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...so in a flurry of "need to get my arse in gear and do stuff" activity in the new year I opened a H&L Stocks and Shares ISA. Never had an ISA before, just regular savings and pension.
I wasn't quite expecting so much control! Thought it would be a simple choice of Low/Medium/High risk options, but no - there's a bewildering array of funds to choose from! 😬😬
So - I'm only playing with hundreds or possibly a couple of grand over a year and wondered where to start - it's currently in their HL Multi-Manager Special Situations Trust.
I'm after high risk as it's 'gambling' money (as an alternative to crypto) and at 54 I've not got time for this maturing slowly malarky! 🙂
So are there better high risk funds that HL offer?
Fund choice is complex. Are countries, ethics important in where your money is invested?
I think you want high risk possibly small companies (small companies generally higher risk) Do you want to manage yourself or leave it to other? Maybe HL Adventurous Managed?
Note - I am not a financial advisor! Your money can go down as well as up and you might not get back what you invested etc etc etc
Yes a lot of choice. ISA is a wrapper rather than an asset choice. At 54 you could have chosen a pension wrapper instead and unlock a 20% or 40% tax relief from HMRC. And still the same choice of assets. And withdraw your money at 55 if need be.
Ring them up and tell them you want a high risk fund. They will do it for you.
If it's gambling money then start learning how to pick stocks. It can be a very enjoyable hobby (or a living even) and the potential for returns is much greater (and faster) than with funds. Yeah it's all a bit overwhelming when you start but just immerse yourself and it will soon start to make sense.
Lot of passive investors/funds are gonna struggle in the next few years methinks.
So are there better high risk funds that HL offer?
Better will only be defined after the event!
Checkout ‘meaningfulmoney’ on YouTube, a really good channel with sound financial advice.
It’s hosted by a guy called Pete Mathews, a financial adviser, there’s an episode ‘how to choose funds in your pension and ISA’
Peter Hargreaves of HL is one of the very biggest single donors to the Conservative party and has been for quite some time.
Obviously depending on where you stand that could be a minus, a plus or an irrelevance but I do feel it better to know where at least a small proportion of your money will end up.
Ring them up and tell them you want a high risk fund. They will do it for you.
Not sure they would actually.
They'd have to do a full assessment of your financial situation, then analyse your tolerance to risk before they could advise on a fund.
The minute they step away from an 'Execution only' service they have to cover themselves against being sued down the line for poor advice.
Whilst they do offer investment advice, they will charge for it as it's not cheap to provide.
NB The cost of providing the advice is a moot point which Peter Hargreaves keeps complaining about as after he left, HL is pivoting from Execution only to offering advice, which is hitting profits....
I am not a financial advisor but i do manage my ISA and SIPP via HL and spend an unhealthy amount of time looking into this stuff!
You can do lots of research, play around making mistakes, lose money and take advice from friends and you;ll probably come to the conclusion that the best thing for you to do is to invest in low fee index tracker funds. Invest regularly, don't try to time the market and keep investing no matter what, especially during low points in the market!
The below are considered high risk but in reality represent the actual stock market as a whole.
a couple for you to look at:
https://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/l/legal-and-general-us-index-class-c-accumulation
This one invests in the top 500 companies in the US. If you've heard of the S&P500, this is an equivalent.
https://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/h/hsbc-ftse-all-world-index-class-c-accumulation
This invests in over 3000 of the top companies in the world, including the US so does overlap with the above somewhat.
Your current HL fund has higher costs, lower dividends and doesn't perform as well historically. I used to have money in these HL funds until i knew a bit more about what i was doing.
To be honest, you might want to check out an ISA with Vanguard and look into their Life strategy funds. Loads of videos on Youtube about this. These funds are aimed at investors with low knowledge in this stuff and seeks to make it easy to invest in a well diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds.
If you want to do this stuff yourself, you tube is your friend!
Thanks - I'll do some research.
There's a good £250+ a month going into a conventional pension (but it'll still be a tiny pension!) and this really is a 'let's see what it can do' fund. 90% of our funds are in safe stuff, but won't buy that round the world trip - a weekend in Mablethorpe maybe! 🙂
And Litecoin will provide the Ferrari! 🤣🚗
OP the chosen fund is 7 out of 10 on the Dynamic Planner risk scale (10 being the highest). Has performed below it’s sector average over 3,4 and 5 years and is relatively expensive.
Personally, I’d be going for a low cost tracker but you may prefer active management.
HL do have a number of tools so I’m sure you can find something that suits.
Deciding whether you want passive or actively managed is probably a good starting point.
I have a nutmeg ISA and my kids have HL ISAs. If you're not interested in messing about with individual funds then nutmeg is far easier. There's a risk slider from 1 to 10. HL has much more control, but is unnecessary for my needs. Obvs I'm not an IFA, just a user of two approaches.
EDIT: I don't think it's hard to move between ISAs though I've never done it