savings/investments/et al

[angelfire]

I am trying to work out some long term investments.
I am not financially savvy and do not have the know-how/ability etc to check regularly on how any investments are performing.
I don't even know how my investment portfolio should be diversified
I did have a IFA a few years ago but thought he was awful and did not stay with him and it has made me a bit wary of going back to get another IFA.
I don't have a lot to save - may be £500 per month - but would appreciate a little steer in the right direction. Do i put most of it into cash ISAs or do I choose a stocks and shares ISA too or do I go with bonds. AAAAAHHHH!
tHANKS FOR ANY HELP

I am not an expert (by any means), but with the financial crisis, economic uncertainty, poor performance of stocks/shares, low interest rates, etc, I am putting most of my spare cash toward aggressively paying down the mortgage. It seems a much surer thing than hoping the 'market' will perform and deliver a reasonable result.

Wait until the economy has stabilised.

anglefire - not an IFA but for most people who do not have alot of time to watch their investments I suggest the following.

Step 1: Pay off any debts as debt is expensive.

Step 2: Put 6 months net income in a cash based savings account where you can get at it in a hurry if you are made redundant and without penalty. National Savings has just introduced some very competitive savings products.

Step 3: If you have any cash left over put the maximum in a simple FTSE 100 index tracking low cost ISA every year.

Try and keep fees as low as possible as that kills investment performance in the long run.

Do you also pay into a pension? If so, then £500 is a pretty respectable amount to be saving each month! I can't save anything like this amount. Well done you!

Oh, and what ABD said. But bear in mind that if you put it in an index tracking ISA, you need to think long-term. You will almost certainly do better than any other savings account, but you have to think over the longer term. Don't get jittery if the value goes down a bit at some point.

PS. It's not strictly true that stocks and shares are doing badly at the moment, for all the financial gloom. The FTSE has gone up enormously this year (admittedly from a plunge last year).

My comment about stocks is coloured by what happened in the market when most gains for October were wiped out in the past week resulting in a 'flat' month. Extreme volatility seems to be confounding even experts who are saying markets are not performing according to expected 'patterns'.

At the moment, imo, investing in the stock market is for people who have the time/inclination to watch the market closely and adjust portfolios as needed - which the OP stated she doesn't.

Also, many pensions are invested in the market for growth, and unfortunately can go down if the market declines. That is why (personally) I am putting most spare cash into my mortgage at the moment. It seems 'safer'.

Also, if you manage to achieve significant gains by investing in the stock market you are then liable for significant tax when you sell the shares and realise the gains.

Not the case with paying down a mortgage.

Earlybird - I would not disagree with you.

thank you so much for the replies.
I am fortunate to be employed in the public sector so have a golden egg called the final salary pension
I will use the monies towards reducing my mortgage - good idea!
and then set up a rainy day fund
thanks for all your help

Hiya,

I had no idea where to start with these things but i found a great site that explains things simply. It's called www.investment-advice-online.com and its in language i can understand!!!

hope this helps

mumadoo
Do you work for/ own www.investment-advice-online.com by any chance?

You have posted on multiple threads today about how wonderful it is...

It's all a bit obvious IMHO.

Did you know that advertisers have to pay a fee?

actually Whippet no i don't.

I had just used it recently and found it really useful and so I thought I would post it on the investment threads where I thought it might be helpful to others.

Nice to know there's are trusting nature amongst fellow Mums though.... perhaps you should spend more time caring for your children than taking on a self appointed vetting role for new mums on mumsnet

perhaps you should keep your "humble opinion" to yourself in future

So as a new poster you felt the need to post the link to this website on 13 (many old) threads all within the 'Investment' topic as your first ever post?

No other posts.
No other topics.

Sorry. Don't buy it.

Anyway wise mumsnetters, I'm sure you can all make your own minds up!