Suggestions Needed for Investing 20K S&S ISA, Is it right time to start investing?

Alexland

Eco_Miser said:

When I signed up to Iweb (many years ago), the £25 showed similar to how mazibee reported, and I paid it with a debit card. I have never used direct debit with Iweb, always debit card..

Aah yes I just checked our old bank statement and our £25s are showing as "CARD PAYMENT TO SHARE DEALINGS LEEDS" but it still happened as part of the signup process rather than being a transaction in either account cash histories.

mazibee

Is there any fund / ETF for top  50 or 100 S&P 500 companies on HL or iWeb platform?

twiglet98

mazibee I'm a beginner and don't have any advice, but just wanted to say I've enjoyed reading this thread about investing £20K when so many are discussing ten times that, and much, much more.  I presently have £38K in an HL SIPP which has been held as cash since opening in 2018, I'm about to take 25% as a lump sum to deal with various unexpected outgoings, and have been worrying whether to leave the balance with them entirely in cash, or whether to put £10K into a fund. I'd read something in the weekend papers a while ago suggesting Fundsmith Equity, but from this thread I now have others to consider, including BG.  Does anyone think there's any reason to be cautious about a Scottish firm?

I have one small DB pension yet to take, 18 months to SPA, no other savings, divorced, working p/t and surviving on <£1K/month, but on that I cannot build a safety net for when the house and car both need big spends!

mazibee

@twiglet98

I am also very new to investement and learning every day.

Made few blunders and haved missed a lot of profits in the last 2 sessions lockdown announcement.

As advised by few seniors to buy INRG and SMT which were 50% of my investment.

Oon the day when Bojo was to annouce a lock down , I was of the view and thought that I will sell all my holdings before the announceent and will buy them back again at the lower prices.

Since then INRG has moved 240 p and SMT around 50p.

Similarly HSBA, STAN, LOYD, IAG, again sold all with the same view and now repenting what  I have done.

Now being a newbie I am confused that I have missed the train again ( like I have missed in March /Apr 2020 ).

Please can any one suggest taking entry in these scrips at these rates is a good idea or wait for a dip as anything can happen during the six weeks lock down.

Also please can anyome suggest me anything equivalent to INRG available in IWEB.

Thanks in advance.

Linton

mazibee said:

@twiglet98

I am also very new to investement and learning every day.

Made few blunders and haved missed a lot of profits in the last 2 sessions lockdown announcement.

As advised by few seniors to buy INRG and SMT which were 50% of my investment.

Oon the day when Bojo was to annouce a lock down , I was of the view and thought that I will sell all my holdings before the announceent and will buy them back again at the lower prices.

Since then INRG has moved 240 p and SMT around 50p.

Similarly HSBA, STAN, LOYD, IAG, again sold all with the same view and now repenting what  I have done.

Now being a newbie I am confused that I have missed the train again ( like I have missed in March /Apr 2020 ).

Please can any one suggest taking entry in these scrips at these rates is a good idea or wait for a dip as anything can happen during the six weeks lock down.

Also please can anyome suggest me anything equivalent to INRG available in IWEB.

Thanks in advance.

My compliments on being a poster who is prepared to admit their mistakes - most people on the social media only publicise their successes.  If you look on other threads you will see repeated warnings about trying to time buys and sells, especially during a crash.  Unfortunately when investing experience is the best educator.  But you still havent fully understood: there is no train to be misssed.  The best long term approach is to have a strategy thought through in advance and then buy when you have the money available and sell out when you need the cash back.

The future is unknown but you must believe that investments generally rise over time.  In those circumstamces, on average, the longer you stay invested the higher your profits.

You ask about INRG on iWeb.  A general rule when choosing a platform is to firstly choose what sort of investments you want to use and then whch platform provides the best access.  However there are plenty of funds which invest in in the green energy sector you should be able to access  from iWeb  - see https://www.share.com/investments-and-recommendations/responsible-investing/climate-change-renewable-energy or https://citywire.co.uk/wealth_manager/investment-trusts/best-investment-trusts-by-sector.aspx?CitywireClassID=99&TimePeriod=1 for some examples.  i am not recommending any of them since I do not invest in them and have not carried out any research.

However I think you are making a mistake trying to cherry-pick individual companies and niche sectors.  This sort of investing can be done but it requires significant  knowledge, experience, time, and effort to  research the options available.  As you are a new investor with a relatively small amount of money and hopefully want to invest seriously for the long term rather than just play,  I strongly suggest you simply buy a general global fund and focus on making contributions.   By the time your investments have reached a significant size, perhaps £50K-£100K, then it may make sense to explore more focussed options.  Even then I would not go down to the level of detail of something like Green Energy.

AlanP_2

twiglet98 said:

mazibee I'm a beginner and don't have any advice, but just wanted to say I've enjoyed reading this thread about investing £20K when so many are discussing ten times that, and much, much more.  I presently have £38K in an HL SIPP which has been held as cash since opening in 2018, I'm about to take 25% as a lump sum to deal with various unexpected outgoings, and have been worrying whether to leave the balance with them entirely in cash, or whether to put £10K into a fund. I'd read something in the weekend papers a while ago suggesting Fundsmith Equity, but from this thread I now have others to consider, including BG.  Does anyone think there's any reason to be cautious about a Scottish firm?

I have one small DB pension yet to take, 18 months to SPA, no other savings, divorced, working p/t and surviving on <£1K/month, but on that I cannot build a safety net for when the house and car both need big spends!

Define your objective - what are you investing for and over what time frame?

You need to retain a "safety net" of accesible cash for the house / car as you say so that doesn't leave a lot for investing.

Are you contributing to a pension as that would give your returns an immediate boost via tax benefits?

I wouldn't be at all concerned about using a Scottish firm, and I wouldn't get to concerned about which active fund(s) to use at this stage.

Once you know the Why you can think about, and ask for views on the What to get you where you want to go.

AlanP_2

mazibee said:

@twiglet98

I am also very new to investement and learning every day.

Made few blunders and haved missed a lot of profits in the last 2 sessions lockdown announcement.

As advised by few seniors to buy INRG and SMT which were 50% of my investment.

Oon the day when Bojo was to annouce a lock down , I was of the view and thought that I will sell all my holdings before the announceent and will buy them back again at the lower prices.

Since then INRG has moved 240 p and SMT around 50p.

Similarly HSBA, STAN, LOYD, IAG, again sold all with the same view and now repenting what  I have done.

Now being a newbie I am confused that I have missed the train again ( like I have missed in March /Apr 2020 ).

Please can any one suggest taking entry in these scrips at these rates is a good idea or wait for a dip as anything can happen during the six weeks lock down.

Also please can anyome suggest me anything equivalent to INRG available in IWEB.

Thanks in advance.

Stop trying to time the market. Choose a sensible asset allocation, choose funds to implement it, invest and then go an do something else.

6 weeks of UK lockdown doesn't even rate as market noise, let alone a basis for selling up.

I've been DIY investing for about 6 years and have made ~6 fund changes in that time across 2 DC pensions and a SIPP that is low 6 figures in total. Most of the changes were early on in that journey as I realised my initial allocation and choices were a bit off (learn from experience). Now they just trundle along in the background.

twiglet98

AlanP_2 said:

twiglet98 said:

mazibee I'm a beginner and don't have any advice, but just wanted to say I've enjoyed reading this thread about investing £20K when so many are discussing ten times that, and much, much more.  I presently have £38K in an HL SIPP which has been held as cash since opening in 2018, I'm about to take 25% as a lump sum to deal with various unexpected outgoings, and have been worrying whether to leave the balance with them entirely in cash, or whether to put £10K into a fund. I'd read something in the weekend papers a while ago suggesting Fundsmith Equity, but from this thread I now have others to consider, including BG.  Does anyone think there's any reason to be cautious about a Scottish firm?

I have one small DB pension yet to take, 18 months to SPA, no other savings, divorced, working p/t and surviving on <£1K/month, but on that I cannot build a safety net for when the house and car both need big spends!

Define your objective - what are you investing for and over what time frame?

You need to retain a "safety net" of accesible cash for the house / car as you say so that doesn't leave a lot for investing.

Are you contributing to a pension as that would give your returns an immediate boost via tax benefits?

I wouldn't be at all concerned about using a Scottish firm, and I wouldn't get to concerned about which active fund(s) to use at this stage.

Once you know the Why you can think about, and ask for views on the What to get you where you want to go.

Thank you, I'll start a separate thread under Pensions rather than derail OP's!

Thrugelmir

mazibee said:

Made few blunders and haved missed a lot of profits in the last 2 sessions lockdown announcement.

My suggestion would be to remain humble. Equally as easy to lose money. If it were that simply to identify tomorrows winners there'd be no one on here to discuss anything with.