Investment ISA novice!

[GoneOffOnATangent]

I have about £25k in savings and I want to put some into a investment ISA for the longish term. I've done a bit of research and keep coming back to Vanguard life strategy funds. I'm thinking of putting £16k into that and 4K in a LISA.

It all feels a bit alien to me though, so I keep hesitating! Does that seems like a reasonable plan? Thanks!

yes, sounds reasonable, although depending how long term you're thinking, you may want to look at something like this:

www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-ftse-global-all-cap-index-fund-gbp-acc

To choose a platform, this is the standard resource:

monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

These are fairly standard recommendations on www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/ which is probably the best online community for this sort of thing.

This discussion might be of interest regarding fund choice:

www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/bk8c77/vanguard_funds_lifestrategy_100_vs_ftse_global/

Yes sounds reasonable. Personally if I was doing a vanguard ISA I would split the investment between LifeStrategy which are passive, index linked funds and an actively managed fund like Vanguard Global Balanced, to get the best of both strategies.
In fact my ISA is set up like that but with a bigger range of funds.

If you are a new investor don’t feel you have to go high risk. You could even stick £100 in each of the Lifestrategy 20/40/60/80/100 % equity funds to get a feel for the performance and volatility of the different risk levels over time.

The Trustnet website is a good resource as you can add different funds to your ‘basket’ and generate graphs comparing their performance over time

Forgot to say, always keep a decent emergency fund in cash and only invest money you don’t anticipate needing in the next 5 years!

You'd be better using it as a deposit for a buy to let.

That will generate much more than any account ever will.

no it won't. Not with the current laws and it will only get worse. And being a landlord needs a cash cushion.

Definitely not buy to let. Too risky at the moment.

Research current eviction restrictions and taxation changes for landlords etc.

Unless you are a cash buyer now is the time to get OUT of but to let not the time to borrow money for investment in rental properties.

Look at all the other suggestions above . Plenty of good advise from more experienced investors.

Thanks for all the replies! I'll have a good look at the resources mentioned. I'm trying not to overwhelm myself with options but will have another read around before I make the leap.

WRT but to let, I don't think I'd get much of a mortgage on my wages anyway, so probably not an option for me to worry about!

And this is definitely for the longer term, I'm in quite a good position to be able to save at the moment, so feel able to lock some away for the future.

Op don't buy it in one 16 grand chunk, drip feed money in over a period of time.

Thanks for your reply Puttingouthefirewithgasoline! I've gone back and forth about that- I read a really interesting article that showed a lump sum tends to perform better than drip feeding (can't find it now!) It does feel quite risky to chuck such a large portion of what I have straight in though. Maybe for that reason alone it would be worth starting smaller.... I've still not taken the plunge!

Actually you are better putting it in in one go puttingoutthefire from a investment point of view. Someone who invests £20k in Vanguard S&S ISA at the beginning of the tax year would be on average £35k better off over 10 years then someone who paid in monthly over each tax year. From a new investor perspective though it may make you feel more comfortable if you try the market first. I have £10k in a S&S Lifestrategy 40/60 ( medium risk) and £5k in high risk 100% equities life strategy plus pay in £100 per month to that too. That’s my long term early retirement wannabe fund!!

Aaaaaand I've done it! I've put £5000 in Vanguard global balanced and £10 000 in life strategy. I just need to not check it every ten minutes now!

Thanks for the all the advice

@GoneOffOnATangent yeah I need to stop checking too
I know I shouldn't
It's now over -4% only in the last day and it's the first time it's gone below what I put in
I know I need to ride it out for 5-10 years though