Better Investment

DavidW55

I currently have a lump sum invested with a reputable company for stocks and shares. Since the pandemic my profit has fluctuated between £2000 and £9000. The initial sum was invested some 7 years ago. Would I be better off withdrawing it all and investing in fixed term interest (3 - 5 Years) from the MSE recommended companies? I am a retired senior citizen and need to increase income sooner rather and later.

El_Torro

Stocks and shares are good if you're going to be invested for 10 years or more. Cash is good if you need the money sooner (less than 10 years). 

What you should do with this investment depends on when you need the money and what other income / savings you have. 

Stocks and shares have not done well in the last couple of years, though if you've been invested for 7 years you should still see a tidy profit. It depends on what you're invested in and what the fees are. 

Since we're currently coming out of poor performance in stocks and shares it's likely that we're due a nice increase in returns over the next couple of years. As always though there's no guarantee as to what returns are going to do in the next couple of years.

Albermarle

Stocks and shares are good if you're going to be invested for 10 years or more. Cash is good if you need the money sooner (less than 10 years). 

Usually it is said cash for anything up to 5 years and investments for longer than 10 years, but a bit of a grey area in the middle, say 7 years. Probably a mixture of cash and medium risk investments.

OP your question  Would I be better off withdrawing it all and investing in fixed term interest (3 - 5 Years), is being asked pretty much on a daily basis on this and the pensions forum, so probably worth spending some time scrolling through recent threads,

eskbanker

DavidW55 said:

I currently have a lump sum invested with a reputable company for stocks and shares. Since the pandemic my profit has fluctuated between £2000 and £9000. The initial sum was invested some 7 years ago. Would I be better off withdrawing it all and investing in fixed term interest (3 - 5 Years) from the MSE recommended companies? I am a retired senior citizen and need to increase income sooner rather and later.

The profit you've made and how long you have been invested shouldn't be part of the decision-making process - you need to take a view based solely on what you currently have as a starting point, and decide on the best approach that'll meet your requirements going forward.

If you need to increase income sooner rather than later (I assume that's what you meant by 'sooner rather and later') then you need to consider how much income you are aiming for and the degree of risk necessary to take with your pot in order to deliver that - if saving rather than investing delivers that then so much the better, for short-term requirements at least, but how long is this money meant to last for?