Please help me stop over thinking and start investing

Dammi

Zero_Sum wrote: »

How much is the house you're buying?
It does sound like you're a bit risk adverse so opting for smaller mortgage may be other option, and just start of small in investing.

Ive just started dipping my toes into this & have just put in a couple of grand them drip feeding a small amount each week

I'm looking at properties at around £180,000

Dammi

DiggerUK wrote: »

Stop fannying about, buy a damned house. That is investing in your future betterment. Everything else you have suggested, and been encouraged to do by the usual kob heads here, is nonsense.

Get the property now, and you have security for the rest of your life. You seem to have about 70k in liquid assets, and * edit45k p.a.......what's your problem. Get real for christ's sake..._

Edit, I may have misread....what is your salary?

I wish, but my salary is less than half that sadly. I have a LISA that I'll be using as part of the deposit which I can't access till April but I will definitely be trying to buy soon after that.

Zero_Sum

Dammi wrote: »

I'm looking at properties at around £180,000

You said your salary isnt that great but you'd be looking at borrowing £130k
Thats 72% LTV, you get better rates when LTV is sub 60%

£130k is 4.5 times average salary. You said you werent married but didnt mention if in relationship. If you are single, how secure is your job? If you suffered a loss of earnings would you be stretching yourself?

Personally i'd be looking at getting LTV to below 50% and mortgage debt to under 2x salary before looking at products which carry risk. But then im quite risk adverse.

Dammi

Zero_Sum wrote: »

You said your salary isnt that great but you'd be looking at borrowing £130k
Thats 72% LTV, you get better rates when LTV is sub 60%

£130k is 4.5 times average salary. You said you werent married but didnt mention if in relationship. If you are single, how secure is your job? If you suffered a loss of earnings would you be stretching yourself?

Personally i'd be looking at getting LTV to below 50% and mortgage debt to under 2x salary before looking at products which carry risk. But then im quite risk adverse.

Perhaps £180k is too ambitious for me alone. Realistically, it's £140-160k. I do still have a lot to learn about it all, LTV below 50% sounds good. How would I get this?



Thank you for everyone's helpful comments!

bostonerimus

Vanguard Life Strategy and HSBC Global Strategy are both multi-asset funds composed of many index tracker funds. The Vanguard range tends to be a bit more UK centric than the HSBC funds...as their name suggests. Both ranges have funds with various percentages of bonds and equities to suit your appetite for risk. If it was me right now I would probably go with the HSBC range as I don't see a good reason to overweight the UK.

Alistair31

Dammi wrote: »

Perhaps £180k is too ambitious for me alone. Realistically, it's £140-160k. I do still have a lot to learn about it all, LTV below 50% sounds good. How would I get this?



Thank you for everyone's helpful comments!

By having to borrow no more than 50% of the property value, i.e. you have 50% deposit.

Zero_Sum

Dammi wrote: »

Perhaps £180k is too ambitious for me alone. Realistically, it's £140-160k. I do still have a lot to learn about it all, LTV below 50% sounds good. How would I get this?



Thank you for everyone's helpful comments!

Personally i'd put off putting any big money in funds for a few years. Get on the housing ladder first. Aim for a small as possible mortage by putting a large as possible deposit down. Since you are keen on looking at investments, possibly just put £500 in VLS80 or something then a smallish regular weekly or monthly drip feed as a starter to get the feel of it first.

Dammi

A quick update - I've agreed that it is probably for the best to keep all the cash as cash for now. I will also be starting a S&S ISA which I'm sure I'll hold for 30+ years and make monthly payments. I had thought that investing £10-20k for 10+ years could give me more capital for another deposit in the future.



I just have a few queries:
- What is the best way to hold cash? The interest rates on savings accounts are soo low.

- Has anyone had experience in holding a HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic fund in Cavendish? That seems to be the cheapest platform for it unless I go for Vanguard.

- I hope to one day develop a successful property portfolio, any tips based on my finances so far?



Thank you.

Thrugelmir

Dammi wrote: »

- Has anyone had experience in holding a HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic fund in Cavendish? That seems to be the cheapest platform for it unless I go for Vanguard.

Cheapest funds won't neccessarily provide the best returns. If you intend to start with one single fund. Opt for something which is as broadly diversified as possible. If I was starting again. My personal preference would be for something like F&C Investment Trust, Witan or Caledonia Investments. Ideally through a savings plan to reduce dealing charges. These funds will give you exposure to a far broader range of investments.

Prism

Dammi wrote: »

I just have a few queries:
- What is the best way to hold cash? The interest rates on savings accounts are soo low.
.

You can beat inflation by holding a series of fixed rate accounts/bonds (a ladder). Thats all you can ask of cash really in any time period