Is this right for me?

scottiescott

Good evening all. Would anyone care to give me a view on this?
Since taking early retirement at 56 six years ago, due to one thing or another, I havn't done much to make my money work harder. 
I receive a Company Pension which more than covers my living expenses and holidays, socialising etc. Anything bigger, such as car replacement or major house repair I can easily cover from cash in bank as between Premium Bonds and cash I have about £150k ( yes, I know, don't nag!). I have no plans to move home, I have just moved into a bungalow which I completely renovated. I will receive State Pension in 4 years. I'm single with 2 grown up kids. At the moment I am not in Inheritance Tax territory.
I drip feed into a Vanguard VLS60 S & S ISA and will be max-ed by 5th April. It is my intention to continue drip feeding to max in 2022-2023. I find Vanguard website easy to use and happy with performance. I also have about £60k in shares of my previous employer (non-UK). I receive about £700 pa dividends but growth is impressive. 
So what next? I have been digging around for knowledge, understanding and advice given to others and am leaning towards Hargreaves Landsdown Portfolio + Fund and Share Account, as, in their words, "you prefer our experts to choose and manage the investments", which suits me just fine.
I just feel I should be making more of my money and with inflation now 5+% I understand the erosion of my savings. In saying that, I'm unlikely to ever drain my bank accounts unless of course the Care Home scenario emerges. My objective and motivation is to pass on a decent legacy to my kids and its starting to niggle me that I could/should be doing better investment-wise.
Your thoughts?
Thank you.

london21

Whatever you do be careful of people/companies selling courses and promising unbelievable returns. 

I would say lower risk index funds depending on your risk appetite.
diversify and only invest what you are willing to invest for long term. 

sevenhills

scottiescott said:

I just feel I should be making more of my money and with inflation now 5+% I understand the erosion of my savings.

RPI inflation is now at 7.5%

masonic

£60k in the shares of a single company would seem quite unbalanced and risky, so it is potentially something to be addressed. An unexpected reversal of fortunes could be quite painful.

The HL Portfolio will tend to push you into their expensive Multi-manager funds, which do not have the best record (they were embroiled in the recent Woodford fiasco, for example). An alternative option would be to do something similar to what you have done at Vanguard, perhaps using an alternative multi-asset fund (e.g. HSBC Global Strategy, L&G Multi Index, etc.) if you feel the need not to put all your eggs in the Vanguard basket.

GeoffTF

scottiescott said:

I have been digging around for knowledge, understanding and advice given to others and am leaning towards Hargreaves Landsdown Portfolio + Fund and Share Account, as, in their words, "you prefer our experts to choose and manage the investments", which suits me just fine.
I just feel I should be making more of my money and with inflation now 5+% I understand the erosion of my savings.

Avoid snake oil salesman like HL. They do not know the future. There are no experts in the future. HL does not know better than the combined wisdom of the market. Stick with what you are doing. You are likely to lose out to inflation over the next few years, but is no reason to rack up your costs and take on more risk. Frying pan and fire

Keep_pedalling

I can’t see the point of drip feeding into your ISA over the year, bang the whole £20k in on the 6th April. Assuming your company pension is a DB one this, along with your SP puts you in a safe financial position with good protection against inflation, so no need to hold so much cash.

We are in a similar situation as regard protected income and just have a cash buffer for emergencies and to avoid drawing down on our ISAs in a big market downturn. The rest of our savings are in equities despite being 10 years older than you.

In your shoes I would be looking at getting £120k in a GIA, and bed and ISA it over the coming years. 

Albermarle

 am leaning towards Hargreaves Landsdown Portfolio + Fund and Share Account, as, in their words, "you prefer our experts to choose and manage the investments", which suits me just fine.

It will suit HL 'just fine' as it will be expensive in terms of charges .

As a non earner , you can start a new pension ( with Vanguard or HL or many others ) and add £2880 per tax year and £720 in tax relief will be added. 

I guess you are a basic rate taxpayer so when/if you withdraw the money you will not overall make a huge gain ( £180) but as an alternative do not withdraw it and leave it to your family .

scottiescott

Keep_pedalling said:

I can’t see the point of drip feeding into your ISA over the year, bang the whole £20k in on the 6th April. Assuming your company pension is a DB one this, along with your SP puts you in a safe financial position with good protection against inflation, so no need to hold so much cash.

We are in a similar situation as regard protected income and just have a cash buffer for emergencies and to avoid drawing down on our ISAs in a big market downturn. The rest of our savings are in equities despite being 10 years older than you.

In your shoes I would be looking at getting £120k in a GIA, and bed and ISA it over the coming years. 

I could certainly chuck £20k into my ISA on 6th April but I understood drip feeding helped balance any market volatility.
I do indeed have a DB pension.
I have read several threads where General Investment Accounts are mentioned and it seems like the way to go for me, but don't I have to select a fund to invest in within a GIA? If so, which fund or type of fund, or am I mis-understanding the process?
Thanks in advance.

Albermarle

Yes you have to select your own funds in a GIA , but you also have to do that in a S&S ISA . ( you don't actually invest in the ISA as such , but the investments within it )

Both the GIA and ISA are just admin entities for handling money in and out and the buying and selling of the investments you request .
The difference is that with the ISA you do not have to worry about potential tax issues, but your are limited to £20K pa new money each tax year.