Investment & Investing

I KNOW.

Sure it's been asked, but:

£25 a month into a kids savings account.
What's the best thing?
Crack, Bitcoin,ISA, savings account, ?

What Drakien said in his post.

If you/they are starting from £0 and you haven't maxed out both you and your partners ISA allowance then it's not worth looking at baby ISAs. Fill yours first.

At the level your talking about I'd be more inclined to look at bank savings accounts like Nationwide or First Direct. Something like the FD one allows up to £300 p/m, topping up the last months if you've missed it (I think). If I'm right, that would allow you to put an extra £550 at any point if say they got birthday money. With FD you'll loose all the interest if you withdraw or don't pay, whereas (I think) NW allows you to withdraw in any one month as long as you top it back up - either of those points may/maynot be important to you.

In terms of risk, they are young, so in theory you should be looking at a higher risk profile. However, as you're not talking about a lot of money right now I'd focus over the next 3yrs on building up the pot at a real-inflation-beating interest rate. Then, once you have nearer £1k look at putting that lump into a tracker ISA, and start over with your monthly payments into whatever easy access, free, high interest account is available.

Something like the FD one allows up to £300 p/m, topping up the last months if you've missed it (I think).

I'm an FD customer and I didn't know this was a thing. Signed up. Ta!

I'd buy a couple of 1oz silver Britannia's a month and hide them under the bed.

You're welcome.

(So far) they have allowed you to set up a second one once the first 12m one ends. Whereas NW only let you have a smaller £250p/m @5% once the £500p/m is up.

Overall they seem like a decent bank and have v. low SEPA fees if you want to move EUR.

Interesting, my FD regular saver is coming to an end so might try this. Have you done this? Did you just ring up and ask to have another one set up?

Hi apologies if this isn't the best place to ask but its somewhat related.

My neighbour is a single guy in his mid 70s with no family (only child and all relatives have long since died). He's not in good health. He looks far older than his age. Anyway he wants to write a will before he dies (which he talks about all the time). He's immobile so will need a home visit. Has anyone organised this for someone or know of someone who had a home visit? Any recommendations?

He's tasked me with finding someone to make the home visit but I'm dubious of sending someone round incase they're cowboys or they rip him off and then he blames me. I've no experience of any of this so I'm literally just googling for 'home visit Will London'. Much prefer an actual recommendation.

From what I know he has very little in the way of assets. Property is rented under a protected tenancy scheme (so chicken feed rental costs). His flat is full of crap (bit of a hoarder) but he does have 'some cash'. Could be £1000, could be quite a bit more. I've no idea. Also no idea why he wants to write the will. No idea who he's going to leave it to. He definitely 'doesn't want the Government to get it' though. No idea why, he's been on benefits for a fair while in his life (prior to retiring).

BTW I'm definitely not after any of his 'assets'. Just trying to help out my neighbour (I'd rather not be doing it tbh). I think he should spend it all. Clean his flat up a bit. Enjoy his final years. But he won't.

My plan so far is to print off a list of will writers in the local area from here:
http://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/
and tell him to phone a few more up.

Is anyone using Vanguard stuff for the majority of their savings?
I am thinking of using these two long-term, opinions?

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/VBTLX
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/vmrax

..

If its long term then I'd steer towards higher risk personally. So VMRAX over VBTLX.

Sorry missed this, but yes.

The balance from the original saver is moved into your current account on maturity and closed. At which point you can then set up another new saver.

Thanks, will give this a try.

Italian politics is giving the markets a bit of battering. Anyone think we seen the top of the markets for a little while?

Add the impending trade war

I have some cash that’s devaluing and have decided to set aside three month’s income as our emrgency fund, then split the remainder in half - 50% on home improvements and invest the other 50%. An advisor is encouraging me to take a stocks and shares ISA, on which he will consult with me on an agreed risk level in advance. I’ve asked that we discuss the management fee at the same time so I understand how we both make money out of it. Anything with the above sound unusual?

When it comes to investing low cost market trackers have been proven to best for most people.
As long as you drip in its fine. Taking the lumps and bumps along the way.

Depending on your level of investment almost not worth the advisor..
An option would be to open an Isa with nutmeg or hardware Lansdowne and pick a model portfolio based on risk.

Other Options are to put into either companies or funds with certain themes.

Themes might be mid cap, European companies, health, technology, emerging markets. The latter being higher risk but higher reward.

Under the funds option you have the tracker funds (etfs) that vanguard and ishares do that are lower cost which is management fees.

Anything with the above sound unusual?

No not really. As above you could skip the advisor completely.

Have a chat though and yes interrogate the cut he cuts and the fees you’ll pay on whatever the ISA funds are invested in.

As an experiment you could split the isa allowance 50/50 and open a VG or Nitmeg and see how the advised service compares to the self selected over the mid term.

Thanks for the comments @Howard @PQR @wildwest - I'll see what he has to say and compare and contrast with all this before making a final decision.

Lol nitmeg

I'd like to consolidate and have a better overview of my various pensions from previous and current employers.

There seems to be Nutmeg and Pension Bee from the limited research I've done.

I'd like an easy interface to work with (smartphone app and web app) and be able to add extra cash easily when I'm feeling flush.

Any suggestions or views on the two I've mentioned?

I use Hargreaves Lansdown for my pension, both the website and app are great.

Does anyone here use the moneybox app? They have sponsored a number of the cycling podcast which has peaked my interested but wondered if any of the svay lot here have first hand experience of it?

I got it last week and have set it up to round up transactions to nearest £ and invest it. a bit disappointed that it doesnt include Revolut transactions as they just arent included yet and thats where most of my transactions happen.

I cant see me using it heavily because of that but happy to test on a small basis.

Thanks am going to give it a whirl as I can use my Monzo account with it.

I've had a look at it: compared to setting up an investment account with HL and transferring £50 a month by DD, I think you're paying a lot in fees to MoneyBox so that they can siphon a fluctuating amount out of your bank account each month.

Maybe that's better if you don't actively budget. But I think one would be better off learning how to budget before investing.