ISA money sitting Idle - Need suggestions

goldmine2011

So I havent always been clued up on stocks overall, bought some here and there pre-covid. But during covid (like many others) I had spare time and needed to make some extra £ so I was buying and selling weekly, mainly Bio-tech and tech stocks. Then i pretty much sold everything (at a profit) as we were coming out of Covid because i wasnt sure what the market sentiment was going to be anymore. Lucky i did in a sense because most of those stocks fell alot in the last year or so.

I chose not to buy during the last 9-12 months purely because the market wasnt looking great and i dont really look at indepth analysis etc im just a general retail investor. So since then i've had about 100k sat in my Stock & Shares ISA doing nothing, not invested in any shares, just sat Idle in my S&S ISA because i knew that if i took it out that i couldnt put it back in as you are only allowed to put in £20k every year, I was thinking i'd keep it ready as a warchest for buying up cheap stocks when the prices fell but with the war and cost of living crisis i dont think i have enough confidence to buy stocks anymore (my picks were usually just following positive upside trends).

So now i have the 100k in a S&S ISA and interest rates have gone up and i am thinking to transfer it into a Savings ISA so that way at least i know its not just sat there doing nothing, I dont need access to the money so not too bothered if it is unaccessible for a year or so. But recently i've been thinking about retirement and i dont have anything pension related whatsoever, i am self-employed so i dont have a company pension or private pension. I am looking to semi-retire at 55 (currently 39) so im just wondering what i should do with this money sat idle currently. Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you

xylophone

You might wish to consider transferring some of that cash out of the ISA into your current account and then contributing as much as possible to a pension for this year?

If you do not wish to dabble in the stock market you might consider something like the retirement portfolio here?

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/personal-pension/pension-calculator?cmpgn=PS1022UKBABSP1398EN&s_kwcid=AL!11156!3!575258577358!b!!g!!vanguard sipp&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhuKpmrCz_QIVQe7tCh18WADdEAAYASAAEgIg9fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

You might so the same in the next year and thereafter and perhaps hold your cash savings within a cash ISA?

https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief

goldmine2011

ah yeah I think i might have just been attatched to the idea of keeping whatever i have in an ISA in an ISA because of the fact that once you take out you cant put back in. But yes i think maybe my retirement issue should be solved first with this issue rather than the investment issue as the earlier you invest in retirement the easier it is when it comes down the line.

is it recommended to speak to an IFA? as there seems to be too many options for pension related products

xylophone

is it recommended to speak to an IFA? 

If you want advice specific to your situation you could do this.

You could try

https://adviserbook.co.uk/

ticking "confirmed independent" and such other specialisms required when the menu comes up

Albermarle

You can perhaps look at it like this.
In the long term, investments should outperform cash savings, based on historical statistics going back a long way. There can be periods when it is the other way around, but on balance it is more risky not to invest , than invest, assuming you have a long term time horizon, like building up funds for retirement. This also assumes you invest in globally diversified funds, and not dabbling in buying and selling individual company shares which is potentially very risky.
A pension and a S&S ISA are both ways to invest, but with different tax regimes. In both cases there is no dividend or capital gains tax to pay. A pension has a positive tax benefit due to tax relief on contributions, but you are restricted in when you can take the money. For saving for retirement, a pension is nearly always the best way.
The amount you can add to a pension each year and get the tax relief is based on your earnings.
To a large extent picking a pension provider is relatively simple, what is important is what you invest in within the pension. Some providers only offer a simple, small range of investments and others a very wide range. Here is an example of a simple one with only 5 investment choices.
Personal Pension | Private Pension | Legal & General (legalandgeneral.com)
There are some explanations of how pensions work in general  on the website also.