£4000 to use with 8 hours to go..

PeteJ_2

I've used my £3000 cash ISA allowance this year, but have a lump sum to invest in a stocks+shares ISA, and need to do so by tonight. So..

1) Which providers are likely to accept a new account opened today

2) Any suggestions on what to go for? I'm happy to take a bit of a risk with the money, but nothing too scary. I've read that a tracker is possibly less risky than a fund. I looked at the L&G FTSE all-share - any comments on this? But then should i have a fund of funds instead? Help!

Thanks in advance. This site and forum is truly a godsend!

Pete

Lokolo

You can always bet it all on the Grand National in the next 5minutes?

But seriously most places are likely to accept it today don't worry.

A good place to start trading etc is https://www.h-l.co.uk/ who are very cheap with having your own portfolio. The only thing is, it will take quite a longtime to finally choose your Funds you want to invest it.

I recommend Funds to start off with as you say, you only have 8 hours and you really want to research individual shares over a number of days to make sure you choose the ones you want.

From what I h ave read from this site FTSE trackers aren't worth it (don't ask why, I just accept it and don't ask questions).

There is another fund place called iii, they have a fund filter, try it out at http://www.iii.co.uk/isas/fundfilter this will give a list of funds which suite your needs. You then pick and choose some, research them for tonight, then buy them tonight!

Good luck, any other questions just ask.

Aegis

Well, you could try calling up someone like Hargreaves Lansdown and depositing your money into their Vantage ISA account ready for further instructions, but in all honesty you may have left it a little too late to open an account for this tax year.

Best of luck, and remember to sort things out a little further in advance next year

Aegis

Lokolo wrote: »

From what I h ave read from this site FTSE trackers aren't worth it (don't ask why, I just accept it and don't ask questions).

NEVER just accept it. Question everything. It's a great habit to get in to, and it will help you a lot more than just reading about my dislike for trackers and believing it, or someone else's dislike for managed funds and doing the same. Always research enough to come to your own conclusions if you care enough about the subject matter to want to have an opinion on it.

Remember, an informed opinion is much better than just an opinion.

Sorry if that sounded a little rant-like, I just think it's very important to encourage people to research things for themselves rather than "taking someone's word for it"

Lokolo

lol no don't worry about it, but never in my life would I go for the Egg FTSE tracker, with 45% over 5 years, clearly isn't worth the risk.

Aegis

Lokolo wrote: »

lol no don't worry about it, but never in my life would I go for the Egg FTSE tracker, with 45% over 5 years, clearly isn't worth the risk.

Ahh, that's a Guaranteed Equity Bond*, not a FTSE tracker. I have my own complaints about FTSE trackers, but they're different products to the Egg product you're thinking of. FTSE trackers are just funds that buy up stocks in a proportion that means they should in theory exactly match the performance of the FTSE. They're essentially passive funds that have no downside protection, but instead have cheaper dealing costs, which would give them a better performance than a managed fund overall if the NAVs grew by the same amount.




* Why didn't they call it the Guaranteed Eggquity Bond? The marketing campaign pretty much writes itself!

Lokolo

lol...

However I'm starting to not like you now, I think I am learning all these things then get told I am wrong, rather depressing lol.

Aegis

Lokolo wrote: »

lol...

However I'm starting to not like you now, I think I am learning all these things then get told I am wrong, rather depressing lol.

There's a lot to learn, and we all make mistakes!

If you want an example, check out my latest faux-pas on regular savers, where I fluffed the reason for a certain figure being used. It's embarrassing to make simple mistakes, but as long as you decide to learn from your mistakes, it can actually be a great learning process instead of just a downer.

Seriously, stick around here and keep posting, and before you know it you'll have a wealth of financial knowledge under your belt! More than you want, in all likelihood...

Lokolo

Ok well if we are talking about Funds and Learning I shall ask you this:

How do you value a fund? Obviously past performance is an ok indication but they always say 'past performance is not linked to future performance' etc.
For example I was thinking of New Star Tactical Portfolio A, which is a global fund, with 40% asia, 23% other equity etc but obviously I cna't predict whats going to happen in these areas but only guess... so what else can I look at?

And btw I do plan on sticking around, I really should be doing my AI module work currently but am putting it off and lazing around on here

Aegis

Lokolo wrote: »

Ok well if we are talking about Funds and Learning I shall ask you this:

How do you value a fund? Obviously past performance is an ok indication but they always say 'past performance is not linked to future performance' etc.

Never an easy task. I personally look at the fund manager's ability to beat the index in other funds he manages as well as the current one, I look at where the fund invests and how that matches my overall strategy, and I look a little at how the fund has been performing in the past.

As long as I have enough diversity, I can then be quite confident that my fund performance is going to be ok.

For example I was thinking of New Star Tactical Portfolio A, which is a global fund, with 40% asia, 23% other equity etc but obviously I cna't predict whats going to happen in these areas but only guess... so what else can I look at?

Look at who's managing it (I don't really know New Star all that well) and see how well they usually do vs their index. I think you can find that sort of information on Citywire.co.uk. See how the asset allocation ties in with your overall investment strategy. if it's a good fit and the manager's quite competent, then it's probably going to be a reasonable investment for you. If they don't match, then don't pick the fund!

And btw I do plan on sticking around, I really should be doing my AI module work currently but am putting it off and lazing around on here

Excellent

PeteJ_2

Thanks for your advice. I've applied online to H+L and have held it in cash so that gives me a little more time to consider how i should allocate my money. Could i potentially split some of the money into index tracking options and others into riskier investments? Is this a sensible thing to do?