S&S ISA Portfolio help please

P933alilli

My situation is similar in that i opened VLS60 at the end of january last year and i'm 4.5% down. If id' opened at the beginning of january last year i'd have been nearer 10% down. However i'm retired and have 13.5k left of this years isa allowance and pondering whether to stick that in too or just put in a fixed rate cash isa. The 13.5 k would then give me a total of 40k which i wouldnt add to and then leave for potentially 10 years. I think i could manage not to need the 40k for a decade but who knows with the uncertainty over inflation?

Neversurrender

Collyflower1 said:

My situation is similar in that i opened VLS60 at the end of january last year and i'm 4.5% down. If id' opened at the beginning of january last year i'd have been nearer 10% down. However i'm retired and have 13.5k left of this years isa allowance and pondering whether to stick that in too or just put in a fixed rate cash isa. The 13.5 k would then give me a total of 40k which i wouldnt add to and then leave for potentially 10 years. I think i could manage not to need the 40k for a decade but who knows with the uncertainty over inflation?

Sounds like a carbon copy of me and my situation.

What a damn nuisance wasn't it for the markets to tumble after investing....now we're playing catchup

Annie1612

I understand your consternation - I am also in the same boat. Invested a large lump sum, - I thought it was time in the market, not timing the market so I went for it - at the beginning of last year after being fed up with rubbish interest rates only for everything to kick off with inflation/Ukraine etc. I am 80% equity and it lost a large sum the minute it touched the isa which was a little annoying 😂. I shouldn’t be allowed near money as I was born unlucky.  I decided not to peek for 10 years. Just recently I thought about offloading this financial worry and giving it to the kids towards house deposits but I refuse to consolidate a loss so they can have it in 10 years time instead of an inheritance 😂

It does worry me - I don’t feel positive about investing anymore - me but I have the same amount in cash that is losing to inflation only more drip drip drip so I try to forget about it. It actually helps to know that I am not the only one with bad financial timing 😂 

Albermarle

 I am not the only one with bad financial timing 

It was not bad, just a bit unlucky. Best way to think about it is that investing is a long term game, and what happens over a shorter period should right itself in the end.

Neversurrender

I sympathise 

I know 12 months in the market is short, but when you see a large drop right at the beginning only 12 months or so ago, AND then see it basically stay like that after the ups and downs, you kind of think your flogging a dead horse, and it will stay like that.

I keep telling myself it will recover, it better had do :-)

Swipe

One sure way to lose money to inflation over the long term is hold it all in cash savings. I am approaching early retirement but have decided to keep 30% in a mixture of easy access, regular and fixed cash savings and premium bonds. This allows me to sleep better at night knowing I can still maintain a decent lifestyle even if we go through a lost decade. I have enough invested for life so I don't see the point of gambling the remainder in equities.

Neversurrender

Swipe said:

One sure way to lose money to inflation over the long term is hold it all in cash savings. I am approaching early retirement but have decided to keep 30% in a mixture of easy access, regular and fixed cash savings and premium bonds. This allows me to sleep better at night knowing I can still maintain a decent lifestyle even if we go through a lost decade. I have enough invested for life so I don't see the point of gambling the remainder in equities.

So have I, alot of my other savings are split like yours, but its the bit I invested ( Original post) that concerns me, because not only has it lost me several thousand in 14 months, but not even achieved inflation, and it looks like quite a while before it will recover, thankfully I can earmark the loss making portfolio for use in another 10 years plus and hopefully then it will have caught up.

LHW99

if it is any encouragement, I have been keeping track of my investment portfolio progress since 2014 (although have invested for many years before that). My worst year was 2018, when I was down almost 7% over the year (Covid 2020 was a bigger initial drop, but came back quickly), but have still averaged 6% per year from mid-December 14 to end December 2022.

dealyboy

Hi @LHW99 ...

LHW99 said:

if it is any encouragement, I have been keeping track of my investment portfolio progress since 2014 (although have invested for many years before that). My worst year was 2018, when I was down almost 7% over the year (Covid 2020 was a bigger initial drop, but came back quickly), but have still averaged 6% per year from mid-December 14 to end December 2022.

... you did well last year if you did better than -7%.

Swipe

Neversurrender said:

Swipe said:

One sure way to lose money to inflation over the long term is hold it all in cash savings. I am approaching early retirement but have decided to keep 30% in a mixture of easy access, regular and fixed cash savings and premium bonds. This allows me to sleep better at night knowing I can still maintain a decent lifestyle even if we go through a lost decade. I have enough invested for life so I don't see the point of gambling the remainder in equities.

So have I, alot of my other savings are split like yours, but its the bit I invested ( Original post) that concerns me, because not only has it lost me several thousand in 14 months, but not even achieved inflation, and it looks like quite a while before it will recover, thankfully I can earmark the loss making portfolio for use in another 10 years plus and hopefully then it will have caught up.

If it makes you feel any better, my funds were up £50K 2 weeks ago and since SVB that £50K has since evaporated into thin air. If you are to invest, you have to be fine with these sorts of swings.