Investments

[Smiledwiththerisingsun]

If you have investments what are they in?
How do you know which to chose? Or how to go about this?
Why invest as opposed to buying property?

My investments are in a huge range of things. Some individual shares, some ETFs, some investment trusts and some funds.

I don't "know" what to choose - anyone who thinks they do is foolish - but I read a lot of investment blogs etc to decide.

I don't want to own property, I don't want to be a landlord. My own house value makes up just under half my asset value and I don't want any one asset class to be that big a proportion of my holdings.
But I do remotely hold property in a real estate investment trust. Commercial property that is.

I am starting down this path at the moment, I don’t want to individually stock pick etc so going with things that are more diversified and likely to give a good return across 10+ years

I also don’t want to be a landlord

Depending on your age the LISA could be a good start due to the government bonus and depending upon your provider you’ll have a range of investment options

Private pension due to compound interest over a long time & employer also contributes some free money

I've had some shares which made a profit when sold

Premium bonds

ISA (interest rates currently very low)

Other

Best not to "put all your eggs into one basket" but utilize a variety

What to buy ?

How much do you have to invest ?

You need to research the risk

Example

You could buy a painting by a famous artist, because you like the painting.
In the future, you may need to sell the painting. At this point you may make a profit

Forgot to say

Some things that you buy & sell, you have to pay tax on the profits like property

Private pension due to compound interest over a long time & employer also contributes some free money

Pretty unusual for an employer to pay into a private pension.

Also, you very rarely get interest in a pension.

Plus pension is just a tax treatment wrapper, you still have to decide what to invest in. Pension, investments, ISA (not cash) are all the same thing other than their tax treatment - you have to decide on the investment you put in them. And that is what the OP is asking about.

@Sh0wd0wnDay4

Forgot to say

Some things that you buy & sell, you have to pay tax on the profits like property

You have to pay tax on all profits unless you sell within an ISA or pension, not only on property.......if profits are above the annual capital gains tax limits.

How much money have you got, OP?

My investments are diversified....national, international etc. I have an FP that handles everything.
There's really no money to be made in property unless you have at least 3 or more. Being a landlord can be expensive and time consuming.

VanGoghsDog

"Unusual for an employer to contribute"

I pay x into my private pension each month & my employer contributes y

It is in the T&Cs of the pension

Lots of companies do this
Plus death in service insurance
Some provide private healthcare
Plus other benefits

Why do you think all new employees (who work for companies of a certain size) are auto enrolled into a private pension. The employees have to opt out

Companies of a certain size have to offer a private pension

UK state pension age is 66, 67, 68 depending on your age

I predict that it will increase

Some people are living (not counting covid) to 115+
More years retired, than working !

Opt out if they do NOT want the private pension

That's usually referred to as a workplace pension or a group personal pension.

I have several pensions - I have a number of deferred workplace pensions, I have a deferred workplace final salary pension, I have one personal pension that is a stakeholder and one that is a SIPP. The latter are nothing to do with any employer and never have been. Nothing to do with auto enrolment.

If you're going to talk about financial products, you really need to get clear what you mean.

As someone who has set up pension and healthcare schemes for employers I am well aware of benefits packages. And the only time I've known an employer pay into a private pension is with very very high earners, for some very specific reasons, such as working abroad etc.

If the op has an employer with a workplace pension (which all workplaces do now) then she may have been auto enrolled and may get employer contributions (there are earnings limits so not everyone gets these) and the general advice is that everyone should take this up (with a few very odd exceptions) as it is "free"* money from your employer and could be advantageous for tax.

• It's not free really of course, you work for it, it's part of your remuneration.

But even then, you still have to decide what to invest it in, or just ignore it and let it sit in the default fund (which, to be fair, is what most people do).

Companies of a certain size have to offer a private pension

All companies with any number of employees have to set up a workplace pension. I run my own company with only me in it and even I have to in theory. I don't, but there are specific reasons for that.

Yes, the state pension age is going to rise. Also, the age you can draw from any pension is going to rise. This isn't some magic insightful prediction, the government has frequently said this!

But pensions are not anything clever, they are merely a wrapper with a certain tax treatment (a tax treatment subject to the whims of the government who just love fiddling with it and suddenly changing the retirement options of millions of people). You still need to decide how to invest the money in them.