Investment strategy

LHW99

And if you have a partner / spouse it's worth thinking jointly - eg you can only put £20kpa into an ISA yourself, but if you are thinking as a couple you could tuck away £20k each ie £40kpa, and also make use of two lots of savings nil-rate bands etc.

piaad

dunstonh said:

 I prefer low risk rather than investments in the stock market and trusts. 

You mean low risk investments of the type that recently suffered larger losses than a typical stockmarket crash but with none of the same upside?

In reality, you are looking at very limited options and all have risk when it comes to income provision.

1) cash - shortfall risk and inflation risk and an eventual erosion cycle when it ceases to be enough.
2) fixed interest securities - little more risk than cash but potentially better upside but unlikely to be sufficient enough to avoid inflation risk and shortfall risk.
3) property - you don't want it
4) stockmarket - in the vast majority of periods, it is the best option
5) annuity - gives income security at expense of capital
In reality, a combination of cash, fixed interest securities and stockmarket usually results in the best outcome.

You are just looking at various risks and going too low risk can actually be more damaging than going too high risk.

That is very helpful advice, thank you. I'll do some research on the best low risk options for stock market investment too. 

piaad

Thank you for your very helpful comments, particularly the low risk aspect. I will review where I am and look at mix of investment ideas, maybe some low risk investment in the stock market? Any pointers here?
To answer a few points, we are a couple and not claiming state pension yet, that's 7 years away but manage with a private pension plus previously mentioned rent. 
Thanks again you helpful bunch!

InvesterJones

piaad said:

Thank you for your very helpful comments, particularly the low risk aspect. I will review where I am and look at mix of investment ideas, maybe some low risk investment in the stock market? Any pointers here?

It's tricky to reliably predict risk in stock markets - the price will already have been adjusted for what the market consensus is on risk, meaning if you try and identify any fundamental low risk characteristics such as quality or low volatility then others will have already done the same and you'll pay a higher price/potentially get lower returns for it. So perhaps diversification is your best bet - own a global index tracker and you'll get a stake in thousands of companies, reducing the impact (both better and worse) of the fate of individual companies.

Flyingkidney

Maxing out on premium bonds until you can decide/research would be a best bet. I'm getting around £200/150 a on the monthly draw, which is tax free.

Unless you're a particularly ethical investor, the highest rate interest easy access or CASH ISA. 

Or split between both. IE your £20000 ISA limit & the rest in a savings acct.

Rule of thumb and people will repeat this. Unless you're comfortable with loss, don't invest more than 10% in 'High risk' investments.

You could look at NS&I Other products as well.

https://www.nsandi.com/guaranteed-returns

Trading121 which is where I hold my ISA has a learning area that you might want to check out

https://www.trading212.com/learn

eskbanker

Flyingkidney said:

Rule of thumb and people will repeat this. Unless you're comfortable with loss, don't invest more than 10% in 'High risk' investments.

Which people would repeat that?  Unless you're comfortable with loss, don't invest anything in high risk investments, or arguably any investments, but the whole issue of loss potential and risk tolerance is way too nuanced to be dealt with by such a crude 'rule of thumb'....

InvesterJones

Flyingkidney said:

Maxing out on premium bonds until you can decide/research would be a best bet.

Because you don't get entered into a draw until at least a month has passed, premium bonds aren't a good short term/while you decide destination.