Which Stocks and Shares ISA?

vmf199

I have some money I wish to invest before the April ISA allowance deadline.

I am new to S&S Isa's and would like some recommendations....

- I think I want a managed fund, i.e. not do it myself.
- I want to invest for 10 years
- Ideally I'd like the money to grow at least 4% each year
- I'd like lowish to medium risk
- I want to use all of £20000 allowance

Any ideas? Or advice on what to look for?

Many thanks

eskbanker

Unfortunately, investing in S&S ISAs isn't as simple as picking a best buy from a list in the way that cash-based products are often evaluated. Unlike cash deposit products, there is a significant distinction between the ISA wrapper and what's put into it, so for those considering starting off investing, research the info at places such as:

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/investing-beginners-guide
https://www.hl.co.uk/beginners-guides/investing
http://www.monevator.com
http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/

as well as bearing in mind a number of key points of principle:

1. Only consider investing once you have adequate accessible cash reserves.
2. Only invest if you're happy to commit for at least 5-7 years and preferably 10-15 or more.
3. Diversify - ignore individual shares, etc, and concentrate on collective investments that spread your eggs over many baskets. Global multi-asset funds are a good place to start, available from the likes of HSBC Global Strategy, Vanguard LifeStrategy, Blackrock Consensus and L&G Multi-Index.
4. Choose what you want to invest in before considering which platform to hold it/them on.
5. Keep an eye on ongoing costs for funds and platforms - they shouldn't be the primary consideration but can make a noticeable difference over the long term.

dunstonh

I am new to S&S Isa's and would like some recommendations....

That is a regulated activity and the board is not regulated to give investment recommendations. All you see here is comment and opinion and often comment and opinion is not always accurate or suitable for others.

- I'd like lowish to medium risk

What is your defintion of lowish to medium risk? Perhaps saying how much you are prepared for it to go down by in any 12 month period? 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%?

- I think I want a managed fund, i.e. not do it myself.

There are thousands of these. You can filter many out but you havent given enough info for that to be done.

- Ideally I'd like the money to grow at least 4% each year

That isnt going to happen. Investments do that work that way.

In a typical 5 year period, you will get three positive years, one loss year and one nothing year. You never know the order and its possible to get more than one loss year in a row. Indeed, there has been one occurrence in the last 20 years when there were three loss years in a row. Returns will be what they will be and they are unknown. But one thing we can say is that you will not get 4% or above each year.

vmf199

Not expecting 4% each year, just after 10 years it averaging out at that, i.e. happy for it to go down a few years, but hoping the ups etc average out at least 4% per year

vigman

I know what it feels like to ask this question here.

Short reply is that I went with Vanguard Life Strategy funds in an ISA.

I chose to put reducing amounts of money in their 20%, 40%,60% and 80% equity funds funds and was immediately told here that this was not the done thing and I should have stuck to one or possibly two risk funds.

However, I have spoken to Vanguard to clear up one thing. I wanted to know whether the 40% and higher funds contained the SAME (or all the same) equities as the 20% fund. They don't.

As I reduced the amount saved in the higher rate funds, I see this as the same as going to four different investment companies with different value risk funds.

Anyway had I stuck to the 20% fund I would be 2.4% up today. As it is I am currently .88% down overall with the 80% fund returning -4.22%

I am NOT advising you to go with Vanguard, just pointing out what I did.

Hope that helps

Vigman

vmf199

Thank you Vigman, had been looking at Vanguard, may I ask how long you have had the funds in with them?

lpgm

If you intend to put the whole £20K in in one go, and you don't intend to start making monthly payments afterwards, you might want to look at the IWeb platform. It's a one-off £25 to open your account, and then £5 for each trade - so it's good for bigger lump sums.

But we still need to work out your 'lowish to medium risk'. You've said you expect the markets to fall at times, but you haven't said how big a fall you could stomach before caving in and selling. If you know for sure you wouldn't cave in and sell, then you might want a straightforward global tracker like HSBC FTSE All-World Index Fund C (GB00BMJJJG09) OCF 0.18%. But, in terms of volatility, doing that wouldn't be described as lowish to medium risk.

Alexland

I agree the iWeb platform would be cheaper for a £20k lump sum than the Vanguard Investor platform. You can still buy Vanguard funds on iWeb. My guess, on what little I know about you, is that something like Vanguard LifeStrategy 60 might be worth considering. Still even a balanced fund might drop circa 25% in a market crash before hopefully recovering eventually.

With S&S it's not really worth going too low risk as the returns will be low and after paying fees you might as well stick with cash.

Alex

vigman

vmf199 wrote: »

Thank you Vigman, had been looking at Vanguard, may I ask how long you have had the funds in with them?

I put under £10k in a year ago and made this up to £23k in July 2018.

Vigman