Please advise. 30 YO Diligent saver, never invested

InvestingTroglodyte

Hello and thank you for your time.
I have decided to invest around 10% of my savings (about 5k-6k to invest ) this year in a stocks and share ISA.  I am 30 years old.
I also have a blackrock 85 SIPP going with about 12k in it via work but I would like to invest myself in parallel, as I am sick of hoarding savings in banks with crap interest rate.
As I waited 30 years to start investing myself, and that stock is so damned expensive at this point, and on the presumption that stock will go down, I thought of doing the following.
Start investing with Vanguard Life Strategy 20 (basically nailing down my diverse bond component down) first and put 2k out of 6k there.
Then wait a while longer for stocks to go down properly and start either drip feeding the rest monthly, as they go down, or just wait longer and buy a lump sum. 
For stocks I was thinking being aggressive and going for long term mix of medium cap/emerging markets/s&p 500. I am not risk adverse, but I would hate buying stocks in an all time high just for them to drop so I am hoping to wait for them to drop so I can afford more. 
Also in the eventuality that stocks drop , let`s say a good 10-20% and it`s a bit more timely to buy then compared to now, would orienting myself equally on emerging markets/mid cap vs S&p500 be a reasonable decision or should I stick with one s&p index fund and hope Apple invents the next Artifically Inteligent iSexToyVrMariageToy thing before some smart !!!!!! person in an underdeveloped country with internet ? 
Thank you for your time and I do apologise if my questions are moronic, I just don`t want a bad start with shares being so high. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Alz1986

Stocks regularly drop 10-15%.
You could be waiting a long time to see a recession style drop of 50%. Some economists say we'll probably never have a global recession again.

.

Username999

Alz1986 said:

.... Some economists say we'll probably never have a global recession again.

Did you know economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions?

InvestingTroglodyte

@Alz1986 sure they could, and there`s no point trying to time the market. What I`m asking for is just if it`s worth timing my point of entry to equity a bit later - while I could still cover my bonds portfolio initially ? 
I`m confused @Username999 I don`t understand that comment tbh )
Care to elaborate please? 

DiamondLil

I can't comment on where or which stock you might invest in, but can say that I've been investing since 1994 and it really is true what they say that timing isn't important. It really isn't.

Audaxer

InvestingTroglodyte said:

I also have a blackrock 85 SIPP going with about 12k in it via work but I would like to invest myself in parallel, as I am sick of hoarding savings in banks with crap interest rate.

The good news is that you are already investing in your SIPP. You have plenty of time on your side so you could invest the whole £6k as a lump now, but I understand if you worry that there could be an immediate fall. I would maybe invest each month over the next year. You could start with VLS20, but I think it might be better invest each month at your risk tolerance, so if your risk tolerance was more like 80% equities, you could invest in VLS80 or something similar, each month.

However if you don't need or plan to access these funds until you retire, you could always put the whole £6k in a SIPP now and you would get 25% tax relief added. That is assuming your total SIPP contributions for the tax year would not exceed your earnings for the tax year.

steampowered

Personally I'd just put the whole lump in.

If you were able to predict drops in the stock market as well as your post implies, you'd make millions as a stock trader!

coyrls

InvestingTroglodyte said:

@Alz1986 sure they could, and there`s no point trying to time the market. What I`m asking for is just if it`s worth timing my point of entry to equity a bit later - while I could still cover my bonds portfolio initially ? 
I`m confused @Username999 I don`t understand that comment tbh )
Care to elaborate please? 

Timing your point of entry is trying to time the market.

InvestingTroglodyte

Audaxer said:

InvestingTroglodyte said:

I also have a blackrock 85 SIPP going with about 12k in it via work but I would like to invest myself in parallel, as I am sick of hoarding savings in banks with crap interest rate.

The good news is that you are already investing in your SIPP. You have plenty of time on your side so you could invest the whole £6k as a lump now, but I understand if you worry that there could be an immediate fall. I would maybe invest each month over the next year. You could start with VLS20, but I think it might be better invest each month at your risk tolerance, so if your risk tolerance was more like 80% equities, you could invest in VLS80 or something similar, each month.

However if you don't need or plan to access these funds until you retire, you could always put the whole £6k in a SIPP now and you would get 25% tax relief added. That is assuming your total SIPP contributions for the tax year would not exceed your earnings for the tax year.

@Audaxer Thank you for your input. I think my fear is loosing value of the lump sum more than anything
How does the following strategy sound if I mix the two?

1. I could put down 5k in a VLS20  purely as an exercise to take money away from my bank account and have some reserve. If it beats inflation I`m happy, if it goes under, I`m not gonna care much.
 Money that I don`t need now but might in a 5 year long period in emergencies. Work bonuses could also go in here.   
 2. Equity wise, I can set up a monthly 200 quid VLS 80 or even VLS 100 as I`d be bond covered anyway and forget about it for the long term 15 20 years. If the market goes tits up and everything is dirt cheap, I can always supplement here, but never sell or modify the format. 

It would give me the equity vs bond portfolio but will an additional control level of separation. Is this a good plan ?
Thank you again and everyone else who has chipped in and taken time to help.
Kind regards.

Aminatidi

I think you're contradicting yourself a bit because in your opening post you talk of "being aggressive and going for long term mix of medium cap/emerging markets/s&p 500. I am not risk adverse" but then you say "my fear is loosing value of the lump sum more than anything".

I've been investing for two years so I'm very much a novice.

One lesson I think I've learned is to try and understand your appetite for risk.

For example if you invest in something that might appear cautious but because it's cautious you stick with it through thick and thin and remain invested you might find it's a better outcome than being "aggressive" but being scared to put money in because markets are high or taking money out because you fear a crash.

Psychology plays a huge part in investing as if it didn't we'd probably all be in 100% equities on the basis it'll probably be alright in the end if we wait long enough

InvestingTroglodyte

@Aminatidi Yes you`re right. I was contradicting myself. I`m sorting my thoughts out while I`m navigating these conversations too I admit it ) 
I think where I`m getting at is I would not mind the risk going forward and starting a 80% equity fund that I drip feed monthly payments - and accepting the ups and down regardless. 
With regards to the money I keep in the bank and have saved already, I`d rather be a bit safer with that as I might put it down for a house deposit or who knows (in the next 5 years let`s say) but I just don`t want to keep all of it in the bank.