Getting started with investing: S&S ISA?

LL_USS

@Albermarle indeed, I also only looks for some low-cost funds to hold for over 10 years. Buying and selling regularly for profits are not for the faint-hearted or inexperienced - it's a job, not for people like me who only wants to consider a less-stressful way to have a chance to make their savings work better.

Eyeful

LL_USS said:

@Albermarle indeed, I also only looks for some low-cost funds to hold for over 10 years. Buying and selling regularly for profits are not for the faint-hearted or inexperienced - it's a job, not for people like me who only wants to consider a less-stressful way to have a chance to make their savings work better.

If your just starting, then these may be of interest to you.
https://www.kroijer.com/
https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/
https://www.biglawinvestor.com/meet-the-gotrocks-family/
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-target-retirement-funds

Albermarle

LL_USS said:

@Albermarle indeed, I also only looks for some low-cost funds to hold for over 10 years. Buying and selling regularly for profits are not for the faint-hearted or inexperienced - it's a job, not for people like me who only wants to consider a less-stressful way to have a chance to make their savings work better.

As our resident IFA often says, investing should be boring.
If you like to gamble then more fun to stick with betting on roulette, horse racing etc. especially if you go in person and not just looking at a screen.

fistfulofsteel

LL_USS said:

@fistfulofsteel I am searching MSE for discussions about starting investments and find this thread of yours. I hope to get some more discussions going on so i can get some tips for myself too.

Funny a few months ago I was thinking "look at how well the market is doing - I should have put money in S&S earlier" then laughed at myself as I had only started to gather more substantial savings for a couple of years and it was still good I have some cash buffers before thinking about S&S - also I can only invest when I feel a bit more confident about my own understanding of what it can involve.

I am transferring cash LISAs from Tembo to Dodl now to invest - already 6 weeks I think but the transfer has not been completed. It is okay as I am still not quite ready to dive in S&S yet, given the market votality at the moment. I know "time in the market not timing the market" - still...

How about you? Do you feel you are ready to invest yet?

I opened an S&S ISA with T212 and put a couple of hundred pounds into VWRP to see what happened. It immediately lost value but has gradually recovered and is now slightly in profit. I'm planning to drip feed a bit more into it each month.

@Eyeful   i started with LS60 and then decided investing wasn't so scary after all so started putting my regular contributions into LS80 instead.

LL_USS

@Albermarle thanks I'll stick to boring, too :-).

No gambling for me. It's not that I don't dare to spend, I do spend when I know the costs are going to be recouped in a rather risk-free way, or it's for our own uses to enjoy. Friends and colleagues were terrified thinking how much I spent on solicitor fees and transaction fees and later, building work costs as I moved house often in a period of time in the past - but I knew it was not gambling so I still carried on when it made sense.

I think I will still only invest S&S what I have to, like my LISAs and for that I will buy and hold. I am still gathering more information (and courage) whilst waiting for my fund to finish transferring into Dodl so I can invest. Hopefully it still works out okay. But if not so well, oh well.... I still can tell my grandchildren in the future that their grandma did try to ;-)

LL_USS

fistfulofsteel said:

I opened an S&S ISA with T212 and put a couple of hundred pounds into VWRP to see what happened. It immediately lost value but has gradually recovered and is now slightly in profit. I'm planning to drip feed a bit more into it each month.

Lucky for me, someone who does not know much about investment, I don't have to deal with SIPP. My pension is with work, having a DB and I add in DC a sensible amount to be efficient on tax.
I have a smaller cash amount than yours to play with (still on the way as transferred from a cash LISA), and think I will just drip in over 4 loads rather all in one, perhaps just one week after another if I see the market is still too precarious. Good luck with your strategy and please share how you do it :-).

LL_USS

Eyeful said:

If your just starting, then these may be of interest to you.
https://www.kroijer.com/
https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/
https://www.biglawinvestor.com/meet-the-gotrocks-family/
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-target-retirement-funds

I am going to look at these, thank you.

Albermarle

LL_USS said:

fistfulofsteel said:

I opened an S&S ISA with T212 and put a couple of hundred pounds into VWRP to see what happened. It immediately lost value but has gradually recovered and is now slightly in profit. I'm planning to drip feed a bit more into it each month.

Lucky for me, someone who does not know much about investment, I don't have to deal with SIPP. My pension is with work, having a DB and I add in DC a sensible amount to be efficient on tax.
I have a smaller cash amount than yours to play with (still on the way as transferred from a cash LISA), and think I will just drip in over 4 loads rather all in one, perhaps just one week after another if I see the market is still too precarious. Good luck with your strategy and please share how you do it :-).

Just to get the naming correct to avoid any future confusion.

A SIPP is just a type of DC pension. In terms of regulations', tax etc it has to follow the same rules as any other DC pension.
The main difference is an increased choice of investments, compared to a typical workplace or personal DC pension. Plus you have to decide what to invest in or contributions just stay as cash. Whereas with a personal or workplace pension, there is a default investment for those who do not make any investment decision ( which is the large majority.
Most SIPPs do offer simple investment options as well, but you have to decide still. 

Eyeful

Newbies may find this video about Pensions of interest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PswTGd6Tzd0

Newbie_John

I think that every person has different strategy.
S&S also vary with risks - some like short money market funds offer rates slightly better than ISAs and are fairly safe, some are extremely risky..

Some invest in winners, some in losers, some in newbies, some in long lasting brands.

Funds are much safer than individual shares - if you put £10k into shares of X company and it goes bust your money is gone, fund invests in 100+ companies so if one goes down it loses slightly 1% on a value.

I think a great start is to ask GPT about example of portfolio and it will create a decent one, then once you gain experience - and the novelty excitement goes away - 1 year - try changing.