Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
I track the markets daily & the last 10 days (apart from thursday) has shown some good positive movement, although I would say more 5% than 8%. My SIPP is close to it's all time high & recently I reduced my Bond exposure & increased my holdings global equities. Probably now closer to 75%/25% split in favour of equities.
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
I track the markets daily & the last 10 days (apart from thursday) has shown some good positive movement, although I would say more 5% than 8%. My SIPP is close to it's all time high & recently I reduced my Bond exposure & increased my holdings global equities. Probably now closer to 75%/25% split in favour of equities.
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
I track the markets daily & the last 10 days (apart from thursday) has shown some good positive movement, although I would say more 5% than 8%. My SIPP is close to it's all time high & recently I reduced my Bond exposure & increased my holdings global equities. Probably now closer to 75%/25% split in favour of equities.
I'm heavier than 75/25 on split, more 85-90/15-10, I have no bonds alone funds but part of things like Vanguard lifestrategy 80. I have a large holing in the S&P500 which has performed very well, as has my FTSE Developed Europe UCITS ETF and my FTSE Japan UCITS ETF fund
On the back of inflation starting to fall more sharply and, by implication, interest rates peaking with eventual cuts a step closer, I am looking at blue chip cumulative pref shares to provide a decent yield for which I don't have to tie up funds for a long period, with the prospect of some capital increase if/when rates fall. The spreads are generally quite wide, but not in every case. Does anyone have experience of this as an investment? Aside from the potential lack of liquidity and the initial spread, I cant see where my thinking falls down.
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
Speaking of peaking interest rates, I’m starting to see the signs in 1 year fixed deals. I have one maturing with Investec on 4. December. Until a couple of weeks ago they offered a new one at 5.76 but now its down to 5.3%. Fortunately the other one at exactly that rate which I have an account with is Secure Trust Bank, and that is still on offer. Secure Trust was new to me, @bobmunro was able to reassure with some background on them. Indeed their customer service is old school in the best way. I was puzzled to see that the bond matures on a fixed date, regardless of when you invest. I rang their helpline. It was answered almost immediately by a helpful young guy who explained clearly that if I invest earlier than the 3rd Jan maturity date, I will indeed get pro rata more than 12months interest. When I politely asked if he could say when it might be pulled, because of my wait for the incoming cash, he of course said he could not, but that I have 30 days to fund it, so I can open it nowish. Top service in this category. If you too are looking for a 1 year fix, I’d look no further. And if you think you can guarantee to get more than 5.8% from the equity markets in the next 12 months, you’re a braver mug punter than me😉
Speaking of peaking interest rates, I’m starting to see the signs in 1 year fixed deals. I have one maturing with Investec on 4. December. Until a couple of weeks ago they offered a new one at 5.76 but now its down to 5.3%. Fortunately the other one at exactly that rate which I have an account with is Secure Trust Bank, and that is still on offer. Secure Trust was new to me, @bobmunro was able to reassure with some background on them. Indeed their customer service is old school in the best way. I was puzzled to see that the bond matures on a fixed date, regardless of when you invest. I rang their helpline. It was answered almost immediately by a helpful young guy who explained clearly that if I invest earlier than the 3rd Jan maturity date, I will indeed get pro rata more than 12months interest. When I politely asked if he could say when it might be pulled, because of my wait for the incoming cash, he of course said he could not, but that I have 30 days to fund it, so I can open it nowish. Top service in this category. If you too are looking for a 1 year fix, I’d look no further. And if you think you can guarantee to get more than 5.8% from the equity markets in the next 12 months, you’re a braver mug punter than me😉
Metro bank is currently offering 5.91% for a 12 month fix, but that might not be everyone's choice
Speaking of peaking interest rates, I’m starting to see the signs in 1 year fixed deals. I have one maturing with Investec on 4. December. Until a couple of weeks ago they offered a new one at 5.76 but now it's down to 5.3%. Fortunately the other one at exactly that rate which I have an account with is Secure Trust Bank, and that is still on offer. Secure Trust was new to me, @bobmunro was able to reassure with some background on them. Indeed their customer service is old school in the best way. I was puzzled to see that the bond matures on a fixed date, regardless of when you invest. I rang their helpline. It was answered almost immediately by a helpful young guy who explained clearly that if I invest earlier than the 3rd Jan maturity date, I will indeed get pro rata more than 12months interest. When I politely asked if he could say when it might be pulled, because of my wait for the incoming cash, he of course said he could not, but that I have 30 days to fund it, so I can open it nowish. Top service in this category. If you too are looking for a 1 year fix, I’d look no further. And if you think you can guarantee to get more than 5.8% from the equity markets in the next 12 months, you’re a braver mug punter than me😉
I think it depends so much on time of life, what else you have, tax position etc. At 25/30 you may be able to afford more 'punts' and invest more heavily in the Stockmarket (in say a SIPP) as you have more time to ride out the highs and lows and the tax relief may be beneficial. In your 60's and beyond security and safe but steady is more likely the way to go, although even then if you have a decent sized portfolio it's likely worthwhile having a % in more risky investments than cash in the bank. I still invest fairly heavily in the markets in my SIPP, despite being into my 50's now I take the view that due to tax I'm up 40% already so can afford the highs and lows and the risk is actually quite minimal, although I do buy less individual shares than I used to,
Ultimately what I have learnt as I age is it's all well and good chasing the top top interest rate, more salary, or the fund or whatever it may be, but you also need to be doing it for a reason, what is it you are going to use the money for, my father in law is a prime example, a simple man (re material things) in many respects who never earned big salaries (was a steel engineer and then a bus driver). Yet he managed to save a not to shabby amount in pension and savings, yet seems to never want to spend much of it and will chase that extra 0.2% in a savings account to make £10 more - but for what? It took me 3 years to persuade him to blow £50 a month on sky to watch all the sport he absolutely loves rather than pop around ours to catch the odd bit.
Plan to save but also save to spend is my Moto! As an intelligent man once said, we only get one go around I reckon, may as well make the most of it (or words to that effect).
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
I track the markets daily & the last 10 days (apart from thursday) has shown some good positive movement, although I would say more 5% than 8%. My SIPP is close to it's all time high & recently I reduced my Bond exposure & increased my holdings global equities. Probably now closer to 75%/25% split in favour of equities.
Speaking of peaking interest rates, I’m starting to see the signs in 1 year fixed deals. I have one maturing with Investec on 4. December. Until a couple of weeks ago they offered a new one at 5.76 but now its down to 5.3%. Fortunately the other one at exactly that rate which I have an account with is Secure Trust Bank, and that is still on offer. Secure Trust was new to me, @bobmunro was able to reassure with some background on them. Indeed their customer service is old school in the best way. I was puzzled to see that the bond matures on a fixed date, regardless of when you invest. I rang their helpline. It was answered almost immediately by a helpful young guy who explained clearly that if I invest earlier than the 3rd Jan maturity date, I will indeed get pro rata more than 12months interest. When I politely asked if he could say when it might be pulled, because of my wait for the incoming cash, he of course said he could not, but that I have 30 days to fund it, so I can open it nowish. Top service in this category. If you too are looking for a 1 year fix, I’d look no further. And if you think you can guarantee to get more than 5.8% from the equity markets in the next 12 months, you’re a braver mug punter than me😉
There has been a couple of really good Structured Products that I've been advising clients these past few months.
Deposit based ones so no risk to capital & a couple are FSCS protected too, although the ones that aren't are backed by Barclays so if they go bust then we are all fucked. One was paying 7%pa for 6 years, and another paying 7.5%pa over 5 years, assuming the FTSE100 doesn't fall by more than 5% over that time.
What clients have been doing is transferring money from their ISA's but still keeping it within an ISA wrapper - then when the Plan matures they simply transfer the money back into their ISA, thus keeping the gains tax-free.
Really a hedge against the markets, and as @PragueAddick says, I couldn't really give any guarantees as to what their S&S ISA's would return over the next 5 years and at least I don't lose that money to the Banks as clients were rightfully thinking that perhaps they should be putting money into Cash ISA instead of their S&S ones.
As of last month I now work for a cask brokerage, they sell whiskey by the cask as an alternative asset. It’s really competitive and they pretty much guarantee at least 8% capital returns a year, if anyone is interested drop me a message and I’ll get one of the brokers to contact you. (I’m an accountant not a broker so I’m not here to make a quick buck!)
I have 22k in premium bonds and in total this year I won 1175. At the start of the year bank's were offering hardly any interest at all. I probably could have earned slightly more interest if I'd shopped around but I think £1175 was a decent return. Plus there is always a chance of winning a big one.
I have 22k in premium bonds and in total this year I won 1175. At the start of the year bank's were offering hardly any interest at all. I probably could have earned slightly more interest if I'd shopped around but I think £1175 was a decent return. Plus there is always a chance of winning a big one.
…..at odds of 22000-1 of winning anything with ‘average luck’ and with the most common prize being £50 or £100, I’d say that you’ve done well and certainly better than average.
Comments
😉
At least my portfolio is at an all time high ...
Ultimately what I have learnt as I age is it's all well and good chasing the top top interest rate, more salary, or the fund or whatever it may be, but you also need to be doing it for a reason, what is it you are going to use the money for, my father in law is a prime example, a simple man (re material things) in many respects who never earned big salaries (was a steel engineer and then a bus driver). Yet he managed to save a not to shabby amount in pension and savings, yet seems to never want to spend much of it and will chase that extra 0.2% in a savings account to make £10 more - but for what? It took me 3 years to persuade him to blow £50 a month on sky to watch all the sport he absolutely loves rather than pop around ours to catch the odd bit.
Plan to save but also save to spend is my Moto! As an intelligent man once said, we only get one go around I reckon, may as well make the most of it (or words to that effect).
Royal London Global Equity Income
Deposit based ones so no risk to capital & a couple are FSCS protected too, although the ones that aren't are backed by Barclays so if they go bust then we are all fucked. One was paying 7%pa for 6 years, and another paying 7.5%pa over 5 years, assuming the FTSE100 doesn't fall by more than 5% over that time.
What clients have been doing is transferring money from their ISA's but still keeping it within an ISA wrapper - then when the Plan matures they simply transfer the money back into their ISA, thus keeping the gains tax-free.
Really a hedge against the markets, and as @PragueAddick says, I couldn't really give any guarantees as to what their S&S ISA's would return over the next 5 years and at least I don't lose that money to the Banks as clients were rightfully thinking that perhaps they should be putting money into Cash ISA instead of their S&S ones.
PGIM Global Equity Opportunities has performed very well, but I'd be performance chasing if focused on it now. Have you held it for long?
500 last month
Nothing this month.
At the start of the year bank's were offering hardly any interest at all.
I probably could have earned slightly more interest if I'd shopped around but I think £1175 was a decent return.
Plus there is always a chance of winning a big one.