Decision time on finances

Stravinsky · 11 July 2017 at 11:01AM

I'm interested in peoples opinions as to whether my train of thought is just stupidity.

I'm coming up to 64 and have two separate "pots". One stands at £120k split between two companies and is in drawdown at the moment for a small amount of £160 a month ... The IFA takes £45 a month in fees. Ive already taken my 25% tax free.

The other is hovering around £94k invested across a number of investments. It was invested in 2006 and was £100k and I've been taking around £200 - £300 a month from it since that year.

My wife has a state pension and a Civil Service pension - I'm almost a kept man!

As none of us know when wer're going to die, I've taken the view that by the time I reach 80 my financial needs will be a lot less than now, as my wife is 4 years older than I. So my plans for income are rapidly becoming based on that.

Now, I cant complain that the investments over the last 10 years or so, despite the crash, have done well. However, my thoughts have turned to Brexit and what that might ultimately do to my investments and the obvious safe choice would be to remove the £94k and reinvest it somewhere less volatile ... but of course less productive. I'm told removing it is not taxable, I have to check.

So .... has anyone been in a similar situation, or is concerned about the brexit effect ... and has anyone found a solution. If I were to put the £94k in interest accounts based on the age I mentioned it would give me just under £6k a year before it ran out and combined with the other incomes it would be a decent income as we have no debts or mortgage

Look forward to your constructive comments

eskbanker · 11 July 2017 at 11:22AM

Stravinsky wrote: »

However, my thoughts have turned to Brexit and what that might ultimately do to my investments and the obvious safe choice would be to remove the £94k and reinvest it somewhere less volatile ... but of course less productive.

Brexit may not be a negative factor - if, for the sake of argument, sterling plummets but you have a global investment portfolio that's largely unaffected, then the value of your pot would increase substantially! What are you invested in?

AnotherJoe · 11 July 2017 at 11:22AM

I dont see how anyone can comment on your plan to invest it "somewhere less volatile" when no one knows what its currently invested in.

It is though a perfectly valid approach to decide to just burn the money down if you dont want to take investment risk, you could put it in a "ladder" of fixed rate savings. Split over 1,2,3,4 and 5 year accounts.

FWIW my expectation is that Brexit will be a big mess for the next 5 years or so, maybe the dust will start clearing by then, so for that period I plan (and am) mostly invested overseas, a lot of it in general global tracker funds. I dont though envisage needing that money for ten years. Money i need for the next 1-3 is invested in a variety of 1 and year accounts, though even the best of those is only a tadge about 2%.

You could also look at P2P lending, I might do that next year when P2P ISAs are more available

greenglide · 11 July 2017 at 11:23AM

That would depend on what you expect brexit to do! I have my opinion but everyone is different.

If you invest globally with no UK bias then you should be protected against UK specific horrors and if the pound falls you will benefit. If the UK economy does well and the pound rises would may lose a bit but only if global markets do badly.

Remember that when looking forward many years to estimate how long savings will last that you must take into account inflation. Inflation is the main risk, we are currently tending to ignore it.

Stravinsky · 11 July 2017 at 2:10PM

@eskbanker
7IM AAP Income Class A
Artemis Income Fund Class I
Invesco Perpetual Monthly Income Plus (Acc) GB0033028886
M&G Episode Income Fund
Rathbone Blue Chip Income & Growth
SSGA GBP Liquidity Fund Inst Stable NAV

EDIT: if I'm not wrong it's leaning very much towards the UK

Some interesting points there about the spread of investments ... I need to check the % UK against non UK as I'm honestly not sure about the above funds. I am of course aware that no one knows what brexit will do to us. It's all opinion, it's just that my opinion based on what economists have said and the talk of movement of companies out of the UK , makes me think it may be detrimental. I'm no expert, but Ive seen nothing to show that the £ will recover any time in the near (or even far) future

Eco_Miser · 11 July 2017 at 5:18PM

Stravinsky wrote: »

I'm no expert, but Ive seen nothing to show that the £ will recover any time in the near (or even far) future

So the obvious thing to do is invest in other countries, through global funds. That way, as the pound falls, your holdings measured in GBP rise.

skcollo · 11 July 2017 at 6:00PM

Stravinsky wrote: »

I'm interested in peoples opinions as to whether my train of thought is just stupidity.

I'm coming up to 64 and have two separate "pots". One stands at £120k split between two companies and is in drawdown at the moment for a small amount of £160 a month ... The IFA takes £45 a month in fees.

£45 a month ? What has been done over the last year to "earn" her/his £540?
Or the year before?

Stravinsky · 11 July 2017 at 8:49PM

skcollo wrote: »

£45 a month ? What has been done over the last year to "earn" her/his £540?
Or the year before?

Very little, but thats another story :-)

eskbanker · 12 July 2017 at 12:26AM

Stravinsky wrote: »

Very little, but thats another story :-)

I think the point was that it should be regarded as the same story, i.e. why pay an IFA a monthly fee but then come to a public web forum when you're looking for independent financial advice!

Stravinsky · 12 July 2017 at 9:21AM

eskbanker wrote: »

I think the point was that it should be regarded as the same story, i.e. why pay an IFA a monthly fee but then come to a public web forum when you're looking for independent financial advice!

Well, I get your point ...... but no not exactly the same story.

I came here because my immediate thoughts as I indicated were to remove the investment portfolio into cash and I know generally that an IFA is generally going to advise against it. After all, their income is dependent on the fund remaining there

I hadnt considered the split between UK and non UK investments making such as difference .... as I said, I'm no expert. After that was mentioned here I looked at the split, and it seems heavily balanced in the way of the UK, and Ive asked the question of the IFA. But I shouldnt have to when he's taking fees for administering it.

So it's a valid action posting on a public forum because it raises points from people who are clearly more savvy than I am.

JohnRo · 12 July 2017 at 12:09PM

It's worth mentioning that UK blue chips are internationally oriented businesses.

That's where it appears many of your UK investments are so the effects of the idiocy on the UK economy proper won't necessarily or directly translate to the same effects on your investment portfolio anyway.

Whether it's wise to have a predominant UK allocation in a balanced portfolio, irrespective of the summer madness, is a separate matter.

Decision time on finances

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free