Bed and ISA help

Fran_d

Hi all. I am new here and am very confused about my shares!
I have just resigned from a company where I had shares. I have been asked to move them in the next 21 days. I have been recommended a Bed and ISA. I will not be buying anymore shares and I do not want to cash them out... so is this the best option for me, where I will not lose the most amount of money? Especially in the current climate!
I have read up on it all until i'm blue in the face, and just nervous I will make the wrong decision. 
Many thanks. 

Alexland

Well a Bed and ISA is just the synchronized sale and repurchase of the shares in an ISA wrapper to avoid time out of the market when prices could go up or down.

Were these shares from an HMRC recognised employee share offer in which case it may be possible to transfer them directly into an ISA?

https://www.gov.uk/tax-employee-share-schemes/transferring-your-shares-to-an-isa

IWeb operated by Halifax Share Dealing might be a good S&S ISA platform for either of these methods.

https://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/share-dealing-home.asp

Of course holding shares in a single company is generally considered bad investing so most people would be better using the money for a more diversified investment such as a low cost multi asset fund.

Fran_d

Thank you very much Alex. 

The only thing my letter said was they need to be able to hold American based shares. 

Will I lose much from transferring them over, or as it is generally a fairly fast process, should I not be too bad off? 

I have just learned that it’s not great to have just one company shares, so thank you. I’ll look at switching around.

Alexland

Well you can check to see if the share is available to hold on the iWeb share centre:
https://www.markets.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/shares-centre/
Before rebuying the US share you will need to complete a W-8BEN form.
A bed and ISA should be fairly quick but there is a risk if its not totally synchronised there might be a little bit of time out the market. Have you discussed with your employer how much help they will offer you? It might not matter if you decide to use the sale proceeds to make a more diversified investment aligned to your objectives.