Lump sum to invest

nervousinvestor

Advice needed here.  I came into a large amount of money (large for me!) last February and have been drip feeding some of it into the market since.  I had invested around £750k into investment trusts (geographical and sector diversified) which is around 1/3 of the amount I wanted to get into the market, I also have an HL SIPP (£600k).  The remainder has been kept in government bond accounts, cash waiting in my 'interactive investor', bank accounts and premium bonds.  I got a little nervous last week and sold around £150k ish of my ISA and ii ITs.  I am down around £30k in this ii account and also down £60k in my HL SIPP (around £600k).  I had been waiting for a market correction, but how it is happening I find myself almost paralysed to drip feed in as the amounts I need to get invested seem huge to me.  I am nervous about handing such a large amount to a discretionary manager so Im also paralysed with nervousness there too.  The market correction could keep continuing for quite some time, especially if it hits the USA badly and then the sell off could continue.  

A discretionary fund manager will want to just the it all into the markets/bond market or at least that's the impression I get.  I'd like to try and get investing 'right' - I can't time the markets but what would everyone do next week if in my position - or next month or the next 6 months...I don't (obviously) want to see my pensions/isa and ii investments drop by £500k which they could do if they lost 50% overall - should I sell some of my existing ITs  (witan/Lowland etc) first thing on Monday and then start drip feeding in each week.  OR just find a wealth manger and hand the whole lot over.  The investments are supposed to provide a decent income for my husband and I over the next 40 years and also grow.

tacpot12

I think your plan of drip feeding money into the market is still a good plan. This correctIon is probably gong to get worse but I’m confident it will recover. The stock market goes through boom and bust, but always recovers. The only time it is not going to do this is when there is a worldwide calamity and civilisation ends. 

By managing the investments yourself, you are saving a lot of wealth management fees.  I’m not convinced the wealth managers can add a lot of value if you are already using a lot of collective investments, but the one thing they can do is take all the workload off you. This might be worth paying for, but it is quite a steep price to pay. 

If I were you I would put a bit more in next week that perhaps you had planned to be investing at this point in the year, as in 10 years time these prices will look very cheap. But hold a bit back to invest later in the year if/when Corona seems to be under control. 

I have a buy order in for one of IT’s I hold which I’m hoping will get satisfied next week if the share price falls again. 

Username999

tacpot12 said:

The stock market goes through boom and bust, but always recovers.  

That's simply not true.

Mr.Saver

Username999 said:

tacpot12 said:

The stock market goes through boom and bust, but always recovers.  

That's simply not true.

Not true, but close enough to be true.
The stock market as a whole has always recovered. But it's not a guarantee for the future, and it also isn't saying every part, say a region or sector, of the market has recovered or will recover.
If we all believe the market will crash and never recover, why are we even investing in it?

Username999

Mr.Saver said:

Username999 said:

tacpot12 said:

The stock market goes through boom and bust, but always recovers.  

That's simply not true.

Not true, but close enough to be true.
The stock market as a whole has always recovered. But it's not a guarantee for the future, and it also isn't saying every part, say a region or sector, of the market has recovered or will recover.
If we all believe the market will crash and never recover, why are we even investing in it?

The "Stock Market" doesn't have to recover to previous all time high.
These have not: Greece, Italy, Japan etc,.
You can still get good returns on your 'investment'.
They could drop more and then go sideways for ever, I'd be extremely pleased if they did!  

"...why are we even investing in it?"
We are told it's the thing to do, Tax Breaks, FOMO, Greed, because I'll become rich without working...

Why have you bought into 500 companies in the SPX when you know nothing about most of them?