S&S ISA newbie

jimjames

wiltshiregirl69 wrote: »

Nutmeg has returned a nice 9% over this last 9 months and this return has compared favourably with my individual investment choices over my diversified portfolio. For a small investor I think it could be a good choice over the long term as the charges are low.

If you think you aren't ready for it (i.e active trading) - stick to a Nutmeg and/or Vanguard and drip feed into the account and leave it alone for years.

As per the post above, Nutmeg fees are NOT low. One of the worst things for long term compounding is paying excessive fees as they will compound too over that time period and will seriously impact your performance. From the previous info the fees for Nutmeg are almost 3x what you pay with Vanguard. 0.75% may seem like a small number but when it's taken every year it adds up.

DireEmblem

If your looking for options, Charles Stanley Direct, which is essentially Fidelity is 0.25% platform fees, but gives thousands more find options than through Vanguard direct that only charge 0.15%.

All depends what options you would like, and for a 0.1% difference I prefer more choice.

I was also with Nutmeg for their £100 signup bonus, but now that’s received am switching over to CRD/Vanguard.

ColdIron

CSD have their own platform which is unconnected to Fidelity. Their platform fee is 0.35%

Edit: Did you mean Cavendish?

DairyQueen

So you are a complete novice.

First thing is to educate yourself sufficient to self-invest. We all make mistakes early on but better to do so when you have a small sum invested. As your knowledge and confidence grow you will will feel comfortable about managing larger amounts. Assuming that you are young you have decades to hone the skills required to manage a reasonable size pot in your 50s and beyond.

My suggestion is that you start low-cost and passive. Perhaps a Vanguard ISA and invest in one of their global equity funds. Research how that one fund is invested and how it works and move-on from that. If you add £25 p.m. for, say, a year and then invest when you have accumulated £300. Invest just the small lump sum as a one-off transaction and when you are able to invest more you will be prepared to stretch your investment wings a little.

Avoid single company shares unless/until you are very experienced. Otherwise, this kind of investment is the equivalent of gambling.

Nothing wrong with starting small as it's a great learning opportunity and you won't be having kittens each time the markets fall or crash. It's not ideal to hold cash in a ISA S&S wrapper for any length of time but in the overall scheme just see this as a training exercise and the few pounds it costs will be worth the investment.

wiltshiregirl69

To clarify - Nutmeg is a roboinvestor and Vanguard offers tracker funds - different products and different pricing structures. I personally think that trackers will be hit hard during a market downturn but even so if you are drip feeding investments for the long term this could very well work out advantageously for you.

dd95

hi dairyqueen

why is it "not ideal to hold cash in a s and s ISA"? The general advice on here seems to point to s and s ISA's

Username999

DairyQueen are you an IFA?

eskbanker

dd95 wrote: »

hi dairyqueen

why is it "not ideal to hold cash in a s and s ISA"? The general advice on here seems to point to s and s ISA's

DQ's full point was "It's not ideal to hold cash in a ISA S&S wrapper for any length of time" which is likely to have been in response to OP's apparent desire to fund a S&S ISA but not actually invest it.

Likewise you may be taking 'general advice' out of context - the prevailing wisdom of the forum is that people should sort out whether they want to put money aside that may be needed in the short term (<5 years, approximately) or if they're happier to lock it away for longer. The former should generally use cash deposit accounts while the latter can consider investing, with S&S ISAs being an ideal wrapper for up to £20K/year, but leaving cash uninvested in a S&S ISA is falling between two stools and not getting the benefit of either.

DairyQueen

dd95 wrote: »

hi dairyqueen

why is it "not ideal to hold cash in a s and s ISA"? The general advice on here seems to point to s and s ISA's

See eskbanker's excellent explanation.

lpgm

wiltshiregirl69 wrote: »

To clarify - Nutmeg is a roboinvestor and Vanguard offers tracker funds - different products and different pricing structures. I personally think that trackers will be hit hard during a market downturn but even so if you are drip feeding investments for the long term this could very well work out advantageously for you.

Nutmeg mainly uses ETF trackers, including some of Vanguard's (https://www.nutmeg.com/how-we-invest/our-investments).

Trackers are meant to be 'hit hard' when the market goes down. That's the point of them.