Stocks & Shares ISA: dripping in £16k - over how many years?

[SmiteTheeWithThunderbolts]

I have £16K I want to put into a Stocks & Shares ISA and I want to spread it out into monthly payments. I'm thinking of spreading out the payments over 3-5 years - is that ridiculously long?

My previous experience of investing in unit trusts was around 1999/2000 when I invested lump sums in 3 consecutive years, and the market then fell for several years. The first investment held up OK but the other two took years before they regained their original value, let alone increased. So I'm well aware of how timing of an investment can affect it's value for years after. (Of course, you only know when the 'bad' periods are with hindsight.)

But am I being overly cautious? Would it be better to just put the whole amount in within 18 months?

What are your actual objectives for this money? E.g. For growth, for a known capital expense in a few years' time, to supplement retirement income? And over what timeframe do you envisage leaving it invested? Market timing is one aspect to consider but there are other risk factors that potentially have far more impact such as fund choices and effects of fees/charges.

ah yes, investing at the peak - join the club...

tomorrow may well crash the stock market depending on the outcome of the Greek deal. Spreading out investment is good, but for me, that would be too long a period.

also take sunseeds wise advice re charges.

No particular expenditure in mind. My objective is growth and to invest for up to 20 years.

I'll be investing in an environmental/ethical fund, so that limits my choice of funds and range of fees. I'm thinking of going with one of the funds I'm already in as I'd rather base my choice on actual experience of how they've performed over the years rather than go with a 'new' fund. There's one of them that I definitely don't want to invest further in. I'll have a look at the fees of the other two and see if there's any difference between them.

Greece: hadn't thought about that. Having mulled over the question during the weekend I think I'll spread it out over 18 months instead. Enough time to smooth out general volatility but if I get cold feet I can reduce or stop the monthly investment.

re ethical funds: read small print very carefully. I've seen an ethical fund that won't invest in 'Big Pharma' so no research into vaccines. Bit crap if you have a baby with meningitis B, for example. More crap if you live in the parts of the where infant mortality is still very high.

entirely your call but be careful as ethics is (are?) a very personal thing.