S&S ISA Option- please comment on my thoughts

jimjames

MrsWenger wrote: »

Hi Jimjames, the cash ISA rate is 1.4% so better than Marcus given we pay 40% tax on savings interest.
With all of our money being in cash options I was keen to explore alternatives.

I have been reading up on S&S ISA’s and the Vanguard products hence my original post. We feel we should broaden our horizons and explore what else is available but are not sure where to start.

Do you get more than £500 interest a year each? If so do you need so much cash or could that go into S&S ISAs? For long term money cash ISAs don't seem to make much sense to me.

george4064

You can compare investment platforms here:
https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/



As always, consider the net total return (after tax) when considering where you stick your money, including in ISA wrapper or not.

MrsWenger

greenglide wrote: »

I would expect salary related benefits such as this to be based on the "reference salary" or whatever it is called in your scheme. This is the gross pay that you would have got if you sacrificed some of it.

Thank you for your reply Greenslide. I’ll follow up with Payroll.

MrsWenger

jimjames wrote: »

Do you get more than £500 interest a year each? If so do you need so much cash or could that go into S&S ISAs? For long term money cash ISAs don't seem to make much sense to me.

Yes we do Jimjames and we agree with you, hence my opening post in this thread about S&S ISAs

MrsWenger

george4064 wrote: »

You can compare investment platforms here:
https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-broker

As always, consider the net total return (after tax) when considering where you stick your money, including in ISA wrapper or not.

Thank you for your reply and for the link George4064.

Spiggle

I'm no good with all the calculating, pension, diversification parts of your OP MrsWenger but I'm a newbie/learning with the investing side, held all savings in various cash accounts, and am only a couple of years older than you. I have just opened a Vanguard VLS60 S&SISA for the same amount as you intend. It was painless to do and the people at the end of the phone have been hugely helpful. I do intend to leave this invested for at least 10 years.

Do go with other knowledgeable opinions on the priority order for where you put your money though, it does appear that in circumstances such as yours, pension will be the first consideration.

All the best,
Spigs

MrsWenger

Hi Spigs, thank you for your reply.

That is very useful information, thank you. May I ask who you used to open it with please?

I am definitely exploring pension options but I am still thinking that the £20k we have with Santander could go into a S&S ISA each. If we do it I would also look to leave it in for at least 10 years.

I wish you the best of luck; perhaps we will touch base in 10 years time and both be very happy with the outcome!

Zorillo

The £20k could also go into your pension, you'd get tax relief on it, and you could get it back out again in a few years and then put it in an ISA.

Spiggle

MrsWenger wrote: »

Hi Spigs, thank you for your reply.

That is very useful information, thank you. May I ask who you used to open it with please?

I am definitely exploring pension options but I am still thinking that the £20k we have with Santander could go into a S&S ISA each. If we do it I would also look to leave it in for at least 10 years.

I wish you the best of luck; perhaps we will touch base in 10 years time and both be very happy with the outcome!

Hi MrsWenger,

I just went direct to Vanguard and purchased on their platform. The other knowledgeable people will be able to deal with complicated investments but I wanted easy, simple and relatively cheap. The service I've had so far from Vanguard may not be expensive, they are very helpful on their telephone line and it is to some extent a 'fire and forget' investment for me.

The restriction with Vanguard is of course that you can only invest/they only offer Vanguard investments whilst the VLS range may be purchased elsewhere albeit at possibly higher cost. There are of course other multi-asset funds available, I think there's an HSBC Global Fund as well as others but please look to the others for opinions on those.

I wish you luck with your decision and yes, I'll see you in ten years time to compare!

All the best,
Spigs

londoninvestor

Spiggle wrote: »

The restriction with Vanguard is of course that you can only invest/they only offer Vanguard investments whilst the VLS range may be purchased elsewhere albeit at possibly higher cost.

Possibly higher, but also possibly lower - e.g if you buy it on iWeb, you'll pay £5 per trade, but no ongoing percentage platform fee.