Where and how to invest £200k - platform and fund choice, given a certain risk appetite

apollo9

I sold quite a bit of my ISA stocks and shares and currently have them sitting in cash in a fidelity platform.
I am about 7 years from retirement so have a relatively low risk profile but would like to take in some growth.
Having read up on passive funds - HSBC, Blackrock etc, Vanguard still comes out on top. I am sort of put the money in and forget about person, so don't need loads of tools, reports etc. As long as their is an upward trend, lol.

My proposal is to move the money to iWeb (as its seems the cheaper than ii.co.uk) and then drip feed it back into the market - about £5k a month.
I am proposing an even split between 80:20 and the 60:40 Vanguard funds, with a view, in post retirement to move the whole lot over say a couple of years to the 80:20 fund.
I already have a work pension, but only joined recently so there is a limit to how much that will provide in retirement. I do top it up to the max I can.
Once I actually retire, I can then figure out how to use the funds to manage my income.

Any thoughts, advice appreciated.
thanks

grumiofoundation

Why would you move from 70:30 to 80:20 in retirement - this is getting more risky (am assuming equities:bonds??).

Are you moving all 200k in cash - if so drip feeding in at 5k a month will take over 3 years? 

Alexland

Sure for holding a large amount in funds iWeb will be cheaper than Fidelity. On that value and if you are looking to control the asset allocation ratio it would probably be cheaper and better using a 2 fund portfolio (e.g. HSBC FTSE All World at 0.13% and Vanguard Global Bond Index Hedged at 0.15%) rather than using VLS at 0.22% with the UK bias. Just remember to rebalance once a year.

I understand you might feel the market is looking not cheap at the moment but drip feeding the money back in isn't really a good answer just invest with an asset allocation that you feel comfortable with and that should provide long term growth and you can still take advantage of opportunities (if they occur) by switching (although with iWeb that would be a sell and a later buy transaction) a few units between funds.

ratechaser

You could always move it to Nutmeg and get 300,000 Avios as a bonus...

(...lights blue touch paper and retires...) 

dunstonh

Having read up on passive funds - HSBC, Blackrock etc, Vanguard still comes out on top. 

Some of Vanguard's trackers are best but not all.       

Edit:  as you don't appear to be talking about trackers but multi-asset funds then it is arguable that Vanguard hasn't been the best for several years.    Take a look at the others and make an informed choice.

 I am sort of put the money in and forget about person, so don't need loads of tools, reports etc. As long as their is an upward trend, lol.

In which case, perhaps trackers are not the right thing for you.    If you build a portfolio of single sector funds then you would need to periodically rebalance them (and potentially adjust).   If you want to forget about it then a multi-asset fund is better for you.

I am proposing an even split between 80:20 and the 60:40 Vanguard funds

They are not trackers.  They are multi-asset funds.    The underlying investments within the fund are trackers though.     There is virtually nothing to gain by splitting like that.    

with a view, in post retirement to move the whole lot over say a couple of years to the 80:20 fund.

Most people decrease their risk in retirement.   You would be increasing it by doing that (unless you have your fund names around the wrong way and meant VLS20).

eskbanker

apollo9 said:

I sold quite a bit of my ISA stocks and shares and currently have them sitting in cash in a fidelity platform.

What were you invested in and why did you sell?

Another_Saver

apollo9 said:

I sold quite a bit of my ISA stocks and shares and currently have them sitting in cash in a fidelity platform.
I am about 7 years from retirement so have a relatively low risk profile but would like to take in some growth.
Having read up on passive funds - HSBC, Blackrock etc, Vanguard still comes out on top. I am sort of put the money in and forget about person, so don't need loads of tools, reports etc. As long as their is an upward trend, lol.

My proposal is to move the money to iWeb (as its seems the cheaper than ii.co.uk) and then drip feed it back into the market - about £5k a month.
I am proposing an even split between 80:20 and the 60:40 Vanguard funds, with a view, in post retirement to move the whole lot over say a couple of years to the 80:20 fund.
I already have a work pension, but only joined recently so there is a limit to how much that will provide in retirement. I do top it up to the max I can.
Once I actually retire, I can then figure out how to use the funds to manage my income.

Any thoughts, advice appreciated.
thanks

Nothing wrong with or bad about what you're doing but the statistics are that if you have a lump sum, you're better off investing all at once 2/3 of the time and there is little advantage to drop feeding over more than a year - either go all in now or do £20k a month for 10 months? Also only £85k of cash held within a single S&S ISA account is FSCS backed (... I think) so potentially you're risking £115k.
iWeb is definitely the cheapest platform for that amount if you aren't intending to trade frequently (or at all).
HSBC FTSE all world is the cheapest global equity index fund/ETF available as per @Alexland ..
Why are you proposing using both vls60 and 80 now and then uprisking to 80 only when you retire?

apollo9

Sorry, my bad, I should be going to 60:40, I had brain fade and assumed that 80:20,was 80 bonds and 20 equity, inside of the other way.
So I would go the other way in terms of de-risking.
In terms of selecting Vanguard and not HSBC, its because Vanguard sticks to set allocation rather than HSBC  which flexes the allocation depending upon the manager and introduces a level of human bias.
A bit more worrying how to hold the funds - does it mean that its a max of £85k per fund, so I have to do say £80k, in the 60:40, 80:20 and then the balance in another fund or through ii?
Or would it better holding them via different platforms?

Albermarle

I think if vanguard went bust then it would mean the whole world financial system had collapsed , so you would not be worrying about £85K as it would be worthless anyway. 
There would be a small risk in holding over £85K cash on a platform .
Regarding the multi asset funds , if you want an alternative fixed % to Vanguard then there is one a Fidelity one but the overall cost on your existing Fidelity platform would be 0.6%.
Fidelity is better for investors holding mainly ETF's ; IT's and shares in a SIPP , rather than holding funds in an ISA. 

apollo9

So for me, I am simply better off moving to a single cheaper platforms. I don't really understand EFTs and am not planning on using something I don't understand.

dunstonh

In terms of selecting Vanguard and not HSBC, its because Vanguard sticks to set allocation rather than HSBC  which flexes the allocation depending upon the manager and introduces a level of human bias.

HSBC is risk targetted.  It makes adjustments to sit within the same volatility range.   Vanguard does also make periodic changes as well.  But not on a risk targetted basis or as frequently.  Its allocations are managed and not passive.

A bit more worrying how to hold the funds - does it mean that its a max of £85k per fund, so I have to do say £80k, in the 60:40, 80:20 and then the balance in another fund or through ii?

Its £85k per fund house. Not fund.