I sold my S&S ISA 4 months ago

Alexland

I dread to think of cumulative value of all the winning bets that I didn't place at the bookies last week.

20122013

We only know what we know at the time and can only make decisions from there. having cash ready helps in the buying process and you may find a property really like and at a price that suits you, too. 

boingy

somerandomusername said:

and in that time the ftse global all cap is up 17.45%.

I sold for a good reason though, to secure my money to buy my first property, but 17.45% in 4 months after selling makes me feel sick to my stomach. Considering the market averages 9% per year, losing out on nearly 18% in 4 months is gut wrenching.

And the worst part is I've not even bought the property yet as I'm still in the active stages of making offers.

You can't think like that. It's impossible to time the markets and your money is earmarked for a specific purpose so don't beat yourself up about making progress towards that target. You could have stayed invested for longer but the markets could easily have nosedived and left you with less cash towards a house.

Now, go buy a house. It will probably be a decent investment too. 

HedgehogRulez

I converted £100k of equity into cash over the last week as I too intend to buy a house next year. I still have a £100k in equities that I will convert to cash over the coming month or two. Yes I’m happy to time the market.