For those who invest, what % of your money is in cash versus investments?

[Hertsmum78]

I have been investing some money for approx 3 years now, and I have some with a fund manager and also a small amount in a Trading 212 account.

I am very very risk averse. Our mortgage is paid off and I have a good amount of savings, but of my savings (not including pensions), approx 65% is in cash (savings accounts and premium bonds) versus only 35% in investments/exposed to the market.

Is this insane/very unusual? I think it might be, as I know I could be growing money quicker if I was willing to take more risk, but I find it very hard to see the investments as anything other than money that could theoretically disappear or drop rapidly at any point, with the right combination of world events...

So am just interested to know what % others feel comfortable with. I read something yesterday that said 'cautious' investors keep 20% in cash. So maybe I am the world's most cautious investor...

Thank you everyone. @Thaislaany recommendations on what to invest in?! And wow that’s so impressive you’ve build up such a large asset base.

Our mix is probably 50% property (the house we live in) 25% cash, 25% stocks and shares. Does this sound like a bad mix? We are mid 40’s but would like to retire early 50’s

£18k in cash ISA / regular savings account
£84k in S&S ISA
No mortgage
SIPP £1,020,000

Got 90% in cash as looking to move and buy a house but beginning to think that won’t happen so need to move it into some sort of investment

Way too much in cash:

mortgage is paid
second property owned outright but it’s only worth £80k. No rental income since we have Ukrainian refugees living in it.
£200k in cash isas
£85k in premium bonds (rubbish)
£80k other cash savings (ridiculous I know)
£15k shares in a listed logistics company
£1.5m in pensions between us.
im 51 and DH is 54. We want to get the kids through uni so another four years to work

we really should have the premium bond money and the savings cash invested but I have no clue what I’m doing so we’ve just taken the easy option

I'm about to come into about £90k and don't know what to do. 54, single, no mortgage, savings or pension. Earn about £1200 a month.

See I’d start putting all of my salary into pension and live off the £90k for a bit whilst you decide what to do Sweetpea but clearly I’m rubbish at making good financial decisions so I’m probably wrong)

I appreciate your help anyway!

Can I just say that reading about you having some Ukrainian people living in your rental property free of charge is just about the loveliest thing I’ve read this week. All power to you (and them 👊).

These days it is:

75% shares (through a worldwide equity ETF)
10% cash (mainly in a series of savings bonds timed in a ladder to coincide with future school fees & university costs)
10% bonds (again through a couple of bond ETFs)
5% gold ETF

Aside from the cash, it's the same allocation across SIPPs, ISAs, and GIAs

In answer to the other question re paying off mortgage, often it makes more sense not to pay it off even if you can (depending on the rate of interest versus what you can get in investments) however, paying it off is great for general peace of mind even if it's not the most efficient thing to do.

I am very impressed with people's knowledge on all of this. I don't have a clue and have come into some money. I don't want to pay off a reasonably low mortgage on a fairly high equity home so I am considering paying maximum into my pension, as the tax breaks are so good (Ireland) -does this sound like a good first step? I then hope to invest a chunk of the rest and put some cash into some kind of high yield account.. possibly state savings which give you 10% over a number of years. Not sure if I'm on the right track to maximising what I've got.

99% investments 1% cash

I work for a financial advisers and we always keep 2% of clients money in cash.

But being risk averse, this is probably why you have so much in cash holdings. Risk averse really means you want zero risk on the stock market, so cash is the best holding for you. If you want to take a little more risk, move into cautious funds as you will get the chance of some decent returns.

I'm about 50:50, about £280k in each. Also paid off the mortgage. I am quite risk averse too and might want some of the money in the next 5 years for children's education. Our pensions are OK but not huge.

The reality is that for anyone with a pension you are already significantly exposed to the stock market anyway.

We only have emergency fund in cash and everything else in investments. Works out around 2% in cash. We still have a relatively small mortgage but are not paying it off as it’s a small part of our monthly outgoings. About £500 pm. We could pay it off if we really wanted to but our money is making more invested. Our approach has always been to fill up S&S Isas and max out pensions every year. If there’s much spare we might pay off a bit of the mortgage.