Stocks & Shares ISA selling unit trusts, buying ETFs - advice please

eaustin

I have recently transferred my ISA from a long standing broker to IWeb to reduce my fees, I also want to sell my current portfolio of a dozen unit trusts and purchase fewer ETFs. This will simply my portfolio. 

I thought I would be able to sell and buy on the same day and therefore not be exposed to potential crash in the market but it seems unit trusts take 2-4 days for proceeds to be received.

My question is should I sell all the unit trusts at once, wait for the proceeds to be received and then purchase the ETFs or should I sell them one at a time? 

I hope this question makes sense.

eskbanker

Surely you'd want a crash in between selling and buying?

eaustin

eskbanker said:

Surely you'd want a crash in between selling and buying?

True! I think you know what I meant!

Eyeful

Investing is for the long term (say at least 10 years)
To me, I think it is all up to your own personal preference.

 A dozen unit trust, why did you end up with so many? 

If you want to keep things simple and reduce costs, consider:

(a) Low cost Global Multi Asset Fund with a share/ bond split at a risk level you are comfortable with.
https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

(b) Low cost passive Global Index Fund or ETF that closely follows one of the Major Indexes.
https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

dunstonh

I thought I would be able to sell and buy on the same day and therefore not be exposed to potential crash in the market but it seems unit trusts take 2-4 days for proceeds to be received.

Settlement periods are typically 2 or 3 days.

However, if your platform pre-funds switches, then they do not worry about the settlement period.  You won't find pre-funding on the cheap platforms though as they cant afford it.

wmb194

eaustin said:

I have recently transferred my ISA from a long standing broker to IWeb to reduce my fees, I also want to sell my current portfolio of a dozen unit trusts and purchase fewer ETFs. This will simply my portfolio. 

I thought I would be able to sell and buy on the same day and therefore not be exposed to potential crash in the market but it seems unit trusts take 2-4 days for proceeds to be received.

My question is should I sell all the unit trusts at once, wait for the proceeds to be received and then purchase the ETFs or should I sell them one at a time? 

I hope this question makes sense.

Once iWeb has the price you'll have the funds available to invest. In my experience with iWeb, for a OEIC with a 12pm dealing time your funds will become available around about the market close, 16.30, so they should be available to use the next working day.

eaustin

Eyeful said:

Investing is for the long term (say at least 10 years)
To me, I think it is all up to your own personal preference.

 A dozen unit trust, why did you end up with so many? 

If you want to keep things simple and reduce costs, consider:

(a) Low cost Global Multi Asset Fund with a share/ bond split at a risk level you are comfortable with.
https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

(b) Low cost passive Global Index Fund or ETF that closely follows one of the Major Indexes.
https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

Thanks Eyeful, it was a legacy issue from when the funds were more actively managed. As I have undertaken research I have decided to move my funds to a cheaper platform and invest in low cost passive ETF as you suggest. It's just taking a few steps to get there and I'm trying to minimise any risk of being out of the market.

InvesterJones

eaustin said:

I have recently transferred my ISA from a long standing broker to IWeb to reduce my fees, I also want to sell my current portfolio of a dozen unit trusts and purchase fewer ETFs. This will simply my portfolio. 

I thought I would be able to sell and buy on the same day and therefore not be exposed to potential crash in the market but it seems unit trusts take 2-4 days for proceeds to be received.

My question is should I sell all the unit trusts at once, wait for the proceeds to be received and then purchase the ETFs or should I sell them one at a time? 

I hope this question makes sense.

If you were only purchasing one ETF then it'd make sense to do it in one go and minimise the (already pretty small) fee, but if you are purchasing several different ones anyway then it doesn't make much difference - you could do it in two or more goes to average out moves in the market, but I wouldn't go crazy.

eaustin

InvesterJones said:

eaustin said:

I have recently transferred my ISA from a long standing broker to IWeb to reduce my fees, I also want to sell my current portfolio of a dozen unit trusts and purchase fewer ETFs. This will simply my portfolio. 

I thought I would be able to sell and buy on the same day and therefore not be exposed to potential crash in the market but it seems unit trusts take 2-4 days for proceeds to be received.

My question is should I sell all the unit trusts at once, wait for the proceeds to be received and then purchase the ETFs or should I sell them one at a time? 

I hope this question makes sense.

If you were only purchasing one ETF then it'd make sense to do it in one go and minimise the (already pretty small) fee, but if you are purchasing several different ones anyway then it doesn't make much difference - you could do it in two or more goes to average out moves in the market, but I wouldn't go crazy.

Thanks InvestorJones. That's what I wanted/planned to do but I was worried that the unit trusts would all settle over different timeframes potentially increasing the time out of the market because the purchase would be dependent on all proceeds being received. I then plan to transfer to InvestEngine and maybe diversify into 4-5 ETFs.