Is it a bad time to cash out an investment ISA? 31 August 2022 at 10:12AM in ISAs & tax-free savings 6 replies 286 views

SkySi

I've got an investment ISA with BMO.  I've had it since I was 18 and it's always gone up in value (sometimes quite a lot) until covid hit.  Since then it dropped quite a bit from 2020- 2021 and this year it's continued to drop although much more slowly.

We've just bought a new house and could really do with the money but it seems like a bad time to cash out.  I've tried looking online but can't really find the answers.

I know no-one has a crystal ball that tells them if the market is going to start recovering but is the consensus that it's likely to go back up again soon?

25_Years_On

No one knows. Recently stock markets have recovered to an extent but dropped away again in recent days. After the initial covid fall stock markets recovered and some made quite big gains. My ISA recovered after covid and recently it was back on an even keel (no loss on paper). I guess it depends what you are invested in. I've not heard of BDO or what sort of investments they offer. Tomorrow - anything could happen. For instance there's China and Tiawan but then it might be good news instead.

dunstonh

 it's always gone up in value until covid hit.

It wouldn't have done.  It would have zig zaged in an upward direction but it would have gone down plenty of times.

Markets took large hits in Q4 2018 (similar scale to now) and over 2015 and early 2016 (similar scale to now). 2011 had a smaller one.  2008 was a large one.   2000,2001 and 2002 were three negative years in a row.

I know no-one has a crystal ball that tells them if the market is going to start recovering but is the consensus that it's likely to go back up again soon?

As you say, crystal ball.  They will recover in time.  Most recover within 12 months.  A smaller number recover within 2 years and an even smaller number recover with 3 years.   5 years is rare but 10 years is possible but extremely rare.

Albermarle

We've just bought a new house and could really do with the money but it seems like a bad time to cash out.  I've tried looking online but can't really find the answers.
What was the objective for investing the money in the first place? If it was to provide money to use when you had a family, new house etc ( lots of extra costs etc ) then it has achieved its purpose. 

If the objective was to invest long term for retirement, then leave it alone. However a pension is better to meet this objective, and hopefully you ( and your partner ) have some pension provision in place anyway.

I know no-one has a crystal ball that tells them if the market is going to start recovering but is the consensus that it's likely to go back up again soon? The consensus is that it might go back up soon, and then again it might not .

jimjames

SkySi said:

We've just bought a new house and could really do with the money but it seems like a bad time to cash out.  I've tried looking online but can't really find the answers.

If the money was invested since you were 18 so that it's available when you need it then surely it's done its job - unless you're now 19

It's not really something anyone else can answer but if you need the money then that would seem to be a sensible time to sell unless you have other cash you can use.

SkySi

Albermarle said:

We've just bought a new house and could really do with the money but it seems like a bad time to cash out.  I've tried looking online but can't really find the answers.
What was the objective for investing the money in the first place? If it was to provide money to use when you had a family, new house etc ( lots of extra costs etc ) then it has achieved its purpose. 

If the objective was to invest long term for retirement, then leave it alone. However a pension is better to meet this objective, and hopefully you ( and your partner ) have some pension provision in place anyway.

I know no-one has a crystal ball that tells them if the market is going to start recovering but is the consensus that it's likely to go back up again soon? The consensus is that it might go back up soon, and then again it might not .

The objective was to provide money for my education... when my grandparents set it up 25+ years ago!  other than that it's just been a form of savings account that I've used when needed.  Regardless of it's objective I still don't want to lose more than I need to by withdrawing at it's lowest point.

SkySi

Sorry if this posts twice but I replied and my post didn't appear on my screen.

It's not so much about if it's done it's job or not it's more about trying to extract the most out of it I can.  We could get by without it but it would be useful to have.  I think I'll see how much we have left after the move and then maybe draw part of it out based on that.

I know no one can know the answer, I just posed the question to see what people's opinions were to help me with the decision.

Thanks everyone for your replies.