Has anyone’s Stock and shares ISA done worse?

[bitchstewie]

Hargreaves Lansdown hit by lawsuit on behalf of Woodford fund investors

[caymanbill]

Hi all, can I continue to keep and also pay into my exisiting stocks and shares ISA in the new finiscal yeer? If so, let say i keep it 5 yeats, would i be able to sell all of my stock in year 5 and not have to pay capital gains on it?

[Spydaman]

Mrs S transferred her S+S ISA based on advise from an IFA in October 2021 since then it’s grown 0.22% although it’s grown 7.7% in the last 12 months so not all bad. She’s also sacked the IFA as he was getting 0.5% win or lose.

[xeny]

Spydaman said:

Mrs S transferred her S+S ISA based on advise from an IFA in October 2021 since then it’s grown 0.22% although it’s grown 7.7% in the last 12 months so not all bad. She’s also sacked the IFA as he was getting 0.5% win or lose.

Would I be correct in thinking she asked for "low risk" or similar?

[bitchstewie]

LifeStrategy 40 would still be underwater based on a lump sum in October 21.

LifeStrategy 60 would be around 5% up.

I'm guessing something bond heavy.

[Spydaman]

xeny said:

Spydaman said:

Mrs S transferred her S+S ISA based on advise from an IFA in October 2021 since then it’s grown 0.22% although it’s grown 7.7% in the last 12 months so not all bad. She’s also sacked the IFA as he was getting 0.5% win or lose.

Would I be correct in thinking she asked for "low risk" or similar?

Yes, low risk as we are both retired so no time for the long game.

[bitchstewie]

A lot of people got a very unpleasant surprise with what bonds did when rates went up.

What did you do instead?

[xeny]

Spydaman said:

Yes, low risk as we are both retired so no time for the long game.

Often seeking low risk is a great way of getting "return free risk" with equity ISAs unless you really eliminate every aspect of investment cost you can, be it IFA, platform or excessive fund fees. :-( .

[AnotherUsername]

Mini update:

My ISA’s are probably around 50% up now mainly thanks to Rolls Royce (RR.). As I own an engineering company and know first hand how difficult it is to get skilled staff etc and how in demand the services are I kept drip feeding money into RR then it popped - twice.

AMGO died
My new business venture grew fantastically, then hit the buffers and I’ve now got a £200k capital loss as a reward for my efforts.

My main company is still going strong luckily

[leef44]

bhstewie said:

A lot of people got a very unpleasant surprise with what bonds did when rates went up.

What did you do instead?

I didn't really understand bonds a few years back and I was asking this question:

with interest rates so low doesn't it mean that it can only go one way i.e. upwards, and wouldn't that push the price down? so if this is the case then why do strategic funds gradually increase bond ratio as you get closer to retirement?

I never got a reply on this question even though I asked it a few times on this forum.

I avoided bonds because I didn't understand this a few years back but now rates have gone up I can see that there was no misunderstanding. I'm glad I avoided.

[Sheepshanks]

leef44 said:

with interest rates so low doesn't it mean that it can only go one way i.e. upwards, and wouldn't that push the price down? so if this is the case then why do strategic funds gradually increase bond ratio as you get closer to retirement?

Traditionally they were less volatile than stocks and you don’t want a big hit to your pension fund right before you retire. Also pensions used to be geared towards buying an annuity, and rising interest rates is good for annuity yields.

[leef44]

Sheepshanks said:

leef44 said:

with interest rates so low doesn't it mean that it can only go one way i.e. upwards, and wouldn't that push the price down? so if this is the case then why do strategic funds gradually increase bond ratio as you get closer to retirement?

Traditionally they were less volatile than stocks and you don’t want a big hit to your pension fund right before you retire. Also pensions used to be geared towards buying an annuity, and rising interest rates is good for annuity yields.

So traditionally it made sense when interest rates were around 5% but when they have been around 1% or so for around a decade then I am surprised that this thinking had not been changed. For example, bonds would have been purchased with a yield of 1% during that period. That does not go far for annuity yields on retirement.