Scottish Widows stocks and shares isa

missymouse

I want to invest in one of these but it is a DIY fund and you have to chose which funds you want to invest in. Gone are the days when you could get free financial advice as we all know.

Has anyone done one of these. I want medium risk and am prepared to invest from 5-10 years. I will put a small lump sum in and then about £100 upwards a month

Many thanks:)

quirkydeptless

Are you talking about these?


https://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/investments/products/individual-saving-accounts/in-detail/

Ouch, these are very expensive funds, even for actively managed ones!

Had a quick look at the Balanced one and it was 1.37% :shocked:


Any moment now, I guess someone will be along to point you towards Vanguard


https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-lifestrategy-funds?intcmpgn=isawheretostart_getstartedisa_cta

missymouse

Yes thanks

Except mine came through the post and there was about 20 funds to chose from all medium risk hence my confusion. Where do I start.

A relative of mine did very well with this company with advice from a building society hence the questions but obviously this has all gone now

SonOf

Gone are the days when you could get free financial advice as we all know.

The advice was never free. It was factored into the costs of the investments.

Now that advice is charged explicitly, the product and investment charges are lower and it actually works out cheaper today than in the past unless you are small investor.

Has anyone done one of these. I want medium risk and am prepared to invest from 5-10 years. I will put a small lump sum in and then about £100 upwards a month

5 years is very short for a regular contribution. 10 years should be the absolute minimum and most effective from 15 years onwards.

Peter_Williams

SonOf wrote: »

The advice was never free. It was factored into the costs of the investments.

Now that advice is charged explicitly, the product and investment charges are lower and it actually works out cheaper today that in the past unless you are small investor.



5 years is very short for a regular contribution. 10 years should be the absolute minimum and most effective from 15 years onwards.

It wasn't free and it wasn't impartial.
''Which one of our expensive funds is best for you?'' - that kind of advice.

Diversification is the only free lunch.

Albermarle

Where do I start.

Ideally by looking for another company for your ISA.
The ISA market is more competitive than it was in the past and Scottish Widows are lagging behind , especially with their high charges .

A previous poster already mentioned Vanguard . Or you could also look at Legal and General . A little more expensive than Vanguard but half the charges of Scottish Widows:
https://www.legalandgeneral.com/investments/isas/

DrSyn

There no such thing as a "free lunch". People where charged, it was just that in the past, charges were hidden.

I had a quick look at their fund which tracks the FTSE100. As it is an index fund you would expect the cost to be low.

Scottish Widows UK Tracker ONC=1%

Vanguard FTSE 100 Index Fund ONC= 0.06%

Before you buy anything I suggest you first watch both of these:-

http://www.kroijer.com/

https://www.ifa.com/indexfundsthemovie/


Then consider investing in one of the below:-

Global Multi-Asset Funds

Vanguard Life Strategy
HSBC Global Strategy
L&G Multi Index Funds
Blackrock Consensus
Architas Passive

These have wide diversification while minimising risk, at low cost.

Vanguard Life Strategy (VLS) seems the most often mentioned. The 60% shares/ 40 % bonds seems to me pretty much a "fire and forget" option.

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-lifestrategy-funds?intcmpgn=lifestrategyfunds_learnmore_link

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/investments/isas/hsbc-global-strategy-portfolios/

missymouse

Thanks for all the advice everyone

missymouse

I already have 1 ongoing s&s isa. Can I open another one

AnotherJoe

When did you last put money into the ongoing one? If before April 6 2019, then yes you can.
You can also transfer the existing one.

jimjames

missymouse wrote: »

I already have 1 ongoing s&s isa. Can I open another one

Why do you want another one? What's wrong with the existing one?