Investment & Investing

Also share isa are free of capital gains tax. But everyone has a allowance of about 11k outside an isa anyway. So unless you do that it's pointless or expect to do that somepoint. Because theres no tax to be paid either way.

When it comes to isa it's cash or shares in ETF trackers

And then drip feed them to smooth the drops and ride the ups.

Should I just pony up for a IFA or can a bunch of random internet bikers help me out?

An IFA should pay for itself - but the trick is finding a good one. I’ve never got very far on that.

At the end of the day the client pays for everything. Whether it's direct to an Ifa or through fees that the company charges later.
The key to long term investing is minimising expenses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange-traded_fund#Criticism

This is why I do nothing, because every choice has a down side.

That and ignoring the market. Paying in consistent and regular amounts into sensible funds is very key

I qualified as an IFA (never practiced moved on elsewhere) and the biggest issue I saw when meeting and chatting to clients was people not moving pensions out of default fund. This decision or lack of understanding about pensions and investing cost some clients 10s of thousands a year in their retirement income.

A lot about investing is choosing the least bad option

Someone give me the last bad option..

@tc what's a "sensible fund"

I should also have said I want a stress free option. I've started a business on the side of working an already relatively stressful/long hours job. I want to put my money somewhere and earn more than a bank/under my mattress.

Or should I put it all into my pension and not pay tax on it?

I want to put my money somewhere and earn more than a bank/under my mattress.

But banks / mattress are (supposedly) the most secure options, which is why they give you the lowest returns. Anything with higher returns are more than likely going to be riskier investments. Sorry if that sounds reductive, but "stress free" and "earn more than a bank" are difficult to square.

You could get a better interest rate than a bog standard bank account by going the Regular Saver or Fixed-Term investment route, but then you lock up your money. If that's not a concern, then these seem like the most stress-free options.

Or buy BitCon, it's guaranteed to go up.

Stress free for me is something like Nutmeg. Online, don't have to spend time meeting someone, relatively transparent.

Maybe I've answered my own question and just keep going with Nutmeg.

If you're already doing it, that's about as stress-free as you can get, no?
No new accounts, new people, new shit to learn. Assuming it's earning you money already..

Does having an overdraft count against your credit rating? I don't know.

Short answer, no.

Two caveats, overdraft is paid/within limits and the total amount of debt available to you may be considered by mortgage lenders (ie if you had 10 accounts with £5k overdrafts).

Generally borrowing money and paying it back on time is viewed more positively than never borrowing any.

Have you already taken out all the 2-3% bank accounts available and their respective 3-5% savings accounts?

Otherwise BTC looks likely to hit $10k at some point in the near future, so buy $1-2k in now and set an alert for when it hits >$5k and buy another $2k.

This isn't a recommendation but these have done well for me over the past few years, would I invest a lump sum in them right now, probably not as I feel the market is due a correction but I will continue drip feeding.

Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Growth
Fidelity UK Smaller Companies
Slater Growth
Artemis Global Energy
Fundsmith Equity

Fund that hasn't done so well in the past year for me, underperformed the FTSE100 by 10% and one of his peers by 16%:
CF Woodford Equity Income

I hold these funds in a SIPP with Hargreaves Lansdown.

Cheers, I'll have a poke about (hopefully not in another 4 years when I start worrying about this again).

No worries. Also available within the SIPP is XBT Provider AB Bitcoin Tracker One for those who may want to invest in BTC.

Entirely dependent on your risk profile and ambitions. But for a young person should be heavily geared towards equities moving towards bonds and cash as you get older. Need to make sure it is properly diversified and that there is some management going on (passive is great as long as asset allocation and geography is reviewed reasonably regularly). Some passive funds I have see have extortionate fees which can really eat into returns.

How do you find Hargreaves Lansdown? Any idea how their costs compare to others? Is there web interface ok?

I guess what I can do now is take a punt, throw a bit of cash into a fund and see what happens. Then after x months/years either up the input or look for another fund to throw cash at.

"As a contractor you can personally invest up to 100% of your income into a pension and benefit from income tax relief at your highest marginal rate, so for every £6 that you contribute, the government could be paying £4."

"If you operate as a one-person 'Ltd' then you can get the company to fund a pension on your behalf. This allows you to continue drawing a tax efficiently low salary to reduce your national insurance, without missing out on the lucrative tax savings associated with pension investment. The company can invest up to £255,000 per annum which can significantly reduce your corporation tax bill, while transferring money from the company into personal hands."

http://www.contractoruk.com/money/what_are_my_pensions_options.html

Through a pension, right? IIRC you said you don't have one?

Ah beaten to it.

I don't have a pension here, no.

I want to get a pension or fund of some sort that I pretend is my pension or both. I get into the same panic every few years and then do nothing about it..

To get over inertia I made a plan like

• year 1 do something that's better than nothing
  
• year 2 diversify
  
• year 3 optimise
  
  

takes the pressure off you to get it right first time