Best Stock&Share Isa for beginners

Arsenal2019

Alexland saidSadly it' not that simple as many pensioners find they have sufficient income in retirement to pay some income tax but usually at a lower level of tax than the benefit they received when making the initial pension contribution. It's easier to think of it as deferring the tax to pay at a hopefully lower rate in future. If you have access to a salary sacrifice workplace pension this is more efficient that contributing directly into a SIPP as you would also save the national insurance on the contribution. Some of us have transferred lump sums from our workplace pensions into SIPPs to get wider choice and potentially lower charges.

Im in a public sector pension. therefore I don’t think I would get a better pension and would  be better just sticking to this pension

Going off what you’ve said around ETF Vs Index’s , I think I’ll be better off with ETF’s 

grumiofoundation

Arsenal2019 said:

daveharruk said:

Arsenal2019 said:

tacpot12 said:

You are having trouble because you are looking for a retail product (a S&S ISA) that allows you to access foreign markets directly. Very, very few retail investors want to do that, so S&S ISAs don't really offer the features you are looking for. 99.9% of retail investors what to access foreign markets via a collective investment such as a Unit Trust Fund, ETF or Investment Trust, and they do this easily within a Stocks and Shares ISA using funds that are denominated in GBP, so there is no currency risk. 

With only £1000 to invest and no experience of losing all your money, I would say you are not really ready for a platform that will let you invest in foreign markets directly. My advice would be to open a SIPP with AJ Bell, and invest your £1000 into the shares that you can invest in directly on their platform. You can invest directly in a number of US and European shares with them.

If you decide that you still want to invest directly in foreign markets, I would suggest you have a look at Saxo.

I’m already investing into a pension so I don’t really want to be adding into another. 

I’ll have a look at Saxo, I haven’t hheard of them before but it is something to think about thanks 

If you are wanting to try out investing/trading - starting with a small amount - and keeping these investments for a long time, then I don't understand why you don't want to open a SIPP since you'll automatically get at least a 20% bump in value without having to do anything. Sure, you might pay some tax when you eventually take money out and SIPP platforms tend to have higher charges, but over time these will become less important as the value grows. If you use a FreeTrade SIPP the benefits would outweigh the small extra cost, especially as the costs give you more trading options.

I think the argument over "foreign markets" is a red herring - good traders invest in the best opportunities they can find, whereever they can find them - and so it makes absolutely no sense to restrict yourself to the UK markets - this is because different countries or sectors tend to gain momentum for a period of time (and so most stocks in them also tend to benefit from that momentum). The Indian market has recently been doing incredibly well and so being able to invest in this market over that period would have really boosted your chances of achieving good returns.

Finally, it is misleading to suggest that there is no currency risk in funds that are denominated in GBP - the stocks that are held in funds are bought and sold in the local currency so a fund can gain or lose when currencies fluctuate. A small number of funds are hedged but they are always more expensive - and you pay this fee whether or not the fluctuation is in your favour or not - so they don't really make any sense unless you've got a strong reason to think there will be a big and long-term change. My best advice about "currency risk" is to forget about it, as the effect it will have long-term will be negligible compared to the effects of the choices you make in stocks or other assets.

I’ve never really given SIPPs a thought as everyone I’ve spoken to, and majority of places on the internet have always suggested the Isa is the best way forward. 

So you’re saying you get an extra 20% of your value 

See above re tax in retirement.

If you are looking at investing via a pension then investing more into your workplace pension (if applicable) may well be more sensible.

Are you maximising employer contributions? (If not thats free money..)
Are your pension contributions via salary sacrifice?
Is your workplace pension DC 9Defined contribution) or DB (defined benefit)

The reason people might be suggesting ISAs is that money in a pension is not accessible until 55 (currently, going up to 57). So if you want to be able to access the money before then pension is not suitable. 

Arsenal2019

grumiofoundation sSee above re tax in retirement.

If you are looking at investing via a pension then investing more into your workplace pension (if applicable) may well be more sensible.

Are you maximising employer contributions? (If not thats free money..)
Are your pension contributions via salary sacrifice?
Is your workplace pension DC 9Defined contribution) or DB (defined benefit)

The reason people might be suggesting ISAs is that money in a pension is not accessible until 55 (currently, going up to 57). So if you want to be able to access the money before then pension is not suitable. 

Ill be looking to have access to my funds in around 20 years. I’m in my mid 20’s now - so I’ll be wanting to have access to the funds before retirement age.

I contribute around 300 of my monthly wage towards pension and my employer contributes also, obviously not 300 haha! I haven’t a clue exaxtly how much they contribute, nor if they’re DC or DB

MX5huggy

Arsenal2019 said:

grumiofoundation sSee above re tax in retirement.

If you are looking at investing via a pension then investing more into your workplace pension (if applicable) may well be more sensible.

Are you maximising employer contributions? (If not thats free money..)
Are your pension contributions via salary sacrifice?
Is your workplace pension DC 9Defined contribution) or DB (defined benefit)

The reason people might be suggesting ISAs is that money in a pension is not accessible until 55 (currently, going up to 57). So if you want to be able to access the money before then pension is not suitable. 

Ill be looking to have access to my funds in around 20 years. I’m in my mid 20’s now - so I’ll be wanting to have access to the funds before retirement age.

I contribute around 300 of my monthly wage towards pension and my employer contributes also, obviously not 300 haha! I haven’t a clue exaxtly how much they contribute, nor if they’re DC or DB

If you are in the public sector then it’s a Defined Benefit scheme (in all likelihood). Who do you work for? Then employers contributions are likely to be double yours (not that it matters). 

grumiofoundation

Arsenal2019 said:

grumiofoundation sSee above re tax in retirement.

If you are looking at investing via a pension then investing more into your workplace pension (if applicable) may well be more sensible.

Are you maximising employer contributions? (If not thats free money..)
Are your pension contributions via salary sacrifice?
Is your workplace pension DC 9Defined contribution) or DB (defined benefit)

The reason people might be suggesting ISAs is that money in a pension is not accessible until 55 (currently, going up to 57). So if you want to be able to access the money before then pension is not suitable. 

Ill be looking to have access to my funds in around 20 years. I’m in my mid 20’s now - so I’ll be wanting to have access to the funds before retirement age.

I contribute around 300 of my monthly wage towards pension and my employer contributes also, obviously not 300 haha! I haven’t a clue exaxtly how much they contribute, nor if they’re DC or DB

As you say pension doesn't sound suitable.

It is quite common for people to spend a long time researching where to invest in their ISAs and just completely ignore their pension even though this will be for most people far more money.  This will depend on your pension but if you are paying in £300 of your monthly wage (before or after tax?) as said above your employer will be paying similar in.

I would suggest as well on focusing on where to invest £1000 I would focus on finding out
- what type of pension you have
- if a DC pension where your pension are being invested. Often the default funds are relatively low risk and moving to a higher risk (more equities) fund is an idea
- can you contribute more and get higher employer contributions

Arsenal2019

MX5huggy said:

Arsenal2019 said:

grumiofoundation sSee above re tax in retirement.

If you are looking at investing via a pension then investing more into your workplace pension (if applicable) may well be more sensible.

Are you maximising employer contributions? (If not thats free money..)
Are your pension contributions via salary sacrifice?
Is your workplace pension DC 9Defined contribution) or DB (defined benefit)

The reason people might be suggesting ISAs is that money in a pension is not accessible until 55 (currently, going up to 57). So if you want to be able to access the money before then pension is not suitable. 

Ill be looking to have access to my funds in around 20 years. I’m in my mid 20’s now - so I’ll be wanting to have access to the funds before retirement age.

I contribute around 300 of my monthly wage towards pension and my employer contributes also, obviously not 300 haha! I haven’t a clue exaxtly how much they contribute, nor if they’re DC or DB

If you are in the public sector then it’s a Defined Benefit scheme (in all likelihood). Who do you work for? Then employers contributions are likely to be double yours (not that it matters). 

Police service 
the 300 is before tax and I could contribute more towards my pension but I don’t want to as I would rather invest in either stocks, or in the Premium bonds I have

Gin_and_Milk

With all due respect you come across as being a bit 'here, there and everywhere.'  You have a small amount of money to invest, but you still need to really think about how best to maximise that, and that doesn't necessarily mean doing what you want to do.
You also sound a little impatient, if that is the case then investing in stocks isn't for you, simple as.
Have you decided why do you want to invest in the first place?  Are you thinking of retiring early, or paying off your mortgage with it?
Whether you realise it or not, you've been given some good advice here - for free.  If you want to retire early, then paying extra into your pension, or exploring whether or not your employer offers sal sac is a no brainer - but boring.
Sometimes, in fact most of the time investing is boring.  If you want excitement, get to the bookies.
Reading something like Monevator might be useful, it's a really good blog, written in layman's terms, and explains a lot about passive investing.
Good luck, slow down, and make a start by doing LOTS of reading. 

Arsenal2019

Gin_and_Milk said:

With all due respect you come across as being a bit 'here, there and everywhere.'  You have a small amount of money to invest, but you still need to really think about how best to maximise that, and that doesn't necessarily mean doing what you want to do.
You also sound a little impatient, if that is the case then investing in stocks isn't for you, simple as.
Have you decided why do you want to invest in the first place?  Are you thinking of retiring early, or paying off your mortgage with it?
Whether you realise it or not, you've been given some good advice here - for free.  If you want to retire early, then paying extra into your pension, or exploring whether or not your employer offers sal sac is a no brainer - but boring.
Sometimes, in fact most of the time investing is boring.  If you want excitement, get to the bookies.
Reading something like Monevator might be useful, it's a really good blog, written in layman's terms, and explains a lot about passive investing.
Good luck, slow down, and make a start by doing LOTS of reading. 

Thank you for that. I want to keep my pension and keep making the contributions I am doing. And as my wage goes up, so will my contributions.
I want to invest inS&S in the hope that when I am older (in around 20 years), what I have invested has made me some money- which I know will be mainly done by ETF’s / index funds. 

I’d want to invest small amounts into individual stocks for a bit of fun;Knowing full well this is much more riskier… but, still fun 

jimjames

Arsenal2019 said:

grumiofoundation sSee above re tax in retirement.

If you are looking at investing via a pension then investing more into your workplace pension (if applicable) may well be more sensible.

Are you maximising employer contributions? (If not thats free money..)
Are your pension contributions via salary sacrifice?
Is your workplace pension DC 9Defined contribution) or DB (defined benefit)

The reason people might be suggesting ISAs is that money in a pension is not accessible until 55 (currently, going up to 57). So if you want to be able to access the money before then pension is not suitable. 

I contribute around 300 of my monthly wage towards pension and my employer contributes also, obviously not 300 haha! I haven’t a clue exaxtly how much they contribute, nor if they’re DC or DB

First step is to find out exactly what they contribute and the type of pension it is. You may find that you're missing free money but not getting matching contributions

R_P_W

OP your thoughts and questions don't seem a million miles away from where I was a couple of weeks ago.

I'm just about to turn 40 and have tried to keep my finances as simple as possible, I don't have any expertise in stocks/shares etc so wouldn't want to gamble with individual stocks with any serious money.

I've always paid into company DC pensions since I was 19 and glad I did.  At the moment with pension I've opted to pay 20% a month which maximises the 40% tax benefits for me.  

I would ideally like to retire or go part time as I approach 60 so have decided to invest a reasonable chunk each month in a S&S ISA.  I looked at a load of options and sought some thoughts from the helpful folk on here.  In the end I went with a Vanguard Lifestrategy 80 fund, its simple, low costs and I think gives me about as much diversification I will need without having to do any of the work myself.  So bit like you I'm thinking 15-20 years timeframe for this.

I also use Free Trade - I have a few hundred £ in there that is play money really.  Also a very small amount of Crypto just because I find it interesting.

So, in summary anything important such as pension and S&S ISA which will have a big impact on my later life - keep it simple, monitor it yearly and adjust if needed but otherwise hands off.