£300k to invest

bostonerimus

lagransiete said:

bostonerimus said:

With equities off their recent highs it might be a great time to invest in equities, but nothing wrong in using fixed rate saving accounts. I'd ladder them. ie split the money into say 5 parts and buy 1,2,3,4 and 5 year saving bonds. So you have regular access to your money and can take advantage of today's interest rates. When year 1 matures you take the interest and use the principal to buy another 5 year bond and do the same with the rest of the bonds as they mature. Eventually you have 5, 5 year bonds with one maturing every year. Or you might think about buying an annuity, which isn't an investment, but might be a useful income tool.

yes thanks I think that may well my best option at this moment although i will still keep investing in my current multifunds and when Ukraine war ends I will make further investments 

Putting something into a pension will give you the best tax advantage, so consider that. Obviously pay off any high interest debt you have. Also do a budget and see how much you spend and then see how much of that is covered by guaranteed sources of income like state pension, DB pensions, annuities etc. There's no single right or wrong answer here, it depends on the person and their circumstances - the right solution for you is one that let's you sleep well at night.

lagransiete

bostonerimus said:

lagransiete said:

bostonerimus said:

With equities off their recent highs it might be a great time to invest in equities, but nothing wrong in using fixed rate saving accounts. I'd ladder them. ie split the money into say 5 parts and buy 1,2,3,4 and 5 year saving bonds. So you have regular access to your money and can take advantage of today's interest rates. When year 1 matures you take the interest and use the principal to buy another 5 year bond and do the same with the rest of the bonds as they mature. Eventually you have 5, 5 year bonds with one maturing every year. Or you might think about buying an annuity, which isn't an investment, but might be a useful income tool.

yes thanks I think that may well my best option at this moment although i will still keep investing in my current multifunds and when Ukraine war ends I will make further investments 

Putting something into a pension will give you the best tax advantage, so consider that. Obviously pay off any high interest debt you have. Also do a budget and see how much you spend and then see how much of that is covered by guaranteed sources of income like state pension, DB pensions, annuities etc. There's no single right or wrong answer here, it depends on the person and their circumstances - the right solution for you is one that let's you sleep well at night.

Both my wife and I are already in receipt of pensions - state, personal and a local Govt one so the only other annuity we could buy is a Purchased Life  one. There is very little info i can find about those and i don't know if the rates have gone up or not. I gather they don't pay up as much, although are taxed far less due to the fact HMRC considers the capital to have been taxed already. Maybe they make more sense for higher rate tax payers

jimjames

lagransiete said:

bostonerimus said:

With equities off their recent highs it might be a great time to invest in equities, but nothing wrong in using fixed rate saving accounts. I'd ladder them. ie split the money into say 5 parts and buy 1,2,3,4 and 5 year saving bonds. So you have regular access to your money and can take advantage of today's interest rates. When year 1 matures you take the interest and use the principal to buy another 5 year bond and do the same with the rest of the bonds as they mature. Eventually you have 5, 5 year bonds with one maturing every year. Or you might think about buying an annuity, which isn't an investment, but might be a useful income tool.

yes thanks I think that may well my best option at this moment although i will still keep investing in my current multifunds and when Ukraine war ends I will make further investments 

Most people like to go shopping in the New Year sales to grab a discounted price but when it comes to investments it seems to be the opposite. I prefer to buy when the price is low than when it is high so if I see a bargain then I like to buy whether that relates to investments, cars or shoes!

lagransiete

Mothman said:

With 300k and another BTL to sell plus your existing investments, it may be that inheritance tax advice would be an additional benefit an IFA would bring to the table.

No, that is not a major concern as we have no immediate family. However, we have made will, so anything left when we both pass away will go to the appropriate benefociaries

lagransiete

Albermarle said:

The funds are globally spread (5 each all told) and have an average equity weighting of about 33%( the UK 13.17%). Given their poor performance over the last year, we are reluctant to substantially increase our monthly investment until we reach a point where we feel more confident to do so. 

Investing is a long term game. How they have  performed over the last 10 years is more important than what has happened this year.

When will you feel more confident ? When the markets have gone back up and you have missed the boat ?

1% / £3K seems pretty normal as an initial charge for an IFA. Then if you had ongoing advice ( which most do) probably 0.5%/0.75% pa.

Do not quite follow your maths though. If 1% = £3K then the fund size must be £300K, so you only need 1% return to get the £3K back.

Yes I understand that but i though all the while the war in Ukraine is going on and energy prices stay high then it might be prudent to wait until that war comes to an end before increasing the amount I am investing

I thought 1% might be normal, although at the outset he charged us a flat fee for understandable reasons
Yes sorry i think my judgement was rather clouded by the festivities. A1% return would indeed be sufficient

Band7

lagransiete said:

Mothman said:

With 300k and another BTL to sell plus your existing investments, it may be that inheritance tax advice would be an additional benefit an IFA would bring to the table.

No, that is not a major concern as we have no immediate family. However, we have made will, so anything left when we both pass away will go to the appropriate benefociaries

Invest it in yourselves. Go on a round-the-world cruise, blow whatever you don't need for potential care on culture trips and luxury travel. 

lagransiete

dunstonh said:

and he gave us a quote of 1% which would cover the cost of the meetings, the research, his suitability report providing the advice and the implementation of his recommendations. I assume that would be standard market rate, but it being so we would immediately start with a cost of £3k to make up and i cannot think of anything in the area of low risk investment that would do that. It would need a 3% return for the 1st year and then more to counter the effects of inflation

There is no standard rate but many firms will taper their ongoing charge based on the fund value. e.g.  1% for smaller values,  0.75% for medium and 0.50% for higher.   Charges are important but they are a secondary concern to suitability.  There is no point moaning about 0.5% to 1.0% if you end up doing something that is going to cost more than that.   At £300k you wouldnt expect 1% but around 0.5-0.75%.

Some time back, I had someone having a bit of a moan about costs.  So, I told them to go off, do some research and come back to me with what they proposed to do.   They said they would use a certain very large DIY platform that had a 0.45% charge and their own in-house Multi-manager funds as that would avoid the adviser charge.    I pointed out to them that their platform charge with us was 0.25%, the fund charges 0.11% and the adviser charge was 0.5%.  A total of 0.86%.   Their DIY solution was closer to 2%.    That was before any conversation on tax allowance use and they didnt understand any of that.

DIY works when you DIY well.  It can be costly when you DIY badly.  Just as in all walks of life.

I certainly have not about his fees or his advice, in fact my wife wants would prefer stick with him rather than opting for another we know nothing about and we would definitely not go down the DIY route re multi-fund choices either

lagransiete

Band7 said:

lagransiete said:

Mothman said:

With 300k and another BTL to sell plus your existing investments, it may be that inheritance tax advice would be an additional benefit an IFA would bring to the table.

No, that is not a major concern as we have no immediate family. However, we have made will, so anything left when we both pass away will go to the appropriate benefociaries

Invest it in yourselves. Go on a round-the-world cruise, blow whatever you don't need for potential care on culture trips and luxury travel. 

Floating prisons with the option of drowning . Holidays are one thing but also home improvements

Band7

lagransiete said:

Band7 said:

lagransiete said:

Mothman said:

With 300k and another BTL to sell plus your existing investments, it may be that inheritance tax advice would be an additional benefit an IFA would bring to the table.

No, that is not a major concern as we have no immediate family. However, we have made will, so anything left when we both pass away will go to the appropriate benefociaries

Invest it in yourselves. Go on a round-the-world cruise, blow whatever you don't need for potential care on culture trips and luxury travel. 

Floating prisons with the option of drowning . Holidays are one thing but also home improvements

Wouldn't disagree about the floating prisons

Another option to burn money is to buy, or rent, a huge RV in the States and tour the Grand Circle, and more whilst you are at it. Repeat the same in Australia and NZ.

wmb194

jimjames said:

lagransiete said:

bostonerimus said:

With equities off their recent highs it might be a great time to invest in equities, but nothing wrong in using fixed rate saving accounts. I'd ladder them. ie split the money into say 5 parts and buy 1,2,3,4 and 5 year saving bonds. So you have regular access to your money and can take advantage of today's interest rates. When year 1 matures you take the interest and use the principal to buy another 5 year bond and do the same with the rest of the bonds as they mature. Eventually you have 5, 5 year bonds with one maturing every year. Or you might think about buying an annuity, which isn't an investment, but might be a useful income tool.

yes thanks I think that may well my best option at this moment although i will still keep investing in my current multifunds and when Ukraine war ends I will make further investments 

Most people like to go shopping in the New Year sales to grab a discounted price but when it comes to investments it seems to be the opposite. I prefer to buy when the price is low than when it is high so if I see a bargain then I like to buy whether that relates to investments, cars or shoes!

There's an old stockmarket saying that goes something like, 'the only sale that people don't like is when it's on Wall Street.'