Cash in stocks and shares ISA?

[ragandbonewoman]

I put £7k in a stocks and shares ISA ten years ago. I tried to forget about it as advised but would get annual statements. Two years ago it was worth £5k. Since then I've been keeping an eye on it online, it's got to £6700 a couple of times and then dropped, fluctuating between 6 and 6700.

Interest rates were so low when I took it out so little competition. I'm wondering if I should just cash it in and put it in an account where the interest will be guaranteed. It's currently at £6500 but I always wonder if it might drop back down to £5k and then I've missed my chance.

What’s it invested in?
The FTSE All-world index has had an annual growth of just over 10% pa over the last 10 years.

Virgin money. It was recommended by a friend who had a good return, although neither of us know much about it. I also thought about premium bonds as interest rates were so low. These are the only savings I have so with hindsight perhaps a no-risk would have been better

I am no expert as pp, mine is in a tracker fund and has gone up 30% in 4 years. Move it into one with better returns!

Yes I think I will. I'm gutted that I've lost £500 but lesson learned I guess. It could have been worse if I'd had to take it out when it was at 5k

Can you move around the funds it’s invested in, I have 15k in a US Index Trust (Fidelity ISA) and it’s gone up 50% in a few years, my lowest performance funds are still up 20%.
My Nutmeg ISA is up 14.6% since last May.
Or you consider changing to a cash ISA?

With any Stocks and Shares ISA, you’ll be paying fees annually to the fund manager for looking after your ISA. Virgin Money charge 0.75% pa. That’s 3 times as much as A J Bell charge at 0.25% pa. Hargreaves Lansdown charge 0.45%. So every year Virgin are taking over £50 out by selling some of your shares and taking their fees. There are a huge number of funds you could be invested in and they have all performed differently. If you had invested in a tracker fund (as mentioned above) it would probably have done well. It all depends on what your money is invested in. Many successful investors agree that keeping your money in a low-cost index tracker is the way to go, but by leaving it with a relatively expensive fund manager, you’ll see your money being eroded by fees being taken out.

Yes OP def move it. Ee have just transferred our ten year old stocks and shares ISA with Aegon as it’s performed really poorly. We’re new to investing so trusted the advice🙄it’s now in a 4%fixed rate cash isa for three years with Nationwide, sounds like others have done much better though.

Thanks everyone, I wish I had taken a bit of advice at the time. I don't remember anything about them charging a fee until I saw it on the statements. I will be moving it to a cash ISA I think, should have done it a year ago instead of waiting and hoping it would get back to the £7k I spent.

Virgin Money is the ISA provider. What funds(s) is the money invested in?

No don't move it to cash, move it to
a) a cheaper provider
and then
b) a tracker fund with low fees

Some good suggestions above.

I have a S&S isa and mine is up 23% in 10 years. You have just chosen poorly, that's OK, you can change your investment.

Whatever you do make sure you TRANSFER not withdraw as you’ll lose the tax wrapper. I’d transfer to a global tracker with a low cost provider. Have a look at Vanguard but choose your fund carefully.