Investments, stocks, shares

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

So can the stocks and share isa go down? If so how common is that? 

[Bellend Sebastian]

6 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Presume everyone’s investments, pensions etc are flying at the min?

I'm worth 25 grand more than I was last summer just sitting on my arse.

 

Shame I can't get to it for another 7 years, like

[Bellend Sebastian]

37 minutes ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

So can the stocks and share isa go down? If so how common is that? 

Up and down all the time mate, like a bride's nightie.

 

But over a long time, more up than down.

 

We're in one of those purple patches at the moment. I was talking to some investment managers the other day and they were pretty bullish about market prospects and thought the good run would continue for a while yet.

 

I'd always suggest to folk wanting to dip a toe in is to invest on a regular basis rather than piling in in one go (unless the market has crashed and it's difficult to lose)

[Izzy]

6 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Presume everyone’s investments, pensions etc are flying at the min?

I'll be getting my next quarterly SIPP statement late April time and hoping to see decent gains this time.

 

I know some people have a log in and look at their portfolio value daily but that would drive me mad.

 

Four times a year is enough stress for me thanks.

[Izzy]

7 hours ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

Think this would be the right place for it. I’m looking at setting up a savings account for the first time and done a little research and finding it all a bit overwhelming. I’m looking at saving 250-350 a month, I don’t want/need to gain access to it, just something I want to grow over the years, do I want an isa? A certain type of savings account? What’s got the best interest? Are certain stocks worth looking at that are really low risk but deliver over standard interest rates? Any advice appreciated, cheers.

I've always found these two quite good at keeping things simple

 

 

 

 

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

33 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Up and down all the time mate, like a bride's nightie.

 

But over a long time, more up than down.

 

We're in one of those purple patches at the moment. I was talking to some investment managers the other day and they were pretty bullish about market prospects and thought the good run would continue for a while yet.

 

I'd always suggest to folk wanting to dip a toe in is to invest on a regular basis rather than piling in in one go (unless the market has crashed and it's difficult to lose)

What are the odds (probably a difficult one I know) that say over a year, my what would be 3-4k investment would make less than 5%, and is it possible to actually lose money with a stocks and shares isa? Can’t seem to find any info on that, I would assume not and if you’re unlucky you’d just make a few %?

[StanSP]

7 hours ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

Think this would be the right place for it. I’m looking at setting up a savings account for the first time and done a little research and finding it all a bit overwhelming. I’m looking at saving 250-350 a month, I don’t want/need to gain access to it, just something I want to grow over the years, do I want an isa? A certain type of savings account? What’s got the best interest? Are certain stocks worth looking at that are really low risk but deliver over standard interest rates? Any advice appreciated, cheers.

I do find Martin Lewis' site very good for this, and comparing tables and savings rates. They get updated every morning so are always current. 

 

Sounds like you'd want a regular saver account? Some will have interest rated for a year, two years or even longer. Could depend on when you plan to access the funds. And then you can review it before it expires ('matures'). Stocks and shares are more for long term savings most of the time. 

 

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1583859/Best-savings-rates-General-savings-Internet-branch.html

 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/

 

 

[StanSP]

Just now, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

What are the odds (probably a difficult one I know) that say over a year, my what would be 3-4k investment would make less than 5%, and is it possible to actually lose money with a stocks and shares isa? Can’t seem to find any info on that, I would assume not and if you’re unlucky you’d just make a few %?

You can lose money with them. It's a warning you'll get when setting it up with whichever provider you go with. Risk of losing money as well as making it over time. 

[Unabomber]

28 minutes ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

What are the odds (probably a difficult one I know) that say over a year, my what would be 3-4k investment would make less than 5%, and is it possible to actually lose money with a stocks and shares isa? Can’t seem to find any info on that, I would assume not and if you’re unlucky you’d just make a few %?

I don’t know much about it all but I have a FA and invest with them. It’s made about £5k in 2 years with me doing nothing. 

[Guest leatherhead32]

its like taking your youngen or goin on your own as i did as a pup to filbert st  ie best to start when all is not well be patient and the rewards came but we had to wait a long time. well worth it in end. but back to stocks n share only put in what u dont mind waving goodbye to and you may get some luck as time goes on. 

[Izzy]

27 minutes ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

What are the odds (probably a difficult one I know) that say over a year, my what would be 3-4k investment would make less than 5%, and is it possible to actually lose money with a stocks and shares isa? Can’t seem to find any info on that, I would assume not and if you’re unlucky you’d just make a few %?

If you want to know where you stand, just open a fixed term 12 month cash ISA. I'm moving my cash ISA into another one on April 10th which will pay 4.6% over the next 12 months. Nothing spectacular and only just beats inflation but it's fixed and it's guaranteed.

 

I could put it into a stocks & shares ISA which might return well over 10% but it also might not. It could also lose me money so being the risk averse chap I am, a cash ISA is for me.

 

My private pension (SIPP) however is a longer term investment so that is in bonds, stocks & shares which is more volatile. Some years good growth, other years loses.

 

It all depends on your financial goals and timescales.

[Bellend Sebastian]

39 minutes ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

What are the odds (probably a difficult one I know) that say over a year, my what would be 3-4k investment would make less than 5%, and is it possible to actually lose money with a stocks and shares isa? Can’t seem to find any info on that, I would assume not and if you’re unlucky you’d just make a few %?

I think it's helpful to think in timescales.

 

Your chances of the value going down over a given twelve months are actually quite high, which is why any decent adviser should be discouraging any potential investor with a short term investment goal not to take any risk e.g. if you're trying to get a house deposit together by 2026, stick to cash.

 

The chances of loss reduce the longer the investment period. When you get to five years, it's actually quite difficult to lose money on mainstream equity investments, but anyone can be unlucky with timing.

 

Depending on your level of risk I think it's probably sensible to expect a long term average return of around 5-6%. May not sound a lot but basically equities pretty much always outperform cash long term.

 

You get permission periods of great performance (like we're enjoying at the minute, and welcome after a prolonged period of not much happening) with equities but equally occasionally things go to absolute crap. My £130k pension fund turned into £100k in a matter of days when the pandemic hit, which obviously isn't great. I'm OK with that because I've seen it all before and know it will come back (which it did), but not everyone will be.

 

My main tips are: take a long term view and don't look at any investment in the moment and assume that what it's doing now is what it will always do

 

 

 

[Paninistickers]

Was gonna withdraw outta my tracker and a couple of funds (all held within an ISA) tomorrow am, and stick into a 4.5% fixed rate (as value of each has drifted and sank these last 18 months), pre April 5th ...

 

Yet, quick check on here suggests we are on a lil bull run. 

 

Hold off and run with it? 

[Tommy G]

2 hours ago, Izzy said:

I'll be getting my next quarterly SIPP statement late April time and hoping to see decent gains this time.

 

I know some people have a log in and look at their portfolio value daily but that would drive me mad.

 

Four times a year is enough stress for me thanks.

I’ve got the Royal London app and one of those willy pullers, I’m 20 years off 55 too so can’t access it anyway 

[Tommy G]

I think it depends on your tax position too, if you are a higher rate 40% tax payer you have a limited amount of annual allowance on ordinary interest before you’re taxed on it, if you’re a 45% tax payer you get zero allowance. 
 

Cash isa will typically pay less than high street savings but its tax free, S&S ISA over the long term you won’t lose, short term you could as other posters have said. Make sure you have a sum available to you should the roof cave in, the rest stick in a pension for the obvious tax benefits, then long term drip some into a S&S ISA.  
 

I wouldn’t  even bother with an IFA until your investments are greater than £0.5m or you are 50+, plenty of DIY advice about 

Edited 24 March by Tommy G

[Spiritwalker]

1 hour ago, Paninistickers said:

Was gonna withdraw outta my tracker and a couple of funds (all held within an ISA) tomorrow am, and stick into a 4.5% fixed rate (as value of each has drifted and sank these last 18 months), pre April 5th ...

 

Yet, quick check on here suggests we are on a lil bull run. 

 

Hold off and run with it? 

It might be worth having a look at how your individual funds are performing, most funds have been

performing really well recently because as you rightly say we are in a bull run.

[dsr-burnley]

15 hours ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

Think this would be the right place for it. I’m looking at setting up a savings account for the first time and done a little research and finding it all a bit overwhelming. I’m looking at saving 250-350 a month, I don’t want/need to gain access to it, just something I want to grow over the years, do I want an isa? A certain type of savings account? What’s got the best interest? Are certain stocks worth looking at that are really low risk but deliver over standard interest rates? Any advice appreciated, cheers.

If you don't have any savings at present, then don't bother with stocks and shares.  Let your pension do that.  (I presume you have a pension?  If not, that might be a good place for it.)

 

If it's cash that you know you will need before retirement age, then an ISA is a good place.  The best rates are on fixed rate accounts for perhaps a year or 18 months, and you can sometimes get very good rates on regular savings accounts with building societies or banks.  (I prefer branch banking to online banking.  I want someone to talk to when something goes wrong.)

[Lako42]

Historically avoid cash isa as you are losing money without realising it as they generally pay less than inflation over a period. 

 

 

[st albans fox]

Has anyone invested in a vct and if so, did they get a positive return after the five years ? 

[TeamRocket]

Is it worth buying gold for investment?

[Marmite]

I am in my early 40's and just started to dip my toe into Stocks and Shares. I spent a few months just researching and watching plenty of video's and listening to podcasts trying to gain as much knowledge as possible. Its a bit of a minefield at times but the more you watch and listen, the more things start to make sense. 

 

My first mistake when I opened a Trading 212 account was not selecting the ISA option and selecting the standard account, luckily I had only bought a few shares so just had to sell them and rebuy on the ISA account. It was a bit of a pain n the arse but first lesson learnt. 

 

I basically invest between £300-£500 a month into the Vanguard S&P 500 and just let it grow. I put the money in on the same day each month regardless of where the market is sitting so I get a dollar cost average. Im in it for the long term and fully expect it to dip at some point and hopefully go back up. 

 

I then have put a few hundred quid into Nvidia, which to be honest, I might be a bit late to the party with this one. I have already made a few quid but had I jumped on a few months earlier I might have a bigger return. 

 

I then have two more which I have less than £100 in which are Rolls Royce and a company called NU which is a Fintech bank in South America.

 

Its become more of a hobby to me recently and really enjoy the research and listening to other investors about there journeys 

[grobyfox1990]

Since last May, aside from trackers, the only thing I have bought are the fat people weight loss drug stocks. This calendar year I haven't put anything into trackers, just the fat people stocks. It seems too good to be true but also unbelievably simple, all the pills do is suppress hunger Lol. 

Never bought into any of the fads i.e. tech, AI, crypto, WFH stocks until this one.

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

So I’ve decided on this, and thanks all for the advice, I’m going to switch banks to Santander and go on their high interest savings account (7% with a £3 monthly fee to use, which brings the interest to about 6%), switching nets me £185 straight off the bat, and putting 250-300 a month in their savings will net me about 250 over the year (minus the £36 for having the account), and after the year (after the ‘offer’ expires) I will switch banks again to the best offer available and take my accrued £3.9kish and put it in the best interest account going at the time, whether it be locked for 12-18 months or otherwise and continue to put in a similar amount.

 

also I’m going to put 100 a month into a s&s isa and see what happens with that in terms of interest over a 12 month period and see what to do with that after a year. 
 

I want to have 2 pots of money, a relatively smaller pot that I can access for emergencies and such, and 1 pot that is guaranteed steady growth that isn’t to e touched. 
 

anyone anything to advise on this way of going about it? Am

i missing something massive I should be aware of or making a big mistake in anyone’s opinion? 

[Bellend Sebastian]

1 hour ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

So I’ve decided on this, and thanks all for the advice, I’m going to switch banks to Santander and go on their high interest savings account (7% with a £3 monthly fee to use, which brings the interest to about 6%), switching nets me £185 straight off the bat, and putting 250-300 a month in their savings will net me about 250 over the year (minus the £36 for having the account), and after the year (after the ‘offer’ expires) I will switch banks again to the best offer available and take my accrued £3.9kish and put it in the best interest account going at the time, whether it be locked for 12-18 months or otherwise and continue to put in a similar amount.

 

also I’m going to put 100 a month into a s&s isa and see what happens with that in terms of interest over a 12 month period and see what to do with that after a year. 
 

I want to have 2 pots of money, a relatively smaller pot that I can access for emergencies and such, and 1 pot that is guaranteed steady growth that isn’t to e touched. 
 

anyone anything to advise on this way of going about it? Am

i missing something massive I should be aware of or making a big mistake in anyone’s opinion? 

The one thing I'd say about this is don't make any judgement on it after 12 months. If this is genuinely a long term investment, if you're a regular saver you WANT it to tank every so often, as your payments will be buying up assets on the cheap.

 

If it's money you're genuinely not looking to touch for a good few years, go as racey and high risk as you dare. The volatility will provide plenty of opportunities to scoop up units when prices are low, take a long term view and unless the whole economic model that's been around for centuries collapses and is replaced by something else, in a few years you should be quids in

[Izzy]

I assume all you Warren Buffets on here have got a proper instant access emergency fund saved up before even thinking about investing?

 

I mean like a minimum of 6-9 months living expenses in case you lose your job/get ill, or everything goes TU?