Do-it-for-me S&S ISA

SMcGill · 10 October 2019 at 7:15PM

Hi

First time posting here and I’ve spent a few hours looking here and elsewhere but not yet found the answer so hoping you good folks can help.

I’m thinking about opening a S&S ISA to top up my pension post 65, withdrawing around £5k a year for as long as I can. I’m 56 now and can put £50k into this over the next 2 years using a transfer from my cash ISA and new contributions. My risk appetite is low/medium. I just really need an ISA that is likely to keep up with inflation, growth would obviously be welcome!

I have no interest in managing the investment myself, so a managed fund is what I’m looking for. I’ve looked at Vanguard Lifestrategy 20/40 but Vanguard seems widely mentioned and I’d like to see if there’s an alternative but got myself hopelessly confused between passive and active, ETF, tracker funds etc.

Can anyone suggest an alternative? Or a comparison site that meets my needs?

Tom99 · 11 October 2019 at 2:38AM

I am sure someone will be along with some alternatives but since the pension is to last probably at least 20yrs VLS 20/40 seems pretty low risk/low return as it's 80%/60% in bonds.
Will bonds provide a better return than a cash ISA? Maybe but it's unlikely to be significantly more and it's always possible they could lose money.

SonOf · 11 October 2019 at 9:12AM

My risk appetite is low/medium.

What does that mean? One person's low/medium or another person's cautious or adventurous. You need to place it in context. How much loss could you handle (or afford) in any 12 month period?

I’ve looked at Vanguard Lifestrategy 20/40 but Vanguard seems widely mentioned and I’d like to see if there’s an alternative but got myself hopelessly confused between passive and active, ETF, tracker funds etc.

Ignore ETFs. They are a more advanced investment fund that needs a bit more knowledge. VLS is not an ETF. It is not a tracker or active. It is a fettered fund of funds using underlying passive funds to build a portfolio using a managed asset allocation. i.e. it does all the work for you.

Can anyone suggest an alternative?

HSBC Global Strategy, L&G Multi Index, Architas Multi-asset passive plus several others.

VLS20 would be lower risk than most peoples definition of low/medium. VLS40 is closer to the mark but some people would consider VLS60 as their low/medium depending on timescale.

SMcGill · 11 October 2019 at 1:25PM

Thanks SonOf for those suggestions. My timescale is around 8 years investment + 10 years during which I’d be withdrawing 10% of the ISA pa so I agree that VLS40 is probably the right mark for my risk appetite.

Based on my plans I could probably cope with a big drop if there’s a fairly quick recovery within a couple of years more easily than I could cope with an ISA that is losing ground to inflation for several years. I just really want an ISA that will keep up with inflation as my cash ISA hasn’t.

Do-it-for-me S&S ISA

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