Stocks and Shares ISA

Financial Chat
101

I can buy Vanguard through Halifax ???

102

I don’t want anything with fees. I’m not sure what I’m doing yet so having to pay fees when I don’t know if it’s worth it isn’t happening

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103

Considering UK represents only about 6% of the global stock market capitalization, that is UK-biased.

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104

@ntaylor3 MoneyBox, despite their relatively high fees is a very interesting proposition if you’re just starting out. The concept is super, even if the execution is a little off as things currently stand, but it’s a great way to get started on saving and investing, and gives people first taste of exposure to financial markets in a sensible albeit fairly hands off way.

Question, will Monzo’s implementation of an investment pot kill the likes of MoneyBox off?

It looks like it @iansilversides >> Halifax Fund Centre, though it might be cheaper (free) through Vanguard direct, and you’ll likely have a larger selection of funds (mutual or ETF), to choose from.

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105

lol I would say having 43% of the total investment amount I have available in the USA market is bigger than having 24% of my total investment amount in the UK market - and would show a bias of my funds towards USA - not bothered how big the market is :slight_smile:

106

Vanguard is very easy to use. A common recommendation is the LS (Lifestrategy) funds, LS100, LS80, LS60 etc. Alternatively their All World fund. You might find these interesting reading:

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107

Freetrade is an account is that let’s you buy stocks, ETFs and Funds and charges you fee to look after them.

Vanguard originally were a company that provided funds that are groups of shares that you’ll be able to buy through Freetrade, but they now have accounts that let you buy Vanguard funds, which you’ll also be able to buy through Freetrade.

Nutmeg are an account that you tell your risk level and investment timeline to and they’ll pick all the funds are therefore shares for you.

The choice is basically whether you’re comfortable picking your own stocks, funds or you want someone to do that for you.

A company like Hargreaves allow you to pick your own funds and shares but also have ready made portfolios. I use them and I have for a while and their digital offering has gotten a lot better recently. They charge you for buying ETFs and shares but I’m dubious as to how Freetrade will offer free trading in the long run.

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108

I invest the bulk of my money in 4 ETFs, inspired by this defensive portfolio https://portfoliocharts.com/portfolio/golden-butterfly/ which has given both lower volatility and almost the same gains as a pure equity portfolio over a very long period.

It’s hard to get exactly the same share ETFs as the US market, so instead I use a world tracker, UK gilts, gold and a FTSE tracker to give a little home bias as I will need to spend at least some of it here. The FTSE tracker doesn’t give as much of a home bias as you’d expect as most of the 100 have huge international exposure.

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109

Having read posts 1-108, and many of those being like a tennis match with trading of opinions, I don’t think I am any the wiser at the moment than I was half an hour ago :thinking:

But then, I am still spinning from my experience in the cryptocurrency market where my speculation (well it’s not an investment) has reduced to almost 25%!!

Have I got the bottle to invest in the market? Not sure yet. Plenty more reading to go.

Never even won on a S&S ISA in the past!

Did win ÂŁ25 on Premium Bonds last decade. Nowt since.

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110

That’s a shame.

This thread is typical of the problems of behavioural economics - everyone starts out thinking they are going to be the one to beat the market. This paper is interesting: https://www.umass.edu/preferen/You%20Must%20Read%20This/Barber-Odean%202011.pdf

Pretty much all independent advisors say to invest in the market as a whole. Even the most successful investor of modern times, Warren Buffett says the same: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/why-warren-buffett-says-index-funds-are-the-best-investment.html

If someone advises you to invest in something else, follow the money - they are almost always in a position to benefit from their advice.

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111

Just for clarity. Freetrade does not charge fees for end-of-the-day execution (i.e. buying and selling) and custody (holding your capital).

The only charge you would be exposed to is flat ÂŁ3 per month if you were to go with an ISA account or for the instant trades (which are not that vital if you go long-term).

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112

Charges capped at ÂŁ30 per year for the isa I believe

113

I opened a stockbroking account when I was 16 (lied about my age in a time when ‘KYC’ was more ‘LOL’ - they even gave me T+5 credit on all buys) and I just bought a small amount of shares in listed companies that I knew of.

I’d highly recommend doing that if you don’t have a clue what you’re doing and want to learn about investing.

Open a Freetrade account, stick £50 in it, buy an “idiot’s guide to investing” and learn the ropes with low stakes. There’s only so much you can learn by reading things and you need to jump in to understand how it works.

Just my opinion, but I think it’s only when you’ve got serious money that you need to worry about fund performances over 10 and 20 years.

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114

Apologies, I misread their site. Makes me more dubious as to how they plan to build long term however.

115

May be worth to get into it and see how they grow :slightly_smiling_face:

116

I love the freakonomics.com episodes on this.

The Stupidest Thing You Can Do With Your Money

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117

That is a fab summary of the reasons why you should avoid actively managed funds!

Thanks for posting it

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118

Aye, I don’t know nothing, but I know to stick to low cost indexes. Just not sure i’d know one if it slapped me in the face.

119

A quote from the freakonomics article:

DUBNER: As we’ve seen throughout history with any industry or institution that’s got leverage, that’s got money, that’s got a history itself, reform never comes from within. Nobody is going to say, “You know what? Our industry is really not providing value. We’re getting paid billions, trillions of dollars to manage this money and we’re actually doing a pretty crappy job. A monkey with a dart board would literally do better for just the price of monkey chow. So you know what? Let’s break up. Let’s send everybody home, say we’ve had a nice run. We’ve had these nice 100, 200, 300, 400 thousand dollar jobs just for shuffling other people’s money around poorly.”

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120

Thanks, that was great. I wish Jack Bogle was my Grandad, I could listen to him talk for hours.