S&S ISA

higueron

I have stocks and shares isa with Virgin which is a footsie 100 tracker it is obviously doing very well at the moment my concern is when the footsie starts to go down so will my shares value my wife and myself are in our 70s I wonder if I should transfer to a cash isa either fixed or easy access at least that way I will have secured our gains

dunstonh

The Virgin ISA was a very poor option and investing 100% into UK large cap has been a very poor decision for the last 25 years.  That is until the last 3 months when its improved but overall, its still a bad option.

Virgin always seemed to get awards for offering very limited and low-quality products, which were no cheaper than those available elsewhere.     Most of the awards came from publishers.  So, maybe they were thinking of their advertising revenue when they made the awards...... 

my concern is when the footsie starts to go down so will my shares value my wife and myself are in our 70s I wonder if I should transfer to a cash isa either fixed or easy access at least that way I will have secured our gains

You don't say how long you have been invested but with the last 25 years being pretty rubbish for UK large cap (relative to global equities) and in that period there have been very large falls, what makes now any different?

Being in your 70s means you could be 71 or 79.  71  is still young enough to remain invested.  79  may be the age you think about reducing risk (although it depends on what you need the money to do).

Albermarle

It also depends on your overall financial position. Do you already have a lot of cash savings for example?

higueron

Yes we are OK we have cash savings with other institutions  the Virgin S&S Isa we have had for over 25 years and have not added anything to it in that time so it has grown to around 118k that is why I want to secure the gains by moving it into cash ISAs

Albermarle

higueron said:

Yes we are OK we have cash savings with other institutions  the Virgin S&S Isa we have had for over 25 years and have not added anything to it in that time so it has grown to around 118k that is why I want to secure the gains by moving it into cash ISAs

The answer to many questions on this forum is that it does not need to be all or nothing.
In other words you could move some of it and leave the rest invested.

Hoenir

higueron said:

 which is a footsie 100 tracker 

Nothing wrong with the companies in it. Unfortunately it doesn't provide a very diversified portfolio.  Personally I'd track something broader if it's exposure to UK listed companies that you are after.  The wider UK indices provide extremely good global exposure. Ignore the general noise surrounding "UK companies".  As it's broadly just parrot talk with no actual comprehension. 

jimjames

Hoenir said:

higueron said:

 which is a footsie 100 tracker 

Nothing wrong with the companies in it. 

You're right, nothing wrong with the companies in it but paying 1% for something available elsewhere for 0.06% is throwing money away.

Beddie

As Albemarle said, a bit of both might be a sensible choice. Transfer half, say, to a cash ISA (don't withdraw or you lose the ISA status) and leave the rest invested. There are cheaper options for investing, but that will require more research on your part if you're willing to do so.

Or a quick answer - transfer rest of ISA to iweb (stocks and shares, owned by Lloyds Bank) and buy HSBC global strategy balanced fund. Not advice, just a suggestion. But if you are happy where it is, leave the remainder there for now.