Perfecting my investing

Ben96atkinson

Hi, I have spent the last few days perfecting everything money wise. I have changed from my NatWest (10 years using) with no interest for every day spending, to a split between nationwide 5% and Kroo 4.35% as I usually keep between 3 and 10k in my every day bank at any time.

I am asking some criticism and improvements on my investments please:
£400 to a selection of Plum shared stocks

£200 to a Nationwide 8% savings 
£200 into crypto 19 different currencies
£200 into NS+I premium bonds
£100 to H+L Lloyds investing
£100 into 2 stocks & shares ISA
£100 into 5.14% cash ISA
These are all monthly auto 

i also use AMEX British airways for every day spending. Is there a better credit card to use? 

Any tips heavily appreciated

moneysaver1978

I am not an investing expert or qualified but I was in a similar position as you and have been investing/saving for several years.

First things first... do you have any debts? What's your income, e,.g. are you higher taxpayer?

NS+I is good for parking the money but if you are expecting a decent ROI, I wouldn't count on it although I did "win" £25 maybe 3 times so far.

I use Amex for cashback rather than points (they are not worth much these days) and a 0% interest free Natwest credit card for big purchases so I can make the most of the current savings.

hallmark

1st make sure you actually understand all your money in and all your money out and write it down (Excel is good)

2nd eliminate all unnecessary outgoings. By which I mean stuff that literally involves no impact on your lifestyle i.e. you might be able to get the identical BB for less money just by making a call.

3rd eliminate all unwise outgoings.  You don't want to live like a miser but sometimes people are wasting money all over the place on things they rarely use. Or eating out / buying takeout all the time for no reason than minor convenience.  It's worth taking a look at those things.

4th as everybody says, eliminate debt.  I know there are some cases where it's considered preferable to keep low-interest debt if it allows you to save/invest somewhere better but IMO these are fringe cases in terms of personality.   Almost all people are better off just eliminating debt.

5th favour SIPPs and ISAs over any unwrapped savings/investments.  Even if you're not a taxpayer today you are likely to be eventually. Also the less you have outside of ISAs and SIPPs the less hassle self-assessment is when you have to start doing it.

So basically, stop the financial leaks first, then hit the investing.

Beyond that the advice is more take it or leave it but for MOST people fwiw: Avoid fixed-term savings that give you no access to your money, you never know if you'll need it and you're probably making a small gain at best at the cost of access.  Avoid investing in individual companies (some go bust) or niche thematic funds, choose indexing or broad mainstream funds.  Keep within FSCS limits.  If you trust yourself not to use it, setup the largest arranged overdraft facility you can whilst your credit score is good, this is a handy source of emergency money you might not always have the option to setup.

Ben96atkinson

moneysaver1978 said:

I am not an investing expert or qualified but I was in a similar position as you and have been investing/saving for several years.

First things first... do you have any debts? What's your income, e,.g. are you higher taxpayer?

NS+I is good for parking the money but if you are expecting a decent ROI, I wouldn't count on it although I did "win" £25 maybe 3 times so far.

I use Amex for cashback rather than points (they are not worth much these days) and a 0% interest free Natwest credit card for big purchases so I can make the most of the current savings.

Fully debt free outside my house which I’m also overpaying by £500 per month , I would love to have my house paid off in full that’s my next big goal. I’ve won £25 on ns+i in 3 years with around 5k invested which is bad but I’ll keep gong, risk free lottery:)

Linton

Ben96atkinson said:

Hi, I have spent the last few days perfecting everything money wise. I have changed from my NatWest (10 years using) with no interest for every day spending, to a split between nationwide 5% and Kroo 4.35% as I usually keep between 3 and 10k in my every day bank at any time.

I am asking some criticism and improvements on my investments please:
£400 to a selection of Plum shared stocks

£200 to a Nationwide 8% savings 
£200 into crypto 19 different currencies
£200 into NS+I premium bonds
£100 to H+L Lloyds investing
£100 into 2 stocks & shares ISA
£100 into 5.14% cash ISA
These are all monthly auto 

i also use AMEX British airways for every day spending. Is there a better credit card to use? 

Any tips heavily appreciated

Pensions? Are you working?
What is H+L Lloyds?
Why both HL Lloyds and 2 X  S&S ISAs?  Why not just 1 S&S ISA.  I thought you could only pay into 1 S&S ISA in any one tax year or are they his&hers?
What are your investments in these ISAs?
Is Plum an ISA as well?  Why Plum + all the S&S ISAs?


.PS: AMEX cards are not accepted by all retailers as their charges are much higher than standard bank cards.  For example eBay have announced they wont accept AMEX cards..

Ben96atkinson

Linton said:

Ben96atkinson said:

Hi, I have spent the last few days perfecting everything money wise. I have changed from my NatWest (10 years using) with no interest for every day spending, to a split between nationwide 5% and Kroo 4.35% as I usually keep between 3 and 10k in my every day bank at any time.

I am asking some criticism and improvements on my investments please:
£400 to a selection of Plum shared stocks

£200 to a Nationwide 8% savings 
£200 into crypto 19 different currencies
£200 into NS+I premium bonds
£100 to H+L Lloyds investing
£100 into 2 stocks & shares ISA
£100 into 5.14% cash ISA
These are all monthly auto 

i also use AMEX British airways for every day spending. Is there a better credit card to use? 

Any tips heavily appreciated

Pensions? Are you working?
What is H+L Lloyds?
Why both HL Lloyds and 2 X  S&S ISAs?  Why not just 1 S&S ISA.  I thought you could only pay into 1 S&S ISA in any one tax year or are they his&hers?
What are your investments in these ISAs?
Is Plum an ISA as well?  Why Plum + all the S&S ISAs?


.PS: AMEX cards are not accepted by all retailers as their charges are much higher than standard bank cards.  For example eBay have announced they wont accept AMEX cards..

Hi!
I don’t pay into pensions as I would rather invest into my own pension, I work for myself as a sports trader so income varies wildly. H+L is hargreaves and lanadown which I use to buy Lloyds stock.
re. Why not just 1 S&S I believe more diversity the less risk (I will stop my Lloyds investments and change that to a index fund too) 
About only paying into 1 I really didn’t know that I thought I was safe as long as I don’t top 20k?
I could maybe simplify my investments but I like to have funds in different places for extra safety. And market coverage 

I could do with a 2nd credit card as I use my debit usdually when the place doesn’t accept amex

thanks for your response 

Eyeful

1. Clear all expensive debt first such as paying interest on credit cards. 
2. Think of starting a pension its free money and a tax shelter for your money to grow at least until you retire.
3. Have an emergency fund to cover things like boiler or car brake downs and so you do not need to sell share during market collapses.
4 Most of the professional fund managers cannot do better than the market index they follow.
Why do you think you will be able to pick share better than them?
5. Suggest instead of picking individual shares you look into passive investing & consider a low cost passive Global Multi Asset Index Fund or ETF. 
Watch this:  https://www.kroijer.com/
Read This:  https://catalogimages.wiley.com/images/db/pdf/9781119404507.excerpt.pdf
6. Why crypto 19 different currencies?
Why crypto at all?
Do you actually understand what crypto is?

Remember:
Anything to do with money has risk, all that changes is the type and size of the risk.
Money needed within the next 5 years it should be in savings account covered by the FSCS.
Use this checker: https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/check-your-money-is-protected/
Investing should be for the long term (say at least 10 years) & means you are putting your money at risk. So you might get out less than you put in.
Never invest in something you do not understand.
Costs & fees are important as they come out of your pocket and into someone else's.


 

EthicsGradient

Ben96atkinson said:

Hi, I have spent the last few days perfecting everything money wise. I have changed from my NatWest (10 years using) with no interest for every day spending, to a split between nationwide 5% and Kroo 4.35% as I usually keep between 3 and 10k in my every day bank at any time.

I am asking some criticism and improvements on my investments please:
£400 to a selection of Plum shared stocks

£200 to a Nationwide 8% savings 
£200 into crypto 19 different currencies
£200 into NS+I premium bonds
£100 to H+L Lloyds investing
£100 into 2 stocks & shares ISA
£100 into 5.14% cash ISA
These are all monthly auto

i also use AMEX British airways for every day spending. Is there a better credit card to use? 

Any tips heavily appreciated

For the investment side, this tells us more about the platforms you're using, rather than what you're investing in.

Is "a selection of Plum shared stocks" various UK-listed companies, or might it be funds - which might invest abroad? If individual companies, are you selecting them yourself (if you have good knowledge of certain sectors, that might be fine, or plenty of time to investigate the whole market), or is it a selection made by Plum (in which case, is it likely to be any better than an index fund, or just more risky)?
Crypto: I think this is gambling, and rather than on something where the basis is known (eg horses), it's on unknowns (is it about gambling on getting in and out before other people do, so getting their money, or are you trying to predict the future of finance - or benefit from the people using it to hide their money?) Strictly for your enjoyment only - it is not "investing".
"H+L Lloyds investing" - not sure what that is at all. Is "H+L" Hargreaves Lansdown? Is it investing in Lloyds bank shares via HL, or investing in HL shares (who are about to be bought out, so you wouldn't be able to continue this) via Lloyds? Or something else?
"2 stocks and shares ISAs" - OK, but that tells us very little. Is this money put into funds (if so, global or UK?), or more company shares?

£200/month is listed as going into ISAs; you can put £1666.66/month in. Are the £400 for Plum and the £100 for "H+L Lloyds" also going into ISAs, or into unsheltered accounts? As above, if we knew your taxpayer status (if higher, the premium bonds make some sense; depending on the terms and conditions, the 5.14% cash ISA may be a very good deal). 

And it could be worth knowing what your pension provision is: if there is a way to get more contributions from your employer, that's almost always a good deal. Whether you would do well to put more of your own money into a pension anyway depends on your age, what your pension is likely to be at the moment, and whether you think you'd like to retire, or go part time, before the state pension age.

Overall, it's probably better to divide up your money by what it's going into (cash or cash-like savings, stock investments, pensions - company or self-invested, mortgage repaying, crypto ...) and how that's likely to end up in the long term (you have sufficient cash for short-term needs and emergencies, you own your house, you have pension savings likely to fit the choices you think you may make ...) and then see if where you're directing it - Plum, premium bonds, S&S ISA etc. - fits the bill.

Linton

Ben96atkinson said:

Linton said:

Ben96atkinson said:

Hi, I have spent the last few days perfecting everything money wise. I have changed from my NatWest (10 years using) with no interest for every day spending, to a split between nationwide 5% and Kroo 4.35% as I usually keep between 3 and 10k in my every day bank at any time.

I am asking some criticism and improvements on my investments please:
£400 to a selection of Plum shared stocks

£200 to a Nationwide 8% savings 
£200 into crypto 19 different currencies
£200 into NS+I premium bonds
£100 to H+L Lloyds investing
£100 into 2 stocks & shares ISA
£100 into 5.14% cash ISA
These are all monthly auto 

i also use AMEX British airways for every day spending. Is there a better credit card to use? 

Any tips heavily appreciated

Pensions? Are you working?
What is H+L Lloyds?
Why both HL Lloyds and 2 X  S&S ISAs?  Why not just 1 S&S ISA.  I thought you could only pay into 1 S&S ISA in any one tax year or are they his&hers?
What are your investments in these ISAs?
Is Plum an ISA as well?  Why Plum + all the S&S ISAs?


.PS: AMEX cards are not accepted by all retailers as their charges are much higher than standard bank cards.  For example eBay have announced they wont accept AMEX cards..

Hi!
I don’t pay into pensions as I would rather invest into my own pension, I work for myself as a sports trader so income varies wildly. H+L is hargreaves and lanadown which I use to buy Lloyds stock.
re. Why not just 1 S&S I believe more diversity the less risk (I will stop my Lloyds investments and change that to a index fund too) 
About only paying into 1 I really didn’t know that I thought I was safe as long as I don’t top 20k?
I could maybe simplify my investments but I like to have funds in different places for extra safety. And market coverage 

I could do with a 2nd credit card as I use my debit usdually when the place doesn’t accept amex

thanks for your response 

1)  Diversity come from investing in a wide range of different things, not in who you use to hold your investments.  As long as you stick to mainstream "platform" providers (eg HL) there is almost zero risk other than normal investment risk since, unlike the case with the banks, the platforms cant access your money for their own purposes.  They only have the right to manage your investments as you instruct.

If a platform goes bust some other platform would be glad to take over their business since you as a customer would be a valuable asset.  Plus there is an £85K FSCS protection for both the platform and for the fund managers you use.
This has been discussed may times on this forum, no-one has been able to propose a realistic scenario whereby mainstream investments on a mainstream platform could have cause to require FSCS protection.

There is a good range of platforms that offer thousands of different funds and also allow you to trade any shares quoted on the London Stock exchange (and possibly certain foreign exchanges).  The differences in market coverage are marginal.

2) The ISA limit is £20K/year contributed into any 1 cash ISA and any 1 S&S ISA (plus there are other types of ISA).  So I suggest you put all your investments in 1 S&S ISA

3) I am confused by "I don’t pay into pensions as I would rather invest into my own pension".  Pensions are a better vehicle for saving for retirement than ISAs  and, depending on your earned income, have a higher annual contribution limit.

Note that HL and many other ISA platforms also offer SIPPs (Self Invested Personal Pensions)

Ben96atkinson

These are some advanced knowledge responses, I’ll come back with a proper split of what I’m investing in later. Thanks so much 

Middle_of_the_Road

From this tax year it's possible to pay into more than one ISA of any type within the 20k limit.

https://www.nsandi.com/isa-changes

Edit.
Excluding Lifetime ISA