Vanguard

barty88

I’ve recently opened up an isa with vanguard and have invested in the S&p 500.....I’m looking to invest in another fund but don’t really know enough to confidently pick one! Can anyone recommend any or help in any way? Thank you  

Albermarle

How about supplying more details 
Age? employed ? mortgage;?savings ? pension ? risk tolerance ?etc 

barty88

First time sorry! 32, employed, mortgage, savings is about to take a hit due to buying my ex out, currently paying into a pension fund with work that is sitting around £10,000. I wouldn’t be investing anything that I couldn’t afford basically....just looking to use my money a little better that’s all 

barnstar2077

The vanguard life strategy funds are very user friendly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-O3d6mel28

grumiofoundation

barty88 said:

I’ve recently opened up an isa with vanguard and have invested in the S&p 500.....I’m looking to invest in another fund but don’t really know enough to confidently pick one! Can anyone recommend any or help in any way? Thank you  

Any reason you are just investing in the US (or more specifically 500 US companies) rather than globally? 

Global index fund is >50% US anyway but diversifies your risk somewhat. 

NottinghamKnight

barty88 said:

First time sorry! 32, employed, mortgage, savings is about to take a hit due to buying my ex out, currently paying into a pension fund with work that is sitting around £10,000. I wouldn’t be investing anything that I couldn’t afford basically....just looking to use my money a little better that’s all 

Probably worth you looking at what your pension is invested in, it's probably higher value than what you are looking at on this thread and employers default funds are often poor. Whilst your are at least a quarter of a century from being able to access a pension then it is a tax efficient way of investing and so growing wealth for the long term. 

Alexland

It's usually most tax efficient to invest via your workplace pension (or maybe a S&S Lifetime ISA). £10k isn't much at 32 - are you contributing enough to get maximum employer matching? Will your cash savings still be enough to provide an adequate emergency pot?

barty88

Does my employer have to match my contributions? The pension has only been open for 4 years I think....in all
honesty I don’t know enough about it! would it be more beneficial to add the extra £100 a month into my pension pot then? 

barty88

So my employer only pays the 2% he has to, can I withdraw my pension and invest somewhere else etc?

eskbanker

barty88 said:

So my employer only pays the 2% he has to, can I withdraw my pension and invest somewhere else etc?

The employer contribution has to be at least 3% under current rules!

Notwithstanding that, stick with it if you're benefitting from employer contributions as it's free money - if you feel you could manage it better in future (after researching) then you can transfer it elsewhere but for now there's no obvious reason to move, although check what options you have regarding what the money is invested in....

grumiofoundation

barty88 said:

Does my employer have to match my contributions? The pension has only been open for 4 years I think....in all
honesty I don’t know enough about it! would it be more beneficial to add the extra £100 a month into my pension pot then? 

barty88 said:

So my employer only pays the 2% he has to, can I withdraw my pension and invest somewhere else etc?

Employer has to pay minimum of 3%. Whether they pay more, or match more contributions  depends on your contract.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/auto-enrolment/

You can't withdraw pension but I assume you mean transfer elsewhere. Your workplace pension provider may allow partial transfer to a different provider but it may well be there is no real need to do this, depends on choice of investments, fees etc
Edit - to echo post above whatever you do don't opt out of employer pension sacrificing these employer contributions.

As mentioned what are you invested in?

If saving for retirement whether you should add more to a pension, or Stock and Shares LISA as Alexland mentioned depends on if you are a basic or higher rate tax payer. If you are a basic rate taxpayer paying into a stocks and shares LISA is more favourable as is same bonus on way in but completely tax-free on way out. 

Whether it is better to invest via Stocks and Shares ISA as opposed to 2 options above will depend when and for what you want the money.