Investments over the last 2 years

Hi all, looking for some thoughts and insight into what's happening.

We have put £50k into 3 stocks and shares isa's (one is a pension) by our financial adviser.
We invested in March 2022 and now (as of November 2023) the current value is £46,600
This includes a further £980 put in in April 2023.
We are noted as 'medium to low' as risk takers.

We have another long running investment with Royal London, which has steadily risen ovcer many years but we note that in the last 2 years it has carried on rising (last 6 months it increased by £800 on a £14k current value... This is noted as a 'high risk' investment and has nothing to do with the financial adviser above.

So, the question is, what is the story with the 'market' and investments in general? Is everything on the down-turn generally? is there a quantifiable reason to expect a loss of £4k+ over 2 years? 
Whilst another is performing well??

At the moment we are pretty convinced that we should withdraw / transfer to cash ISA's or similar on a fixed rate 5% at least of the next few years to try to recoup a bit...

Any insights / thoughts are gratefully received :)
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  • Thanks @eskbanker, I'm looking for insight to take into a meeting with the IFA. We did indeed work on the timescales, strategy, etc and yes we were warned of risk... but we are disillusioned and not sure who to trust here (hence coming to Martin Lewis site)... 
    Again, any insights are gratefully received. :)
  • Albermarle
    Albermarle Posts: 26,818 Forumite
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    Timbob24 said:
    Thanks @eskbanker, I'm looking for insight to take into a meeting with the IFA. We did indeed work on the timescales, strategy, etc and yes we were warned of risk... but we are disillusioned and not sure who to trust here (hence coming to Martin Lewis site)... 
    Again, any insights are gratefully received. :)
    The forum is open to the public, so any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry can reply to your post.
    Luckily most of the regular posters tend to try and give  sensible and informed answers, based on the limited info usually supplied, but just be aware you are not reading some kind of answers vetted by Martin Lewis.

    As explained above, investments traditionally classed as low risk have had a rough time due to a unique set of circumstances, that is hopefully over.
  • LHW99
    LHW99 Posts: 5,089 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    We have put £50k into 3 stocks and shares isa's (one is a pension)
    At the moment we are pretty convinced that we should withdraw / transfer to cash ISA's

    Be aware that pensions and ISA's are different wrappers. You cannot withdraw money legally from a pension until you are 55 (soon 57), and if you withdraw it all after that age, 75% will be taxed as income, and going forward you will be restricted in the amount you can add to any new (eg workplace) pension

  • jimjames
    jimjames Posts: 18,481 Forumite
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    Timbob24 said:
    We have put £50k into 3 stocks and shares isa's (one is a pension) by our financial adviser.
    Any insights / thoughts are gratefully received :)
    As above you need to check exactly what you have put money into. You cannot have a pension ISA, it would either be a pension or an ISA. An ISA in itself doesn't perform well or badly, it's the investments you buy inside it that do. What are the investments that you've got in the ISA and pension? If you're working then the pension should have been boosted by tax relief of 20% or more and as a long term product you might expect it to have a higher risk profile
    Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.
  • Beddie
    Beddie Posts: 967 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Quick answer - 2022 was a bad year for bonds. Bonds make up more of a lower risk portfolio than a higher one, hence the disparity you've seen. Bonds are now "back to normal" so you don't need to change your portfolios as long as they're still right for you.

    As stated above, have a chat with your adviser (and be told the same thing!)
  • R_P_W
    R_P_W Posts: 1,508 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Timbob24 said:
    Hi all, looking for some thoughts and insight into what's happening.

    We have put £50k into 3 stocks and shares isa's (one is a pension) by our financial adviser.
    We invested in March 2022 and now (as of November 2023) the current value is £46,600
    This includes a further £980 put in in April 2023.
    We are noted as 'medium to low' as risk takers.

    We have another long running investment with Royal London, which has steadily risen ovcer many years but we note that in the last 2 years it has carried on rising (last 6 months it increased by £800 on a £14k current value... This is noted as a 'high risk' investment and has nothing to do with the financial adviser above.

    So, the question is, what is the story with the 'market' and investments in general? Is everything on the down-turn generally? is there a quantifiable reason to expect a loss of £4k+ over 2 years? 
    Whilst another is performing well??

    At the moment we are pretty convinced that we should withdraw / transfer to cash ISA's or similar on a fixed rate 5% at least of the next few years to try to recoup a bit...

    Any insights / thoughts are gratefully received :)
    Do don't say how old you are, what your objectives and timescales are for the investments.  As others have said, you don't seem clear what you have invested in as a pension cannot also be an ISA.

    You know that investments can go up and down, you also know that two years is a short period of time so I don't understand how you can all of a sudden arrive at the position that you should withdraw into cash for a period of time?

    What if the investments you are thinking of selling go on to grow by 8% per year for the next 3 years?  What would you be thinking then?  Not buy back in and wait for them to drop?

    Unless you are very close to retirement or already in it I don't think any of that makes sense at all.

    Medium / Low risk doesn't mean no risk.  
  • "High risk" comes from the theoretical volatility that an investment can have (whether up or down) but it doesnt imply that this has a higher chance of being down compared to a "medium" oriented portfolio.

    I am being generic saying that but the likely culprit for your 50k investment was the same that caused my workplace pension to kinda stagnate over the last 2 years - bonds taking a bit of a hit (only reason it didnt go down was because I switched to more equity about a year ago).
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