£30k to invest long term

maggiesoup

I have come into some £30k cash which I'd like to invest (I wouldn't need to dip in for at least 5 years).

Have got my ISA, got a very small manageable mortgage, get a smallish pension (my age is 50, single female) but not too worried as house has plenty collateral and would probably downsize in 10 years anyway and currently have around £10k cash in reserve, so it really is just for investment.

I would prefer not to take too much risk (I had some savings in the past and lost around £10k on Technology Stocks & Share Unit when it all went pearshaped) so the stock market has frightened me off.

I don't know much about investing so don't want to do it myself. Do you think I should get a couple of IFAs to get their suggestions and then decide from there?

Any help would be fantastic.

ReportInvestor

Since the last stock market crash the definition of "long term" seems to have gone up from 5 years to 10.

I'm not clear if you are living off your smallish pension yet or are in employment. Are you looking for income from this investment when you get nearer 60?

How much have you got to pay off on your mortgage and does your contract allow you to do this if you choose?

dunstonh

medium term is 5-10. Long term is 10+.

(I had some savings in the past and lost around £10k on Technology Stocks & Share Unit when it all went pearshaped) so the stock market has frightened me off.

Its not an on/off situation with risk. Its more of a sliding scale. Tech stocks are at the top end of that scale but there a stockmarket funds right near the bottom of the scale. The UK stockmarket is currently the top performing UK investment area.

With 30k, you wouldnt put it all in one investment area anyway. You would have a portfolio of investment funds. Many of which could be in the same product wrapper but some would require a few products to be used (i.e. savings account, ISA, OEIC/UT/IT funds).

maggiesoup

Will be employed for hopefully another 10 years. Mortgage is really small so happy to keep it going till 65. Not looking for income just a good return. Do you think I should go down the IFA route, given that I don't really have much interest in financial newspaper articles?

innovate

Pay off you mortgage, girl! You are quite unlikely to get more interest on any low-risk investment than what you pay your mortgage lender. Once you have paid your mortgage, you can then use any spare money and put it into high interest savings accounts (like the ING or Alliance and Leicester ones). Perhaps also top up your Premium Bonds if you feel like having a bit of a flutter.

If your mortgage lender doesn't allow early repayment, consider re-mortgaging with someone like the OneAccount, who allow you to settle your mortgage as early as you wish. But watch out for re-mortgaging fees.

maggiesoup

Actually took small mortgage out when I moved house ! (a friend said I shouldn't tie up all my money in my house) Granted, at the time I thought I may have used the £30k to invest in a buy to let but I think the buy to let market has burnt out, esp in Edinburgh. Anyhoo, I'm now left with this small mortgage which will charge if I redeem it, and this cash. Any suggestions?

whiteflag_3

If you've got £30k to invest you should really get independent advice.
Find an adviser that will do a risk profile, find out what your objectives are and will monitor your investments going forward.

You should ask for Initial Disclosure and Cost of services documents which will set out what your ifa will do for you and what the cost will be.

If you go the commission route you should not expect to pay more than 4% of the amount invested

Good Luck!

dunstonh

You should ask for Initial Disclosure and Cost of services documents which will set out what your ifa will do for you and what the cost will be.

Which to be honest is a complete farce and not reflective of the commission rates that will be likely used. Its best to get an actual figure than rely on the "menu".

whiteflag_3

Its not an on/off situation with risk. Its more of a sliding scale. Tech stocks are at the top end of that scale but there a stockmarket funds right near the bottom of the scale

Which stockmarket funds are at the bottom of the risk scale? I thought property, bonds, gilts and cash would all come below stockmarket funds on a risk scale

dunstonh

whiteflag wrote:

Which stockmarket funds are at the bottom of the risk scale? I thought property, bonds, gilts and cash would all come below stockmarket funds on a risk scale

This is why I said near the bottom rather than at the bottom. If you want to put a scale of 1 to 10 on it, property, gilts, fixed interest would be 4, with a few stockmarket funds creeping in at 5 with the bulk of the UK funds moving into 6 to 10. (1-10 is a crude way of doing it but it does help keep it simple).