Instead of NS&I income bonds?

beeza650

I have £65k that was cash in NS&I income bonds and since the interest rate is about to go from very low to almost nothing later this month I need to invest elsewhere. I have £20k (non-pension) with Moneyfarm invested with 0.6% fees + trading costs. I was thinking about a stocks ISA with Moneyfarm and the rest added to the non-ISA Moneyfarm pot. I have other cash ISAs and money in Premium bonds so this money can be "out of reach" and doesn't need to be in minimum-risk investments (my Moneyfarm is set at "A pioneering investor (6 out of 6)").
The investment needs to be hands-off, I don't want to actively manage anything myself.
Does the Moneyfarm route sound ok to you? Maybe something else I should look at?
Thanks

whitesmith

The first question you should ask is does it sound OK to you and also do you understand what MF will do with your investment. If the answer to either is 'not really' then don't rush to invest there.

beeza650

Yup it sounds fine to me - they've already got £20K of mine - any extra would be invested by them in the same portfolio as existing. I just wonder if there are alternatives to MoneyFarm that offer hands-off but managed investments with fairly low fees.
I regularly get calls about very specific investments, bit coin vending machines and the like but have no interest any anything like that as I don't possess the knowledge or time to make a judgement call. Just need to find a trustworthy place (or places) where someone else will make (potentially fairly risky) investment decisions to invest in anything that tickles their fancy.

Thrugelmir

Are you comfortable with switching suddenly from no risk saving to the riskier world of fluctuating investments? 

beeza650

yes totally I should have done it long ago - I have sufficient cash savings.

clive0510

if, as you said earlier, you believe the markets will fall further in the near future, why are you moving money from low risk to high? surely if times are uncertain you're better of in low risk.

masonic

Moneyfarm is a very expensive option at 0.5-0.75% management fee and 0.2-0.3% other charges. On the sum you're considering investing that will be well north of £500 per year.

The cheapest equivalent option would be investing through a low cost investment platform (e.g. iWeb, but several other cheap options exist) into a multi-asset fund like L&G Multi Index, HSBC global strategy, Vanguard lifestrategy, etc. Total cost would be about a third of what you'd pay at Moneyfarm.

crucian

Have you considered putting the 20k invested with money farm in a stocks and shares isa and any extra invested outside the isa? 

beeza650

masonic said:

Moneyfarm is a very expensive option at 0.5-0.75% management fee and 0.2-0.3% other charges. On the sum you're considering investing that will be well north of £500 per year.

The cheapest equivalent option would be investing through a low cost investment platform (e.g. iWeb, but several other cheap options exist) into a multi-asset fund like L&G Multi Index, HSBC global strategy, Vanguard lifestrategy, etc. Total cost would be about a third of what you'd pay at Moneyfarm.

I'd sort of assumed Moneyfarm were "well" priced - I must admit though I only signed up with as it was 2 years free.
I have an iWeb account but haven't used it yet. Would you suggest I put it all into a single fund? Would I need to actively "manage" anything? Thanks 

beeza650

crucian said:

Have you considered putting the 20k invested with money farm in a stocks and shares isa and any extra invested outside the isa? 

That's what I was proposing yes. Unless I misunderstood your question.

beeza650

clive0510 said:

if, as you said earlier, you believe the markets will fall further in the near future, why are you moving money from low risk to high? surely if times are uncertain you're better of in low risk.

I don't think I said that - I think the bottom has been and gone if I'm honest but that things will take quite some time to fully recover. What I really should do is transfer some cash savings into something "medium" risk and carry on the plan to put this £60k into something high risk. 
I can't help but feel - extremes aside - that the perception high risk = high reward and vs versa is a bit misleading. The same as the widely held view that stocks and shares are only right for long term investment as that seems to me to only be true if you have a lot of flexibility (many years) in when you must cash out.