Increasing deposits in light of covid19?

JustAnotherSaver

I've not read threads/posts at length. I've been dipping in and out of threads so this may not be a fair take on what others seem to be doing but from the posts i've read, people seem to be selling up or at least switching their investments to be more conservative.

In January i meant to look in to our accounts to see how much more we could afford to put in to either our pension or likely a LISA. That's to say that the monthly amount would've been increasing anyway as it really had to, i just needed to see how much we could afford to stretch to. Have been quiet busy and haven't really had the time to go over it yet.

Yesterday was the first time i'd looked at the investments and noticed how much our pots have dropped, especially in the past 2-3 weeks. 2 of our funds are from the VLS range and the HSBC Global Strategy range.

We're both in our mid 30s and from all the reading i'd done before all this virus situation, the consistent theme was investing is for the long haul. You'll get dips along the way. With such a timeframe ahead (for us), little point in panicking. If we were 60 then maybe but we're not.

So isn't now a sound time to go ahead and increase monthly contributions? It's not that i'd be doing it because of everything going south rapidly at the moment as like i said, i needed to pay in more anyway. Seeing everything take a nosedive has just given me a kick up the backside to see whether i should really be getting on with it sooner.

Or for some reason i miss is it such a bad thing for a 30something to increase payments at this stage?

One of them situations where you think you're right but you feel like you're missing something.

masonic

I've started topping up my investments outside of my S&S ISA with a view to bed & ISA in the new tax year. I didn't want to miss out if markets recovered before the new tax year. I now doubt that will be the case and so will continue to make regular investments and rebalance according to my pre-determined rules.

george4064

Not really sure what answer you're looking for.

1. Time in the market, so earlier you increase your contributions the better generally speaking.
2. Units/shares in funds/trusts are now cheaper than what they were last week/last month/last year, so you'd be buying more units. Sounds good, aye?

Thrugelmir

As @masonic says. On the basis that you've constructed a sound diversified portfolio. With many years ahead of you. Rebalancing is key. 

Though I struggle to understand what you've fear of missing out on in the next few days. Perhaps you could expand further on your thinking. 

JustAnotherSaver

george4064 said:

Not really sure what answer you're looking for.

1. Time in the market, so earlier you increase your contributions the better generally speaking.
2. Units/shares in funds/trusts are now cheaper than what they were last week/last month/last year, so you'd be buying more units. Sounds good, aye?

Aye. It's something i was going to do anyway like i said.

Though as i dip in and out of threads and videos and i'm seeing sell-sell-sell, restructure so on & so forth, i'm sitting here as 1) Someone who openly admits to not being knowledgable in the area and 2) lacks self confidence in the area.

So what i've read and seen over the past few years tells me don't listen to the noise. Stick to the plan and that it most certainly is not a bad idea to be investing more now, if anything it's an even better idea.

But due to 1 & 2 it casts that doubt where i start to question myself - what have i missed as surely i've missed something, right? Always thinking i must've got it wrong somewhere even though i can't spot where.

So to answer your question, just for feedback as to whether i've missed something glaringly obvious that hasn't been obvious to me. Is there a reason to panic and 'bail out now' as i'm reading?

From what you're saying the answer is no & that i shouldn't always doubt myself i guess. Just when you're that used to doing it...

port_of_spain

If this is a plan to step up regular contributions, and keep going with higher contributions for the next 20 or 30 years, then go right ahead.

If you have a large lump sum, and are wondering when to put it into the markets, then that might be a harder call, at least psychologically.

I guess that people who are thinking of changing their investments are more likely to start threads than people who are doing nothing ... now, there's an idea ...

coyrls

JustAnotherSaver said:

I've not read threads/posts at length. I've been dipping in and out of threads so this may not be a fair take on what others seem to be doing but from the posts i've read, people seem to be selling up or at least switching their investments to be more conservative.

I don't think you can draw that conclusion; there are a variety of views and extrapolating them to determine what “people” are doing is impossible.  I would suggest that the vast majority of people with pension investments are doing nothing, as normal.

Thrugelmir

Perhaps a compromise then. Increase your contributions to maximise your allowances. However keep this additional money uninvested for the time being. I'd view this as more than a dip. Nor is it a correction. In early April major global companies will start providing the markets with quarterly trading updates. This guidance will provide a much better idea as to the extent of the financial damage and to the underlying health of the companies themselves. Though there'll be plenty of other news to digest before then. 

Alexland

When deciding how much to continue investing consider if/how your job might be affected by this situation. If the prospect of using your emergency cash becomes more likely you might want to check it is really big enough to meet your needs. We are fortunate that our jobs don't seem likely to be affected, our employer has now told everyone to work from home, and our plans were always based on one of us always being available to cover baby childcare so school closure won't be a problem.

At the end of the tax year we are usually very light on unwrapped cash with most of it preloaded into our S&S ISAs. I was thinking of doing something different this year (in particular using unwrapped child accounts) but given the situation I would rather have the cash in a S&S ISA ready to invest if a sufficiently compelling opportunity develops.

JustAnotherSaver

port_of_spain said:

If this is a plan to step up regular contributions, and keep going with higher contributions for the next 20 or 30 years, then go right ahead.

If you have a large lump sum, and are wondering when to put it into the markets, then that might be a harder call, at least psychologically.

I guess that people who are thinking of changing their investments are more likely to start threads than people who are doing nothing ... now, there's an idea ...

This new forum is annoying. I don't know how to branch off your quote to reply to the individual parts of it. You should be able to work it out though...

1) Yes it's a plan for regular contributions. I currently pay in £200/month which isn't nearly enough. This is aside from my workplace pension which is a further £80-£100/month but i don't rely on that. I was looking to increase the £200 but currently not sure what i can afford so was going to try and see, tweak, see again, tweak, see again etc.

2) Depends what you call 'large' but probably not. It is possible for me to put a years contributions in in one whack today. Sure things may drop further and i 'should've' waited until next week, or the week after or whenever the 'bottom' is but it's dropped pretty low as it currently stands so today would be as good a starting point as any.

Point is, lump sump deposit is an option.

3) The forum is like a crossword puzzle. People love to talk in cryptics. In plain no messing about English, what are you saying at the end of your post?

coyrls said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

I've not read threads/posts at length. I've been dipping in and out of threads so this may not be a fair take on what others seem to be doing but from the posts i've read, people seem to be selling up or at least switching their investments to be more conservative.

I don't think you can draw that conclusion; there are a variety of views and extrapolating them to determine what “people” are doing is impossible.  I would suggest that the vast majority of people with pension investments are doing nothing, as normal.

I even said in my post that "this may not be a fair take".

Thrugelmir said:

Perhaps a compromise then. Increase your contributions to maximise your allowances. However keep this additional money uninvested for the time being. I'd view this as more than a dip. Nor is it a correction. In early April major global companies will start providing the markets with quarterly trading updates. This guidance will provide a much better idea as to the extent of the financial damage and to the underlying health of the companies themselves. Though there'll be plenty of other news to digest before then. 

Benefit of not investing the money, aside from if it's not invested then it can't possibly lose?

I guess it depends on what you're invested in but i've already stated the range i'm in. Is there a reason to not invest that money right now?

I'm not asking that from an i'm right & you're wrong standing. I'm asking it from an i know nothing and while i appreciate you don't hold the answer book since one doesn't exist, you'll have more of a clue than i do standing.

Alexland said:

When deciding how much to continue investing consider if/how your job might be affected by this situation. If the prospect of using your emergency cash becomes more likely you might want to check it is really big enough to meet your needs. We are fortunate that our jobs don't seem likely to be affected, our employer has now told everyone to work from home, and our plans were always based on one of us always being available to cover baby childcare so school closure won't be a problem.

At the end of the tax year we are usually very light on unwrapped cash with most of it preloaded into our S&S ISAs. I was thinking of doing something different this year (in particular using unwrapped child accounts) but given the situation I would rather have the cash in a S&S ISA ready to invest if a sufficiently compelling opportunity develops.

I don't think we're anywhere near our emergency cash situation. Even if we both had to self isolate for 2 weeks each. Things would have to be quite bad for us to get that far.

My wife works in health care. They recently had someone who couldn't read the massive sign on the door saying don't come in if you've pretty much been to Italy (ok wasn't that direct but it loosely mentioned it - something on the lines of have you travelled to reported countries etc). They were asked once they got to the desk if they had travelled lately - oh yes, i've just come back from the north of Italy.

Well why the hell are you here then you wally when there's a huge sign saying don't come in?!

So they were turned away and there was a bit of a panic while the boss took advice and was told they can continue, although there is the possibility of workload being wound down - it has been discussed, but this wont make a difference to the hours my wife works or her pay.

I work in the building trade. The only way my place is shutting down with the boss i have is if the government themselves come down and put the padlock on the door.

So short of us running a temperature and getting a cough, our pay isn't in danger. No children so we're not hit there either.

masonic

JustAnotherSaver said:

This new forum is annoying. I don't know how to branch off your quote to reply to the individual parts of it.

A tip I learned from someone else is you can quote the same post multiple times, then delete the parts you aren't addressing in each copy of the quote.

I think port_of_spain's last sentence is suggesting that there are lots of people not posting about what they are doing, and those people are doing nothing.