a small amount per month - investing £50 in US and UK index trust

dunstonh

Vet wrote: »

I might just keep this one for the longer term i.e. 20-25 years - just as an extra. It's only a small amount per month - investing £50 in US and UK index trust

You should change the investments to make them more suitable. Its poorly invested at the moment. Single sector funds are designed to be held in a portfolio of single sector funds (so around 10-12 main sectors). You are holding just two sectors. That is poor diversification. Moving to a global fund would be better if you are happy with 100% equities.

Vet

dunstonh wrote: »

You should change the investments to make them more suitable. Its poorly invested at the moment. Single sector funds are designed to be held in a portfolio of single sector funds (so around 10-12 main sectors). You are holding just two sectors. That is poor diversification. Moving to a global fund would be better if you are happy with 100% equities.

Any global funds you would recommend? Do you think L&G is a good platform to work from?

kidmugsy

Vet wrote: »

Shawbrook 1.3% acc - £12.1k
Legal and General S&S ISA £1.4k - paying £100/month

Have you considered a Santander 123 lite as a way of (i) getting cashback on your bills, and (ii) giving you access to their 5% saver? Or even a Santander 123 - it pays interest but the larger monthly fee might put you off.

How about Tesco C/As paying 3%? Maybe three DDs per account is too hard? M&S will make do with 2 DDs and gives access to a 5% saver.

Or there's the Yorkshire building society's 2% regular saver on up to £500 p.m. running for two years.

If you live in East Anglia look at the regular savers at the Ipswich and the Saffron building societies.

ADDED:

Lloyds Bank Club C/A pays 1.5% on up to £5k and gives you access to their 3% £400 p.m. saver, plus money-off for restaurants, the cinema, etc. Needs two DDs.

dunstonh

Any global funds you would recommend? Do you think L&G is a good platform to work from?

If I was to recommend a fund, it would be in breach of regulatory requirements and against board rules. You will need to do your own research or rely on those that are not regulated to give "opinions".

L&G is not a platform. When you invest via a fund house, it is not an investment platform. They may refer to it as an administration platform internally but the fact they only offer in-house funds means it does not meet the definition of an investment platform. L&G also have had several variations depending on where you bought the product(e..g via L&G, Nationwide B/Society or other)

Vet

dunstonh wrote: »

If I was to recommend a fund, it would be in breach of regulatory requirements and against board rules. You will need to do your own research or rely on those that are not regulated to give "opinions".

L&G is not a platform. When you invest via a fund house, it is not an investment platform. They may refer to it as an administration platform internally but the fact they only offer in-house funds means it does not meet the definition of an investment platform. L&G also have had several variations depending on where you bought the product(e..g via L&G, Nationwide B/Society or other)

No worries, thanks for the advice

Wildsound

I would consider also getting a HTB ISA (I believe the best paying is Barclays at around 2.5%), as you can have both a LISA and a HTB ISA at the same time and contribute to both (a lot of people miss this fact as the legislation is confusing). You can contribute £200 per month (plus an extra £1,000 at opening) and it will compound over the next few years. You can always move to another HTB ISA provider if a better rate becomes available.

As you can't use the bonus from both the LISA and the HTB ISA on purchase of a house, you would just close the HTB ISA (thus pocketing the interest) at no penalty and proceed to use the LISA for the house purchase.

Vet

Wildsound wrote: »

I would consider also getting a HTB ISA (I believe the best paying is Barclays at around 2.5%), as you can have both a LISA and a HTB ISA at the same time and contribute to both (a lot of people miss this fact as the legislation is confusing). You can contribute £200 per month (plus an extra £1,000 at opening) and it will compound over the next few years. You can always move to another HTB ISA provider if a better rate becomes available.

As you can't use the bonus from both the LISA and the HTB ISA on purchase of a house, you would just close the HTB ISA (thus pocketing the interest) at no penalty and proceed to use the LISA for the house purchase.

I opened my LISA last year with Skipton so it is a Cash ISA - would i be allowed to open a HTB cash ISA even though i have contributed to my LISA this year?

Wildsound

Vet wrote: »

I opened my LISA last year with Skipton so it is a Cash ISA - would i be allowed to open a HTB cash ISA even though i have contributed to my LISA this year?

Yes, you can contribute to all four of the following in a tax year:

- Lifetime ISA (cash or stocks and shares)
- Cash ISA (includes HTB ISA) - some providers (I think Nationwide) allow you to contribute to both a cash and HTB ISA in same year (stupid rule in my opinion, government should just separate them so you can contribute to both)
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Innovative Finance ISA

It's overly confusing to the regular joe and something the government needs to simplify in my opinion. As the Lifetime ISA is classed as it's own kind of ISA, it is separate from the others. You could contribute to a cash ISA and a cash LISA, or a S&S ISA and a S&S LISA.