Additional ISA investment ideas

Lucys_Da

Hi folks. I have an ISA that has been growing nicely over the past 5 years. As ridiculous as it sounds I am not overly clear on how long my investment strategy will be, however, it is fairly safe to assume that I am unlikely to touch the funds for a minimum of a further 5 years. My long term plan is to buy a site and build a house, so if that is in a minimum of 5 years time there will have to be a mortgage required (I am in my mid 40’s). But there is the distinct possibility that it could be 10 years before I go near it, but a lot depends on opportunities and the various twists and fate that life presents. 

I currently have close to £130k in my ISA and I manage it myself. Over the past 5 years I’ve traditionally stuck to the same funds and they have all generally grown at a steady rate (well excluding the investments made in Jan of this year which are still lagging somewhat, but starting to make up ground).  I have a further £100k sitting in a combination of shares outside of my ISA wrapper and in a savings account. These funds were realised in Jan of this year after the sale of a property. 

I have deliberately kept that money reasonably accessible as I had a number of business opportunities that I was exploring.  However, those opportunities are not going to be further explored and it’s time I start to find a home for this money. 

I have my full £20k of isa investment opportunity left this year and will invest a further £20k in April. I will also be investing further sums in my kids JISA’s and I am going to max my partners ISA contributions for this and next year. So I plan to invest approx £45k now and a further £40k in April. 

My current ISA is made up of SMT (53%), PCT (18%), BG Shin Nippon (9%), JEFI (10%) and Blackrock Smaller Cos Trust (10%). 

So as you will see it’s hugely imbalanced as a result of funding SMT when it’s been on a nice upward trajectory and the fact that I sunk a chunk of my initial contribution into it 5 years ago. It’s growth has led to a significant variation in the fund balance. The JEFI and the BG Shin Nippon have been more recent purchases. 

So I am looking to broaden by base and increase my exposure as the value of the ISA grows. I am investigating myself, but I am keen to learn from some of the wise owls on here - what would you do and what would you invest in if you were in my shoes?

Thanks in advance. 

Thrugelmir

Set your personal objectives and build a portfolio that is aligned to them. The shorter the time frame, expose yourself to less volatility. Markets can be savage and unforgiving just when you least expect them to be. Recent bias can cloud ones judgement. 

Another_Saver

Well that's obviously done beautifully last decade and YTD. Maybe time to trim the more adventurous parts do your portfolio, move some of the profits into something arguably safer like a global index fund?
For something completely different you could return closer to home and buy VMID.

Albermarle

Even if you do not touch your current investments , it would probably be a good idea to tone down the risk/equity% with your new funds . To dilute the high % equity with less volatile investments , normally some kind of bond fund would be the choice, although some doubts about their future performance at the moment . Another , maybe simpler way , is not to invest anymore and stay in cash as a counterbalance to the higher risk ISA you already have .
You should look at your financial position as a whole when deciding what to do . You do not mention any pension provision?

Lucys_Da

Albermarle said:

Even if you do not touch your current investments , it would probably be a good idea to tone down the risk/equity% with your new funds . To dilute the high % equity with less volatile investments , normally some kind of bond fund would be the choice, although some doubts about their future performance at the moment . Another , maybe simpler way , is not to invest anymore and stay in cash as a counterbalance to the higher risk ISA you already have .
You should look at your financial position as a whole when deciding what to do . You do not mention any pension provision?

Thanks for that. I’m currently in a cash position with the other sums and don’t disagree with the need to risk profile of my current investments. I am well positioned pension wise with a DB pension offering about £11k per annum and a DC pension pot with over 320k on it and there is a monthly contribution between myself and employer of £1.1k per month being paid in. Growth has been good over the past 5 years but similar to my ISA I need to rebalance it and ensure I bank some of the profit generated over this period and will look to a steady level of growth. Ideally I’d like to be in a position to retire in approx 15 years and plan to increase my pension contributions over the period between now and then.