Managed Stocks and Shares ISA - ideal as a long term "set and forget"?

EasyToAssemble01

I'm new to investing, and have decided to get a managed Stocks and Shares ISA as a long term investment (long-term meaning retirement-years), as I want a low-to-medium risk investment that I don't have to actively manage (largely because of a lack of experience rather than motivation). I have a few newbie questions on this:

-Long-term, do these generally provide reliable yields (ie. do the mainstream providers do a capable enough job in managing those investments)?
-Do the charges and fees vary hugely between the established providers, or are they largely much of the same? I'd be fine with a slightly higher rate if the provider is competent and established.
-In terms of managed investments vs self-managed (for the average normie who just wants to build a low-risk nestegg): is it better just to leave it to the experts, or am I missing out significantly by not learning how to build my own portfolio (I realise that might be a YMMV question)?

I was looking at Hargreaves Lansdown or Sun Life, to start with.

boingy

If it's for your retirement you should be thinking about putting it into a pension. 
And rather than paying for a managed fund, consider a low-cost tracker of some sort. 

wmb194

Sun Life? What does Sun Life offer in the UK now? I thought it was winding down here and transferring its business to other companies. Can you provide a link?

dunstonh

I'm new to investing, and have decided to get a managed Stocks and Shares ISA as a long term investment (long-term meaning retirement-years), 

Pension trumps ISA for retirement years.  Both share the same investment choice and charges.  Only the tax (and access age) is the different.    And that favours pension.

-Long-term, do these generally provide reliable yields (ie. do the mainstream providers do a capable enough job in managing those investments)?

ISAs and pensions have over 30,000 investment options.  And that is from the mainstream providers.     
Yield is only part of the return and plenty of people focus on total return as the invesmtent strategy rather than a yielding strategy.   Since the credit crunch, yield has only had one year where it was better than total return.     Mainly as yield has been hard to achieve. Its gone up as of late but the problem is that the best yielding companies tend to be yesteryear companies.

-Do the charges and fees vary hugely between the established providers, or are they largely much of the same? 

The investment charges do not change across the investment platforms.  The platform charges will differ though.

-In terms of managed investments vs self-managed (for the average normie who just wants to build a low-risk nestegg): is it better just to leave it to the experts, or am I missing out significantly by not learning how to build my own portfolio (I realise that might be a YMMV question)?

If you are looking at the really basic options from restricted providers then you are probably looking at below average returns.  They tend to use in-house options which are not normally the best.

I was looking at Hargreaves Lansdown or Sun Life, to start with.

AXA Sun Life sold up when AXA left the UK and the investment/pension side was bought by Friends Provident and become Friends Life.  Friends Life was bought by Aviva.   The Sun Life name was bought by Phoenix and they use it from some legacy Scottish Friendly products and a few other minor things.    They are not a name that you associate with investing.

HL and Sun Life couldnt be further apart in what they do.

Albermarle

I was looking at Hargreaves Lansdown

HL are a well known name offering S&S ISA's. However they do not manage the ISA for you, you have to pick the investments in the ISA. They will offer some guidance and suggest some of their own expensive funds, but they will not offer you any personal advice on what to do. Same for all similar providers.

There are Robo Advisors who will suggest an investment fund based on a few questions, such as Nutmeg.

You say you are new to investing. What kind of workplace pension do you have ?

EasyToAssemble01

Albermarle said:

I was looking at Hargreaves Lansdown

HL are a well known name offering S&S ISA's. However they do not manage the ISA for you, you have to pick the investments in the ISA. They will offer some guidance and suggest some of their own expensive funds, but they will not offer you any personal advice on what to do. Same for all similar providers.

There are Robo Advisors who will suggest an investment fund based on a few questions, such as Nutmeg.

You say you are new to investing. What kind of workplace pension do you have ?

I have been recommended Nutmeg by a colleague, so will look into that.

I'm currently on a 5% matched contribution scheme (with the option to pay additional amounts in).

EasyToAssemble01

boingy said:

If it's for your retirement you should be thinking about putting it into a pension. 
And rather than paying for a managed fund, consider a low-cost tracker of some sort. 

Although that makes the most sense, I'm slightly worried about locking everything up until retirement. I have no intention of using unless I absolutely need to. But the recent economic turn has made me slightly nervous about making my money inaccessible in emergencies. Of course, dipping into S+S before they've matured renders that pointless too, but I won't be faced with the same penalties.  

Linton

EasyToAssemble01 said:

boingy said:

If it's for your retirement you should be thinking about putting it into a pension. 
And rather than paying for a managed fund, consider a low-cost tracker of some sort. 

Although that makes the most sense, I'm slightly worried about locking everything up until retirement. I have no intention of using unless I absolutely need to. But the recent economic turn has made me slightly nervous about making my money inaccessible in emergencies. Of course, dipping into S+S before they've matured renders that pointless too, but I won't be faced with the same penalties.  

Are you really going to want all your pension money in an emergency?  When investing in a pension it is normally recommended that you keep perhaps 6 months living costs as cash to cover such things as redundancy or a new boiler wso that you dont need to sell investments.

badger09

EasyToAssemble01 said:

boingy said:

If it's for your retirement you should be thinking about putting it into a pension. 
And rather than paying for a managed fund, consider a low-cost tracker of some sort. 

Although that makes the most sense, I'm slightly worried about locking everything up until retirement. I have no intention of using unless I absolutely need to. But the recent economic turn has made me slightly nervous about making my money inaccessible in emergencies. Of course, dipping into S+S before they've matured renders that pointless too, but I won't be faced with the same penalties.  

It doesn’t have to be either pension or S&S ISA. It can be both. The tax advantages of saving in a pension shouldn’t be ignored; effectively saying ‘no thank you’ to free money😳

boingy

badger09 said:

EasyToAssemble01 said:

boingy said:

If it's for your retirement you should be thinking about putting it into a pension. 
And rather than paying for a managed fund, consider a low-cost tracker of some sort. 

Although that makes the most sense, I'm slightly worried about locking everything up until retirement. I have no intention of using unless I absolutely need to. But the recent economic turn has made me slightly nervous about making my money inaccessible in emergencies. Of course, dipping into S+S before they've matured renders that pointless too, but I won't be faced with the same penalties.  

It doesn’t have to be either pension or S&S ISA. It can be both. The tax advantages of saving in a pension shouldn’t be ignored; effectively saying ‘no thank you’ to free money😳

I was just about to say exactly the same thing.

It's not an exact science but split the money into imaginary pots:
Short-term savings - stuff you might need in the next few years to cover unexpected things.
Long-term investments - 10+ years.
Pension - stuff you can lock away until your mid-fifties and beyond. 

Albermarle

 Of course, dipping into S+S before they've matured renders that pointless too, but I won't be faced with the same penalties.  

S&S ISA's do not mature. You can access the money anytime you like.

However the recommendation is to treat them as medium to long term investments ( at least 5 years preferably > 10 years) and to leave them alone as much as possible, but there is no specific maturity date.

I have been recommended Nutmeg by a colleague, so will look into that

Be aware though they are not the cheapest option, and recent performance of their investment funds has not been great.