Which S&S ISA?

[BellatrixLestranger]

I am finally in a position to open a stocks and shares ISA and I need some advice on which one to go for. My needs:

It must be a managed fund
I can invest for at least 20 years
I am happy with moderate risk
I will be starting with small amounts - £100 a month for the first few years

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Hopeful bump

Vanguard Investor with a LifeStrategy fund.
It is low cost, likely 0.37% or less depending on the LifeStrategy fund chosen. I would look at 80% equity fund, or even 100%. I would avoid 60% and below as that is a lot in bonds/fixed income. Growth comes from equities mostly, so you need a high percentage of equities and you have a 20 year timescale so plenty of time to ride out dips in the market.

Dodl is another you could look at. Similar low cost to Vanguard Investor and it has its own range of AJ Bell managed funds.

Out of interest, why do you want it to be a managed fund?

Vanguard is definitely one I've been looking at, and I took their quiz so I'll have another look at what their recommendations, thanks.

Because I don't want to deal with making any decisions to be honest. That might change in the future but for now I don't want the hassle.

Vanguard Lifestrategy fund. I'm mid risk and went for 60% but as I've increased monthly contribution over time, I split it between 60% and 80%.

It was easy to set up and use and don't have to think about it. I've now set my DS with one too.

I also do the same.

Do you think the 80% would fare better now?

I definitely understand that, and I'm the same!

I would recommend the Vanguard Global All Cap. It's a passive fund, not an active fund (as in there is no investment manager making decisions, instead it's an index fund). This means it has very low fees but you don't need to make any decisions though, just invest and forget about it!

It has been a good performer over the years and you will find it's one of the most regularly recommended funds. I'm certainly very happy with it anyway!

I've split my investment between Vanguard 100% Life Strategy fund, their S&P tracker fund, All World ETF and FTSE Developed Europe ETF. I then pay a further sum every month into the 100% fund. I reinvest any dividends into the S&P fund.

@agoodfriendofthethree @yoshiblue can you invest in these funds through a S&S ISA with Vanguard?

Yes

The vast majority of 'average' investors are going to be better off with a non managed index fund/ETF. The fees are lower. You are still going to have to make a decision choosing a managed fund as if you would a passive index fund.

Personally I have gone for the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap fund. It gives you global coverage across 7k+ companies and the weighting is linked to the market caps. So I think 60%+ is invested in the US.

Many people do go for the life strategy funds, however they don't really have any appeal to me for two reasons, 1) I don't really want any exposure to bonds at the moment as I'm on a 15 year plus timeframe and 2) they have an overweighted bias towards the UK (25% when the UK market is only 4% of the global economy). So if you have some desire to be overly weighted in the UK then it might be for you, I just don't see why it appeals personally.

Keep it simple, invest to a level of risk you are comfortable with. Again, most people only really need to pick one global fund. Choosing multiple funds you often will get overlap and possibly dilute the purpose of some of the funds.