How to invest £300k
How to invest £300k
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Discussion

sbk1972

Original Poster:

1,038 posts

105 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Gents.

Due to a house sale I have 300k to invest. Need advise on what are the best saving accounts, isas, etc.

The only requirement is that I need to take out yearly amounts out to pay for school fees.

Trying to plan for the future so is it worth creating pensions for my kids? I have 2, 9 and 11, so want to create things to benefit them

Are isa good? I read that first year is OK. It you need to move the money around. Looked at Martin money and I'm looking at saves accounts but is this small fry and should I look bigger?

I want to understand what financial options there are before looking at property as this money came from selling a, 2rd property and recently rule change has made that avenue less attractive.

Thanks guys.

Sbk

Simpo Two

92,704 posts

294 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
sbk1972 said:
I want to understand what financial options there are before looking at property as this money came from selling a, 2rd property...
Well first, have you paid any CGT liability due on the sale proceeds?

Then, what is your attitude to risk?

dingg

4,536 posts

248 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...


Have a read.

Free guidance available to help you make your mind up and understand what's available out there.

Eta in essence anything that you can shield from the taxman is best and first on your to do list.

Edited by dingg on Saturday 17th October 10:25

anonymous-user

83 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
The phrase ‘are isa any good?’ concerns me that you may not have a great understanding of available products and how they work. I think an FA would be a good starting point for you.

Simpo Two

92,704 posts

294 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Badda said:
The phrase ‘are isa any good?’ concerns me that you may not have a great understanding of available products and how they work. I think an FA would be a good starting point for you.
Then again, the combined expertise of this forum can tell him just as much, in fact more, and save him £3,000...

bitchstewie

67,374 posts

239 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Before doing anything I'd be trying to consider your attitude to volatility and your timescales (the two are usually linked).

You have £300K.

If you save it you'll go back in 6 months, 12 months, whenever, and ignoring the effect of inflation you'll still have at least you original £300K instantly available.

If you invest it you'll go back in 6 months, 12 months, whenever, and there is no guarantee of this though if you go back in 3 years, 5 years, 20 years, you should almost certainly have done much better than you would with a savings product.

Lots of options.

67Dino

3,644 posts

134 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
There are a lot of choices. Historically Ferrari’s have performed best, although with the market low, it may be a good time to buy a classic Aston Martin or Lamborghini. The main thing is to get advice from a qualified car broker.

Phooey

13,800 posts

198 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
Badda said:
The phrase ‘are isa any good?’ concerns me that you may not have a great understanding of available products and how they work. I think an FA would be a good starting point for you.
Then again, the combined expertise of this forum can tell him just as much, in fact more, and save him £3,000...
Definitely agree in that. The problem with FA's is for them to earn money they will usually need to sell you something on an ongoing relationship. Unless you have extremely complicated requirements you don't need to buy anything, you can educate yourself FOC and save yourself around 2+% (£6k/yr).

shopper150

1,583 posts

223 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Phooey said:
Simpo Two said:
Badda said:
The phrase ‘are isa any good?’ concerns me that you may not have a great understanding of available products and how they work. I think an FA would be a good starting point for you.
Then again, the combined expertise of this forum can tell him just as much, in fact more, and save him £3,000...
Definitely agree in that. The problem with FA's is for them to earn money they will usually need to sell you something on an ongoing relationship. Unless you have extremely complicated requirements you don't need to buy anything, you can educate yourself FOC and save yourself around 2+% (£6k/yr).
Agree too. Information and products are more accessible than they’ve ever been. I’m not really sure what FA’s can offer that you can’t research yourself.

Mr Pointy

13,330 posts

188 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
There's no "best" ISA, account or fund (although there are pretty poor ones) as it depends what you want from an investment - you might want good growth prospects or you might security & no volatility. As has been said it seems you might need to do some basic research on investment types & there is plenty of information online:
https://www.fidelity.co.uk/planning-guidance/how-t...
https://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/investing...

Junior ISA - you can pay in £9000 per year so that's £18,000 gone, plus you & your wife can have your own full iSA accounts so that's another £40,000 invested this tax year. The kids get control when they turn 18 & can access the money any any point. All growth is tax free.

Junior SIPP - you pay in £2880 per child & the government adds £720. The money cannot be accessed until retirement age (currently 55 but will be much later by the time they get there). That's another £8640 allocated.

General Investment Account - no tax advantages but you get £12,500 allowance per year so you can churn the investment so you & your wife can make up to £25000 per year tax free (assuming no other CGT gains).

In this tax year you can shelter £66k & do the same next year.

Watch out for charges - over the time the kids pensions are running the effect of charges could be very significant. Read the IM sticky thread at the top of this forum & consider posting in that thread.

anonymous-user

83 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
Badda said:
The phrase ‘are isa any good?’ concerns me that you may not have a great understanding of available products and how they work. I think an FA would be a good starting point for you.
Then again, the combined expertise of bthis forum can tell him just as much, in fact more, and save him £3,000...
or cost him a lot more if he doesn’t fully understand what he’s doing.

sociopath

3,433 posts

95 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Badda said:
Simpo Two said:
Badda said:
The phrase ‘are isa any good?’ concerns me that you may not have a great understanding of available products and how they work. I think an FA would be a good starting point for you.
Then again, the combined expertise of bthis forum can tell him just as much, in fact more, and save him £3,000...
or cost him a lot more if he doesn’t fully understand what he’s doing.
Which seems to be the case from the OP.

If the usual PH advice was applied to medicine:
Don't use a surgeon, look it up on the internet and operate on yourself. It's piss easy, you'll be much better, and you'll have three legs instead of two.

sbk1972

Original Poster:

1,038 posts

105 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Thanks guys. I'll be honest and say that knowledge of these things is about 20 years out of date.

Some of this amount will need to be used for school fees over the next 4 years. Therefore a percentage will need to be accessible.

I will go through the links you kindly gave me and try to get up to speed.

Sbk


bitchstewie

67,374 posts

239 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
sociopath said:
Which seems to be the case from the OP.

If the usual PH advice was applied to medicine:
Don't use a surgeon, look it up on the internet and operate on yourself. It's piss easy, you'll be much better, and you'll have three legs instead of two.
Whilst I think that's fair there's a similar analogy with FA's that "Yes I know I operated on you in 1999 and we've only spoken for 30 minutes a year since just to check you're still doing OK but I want 1% of everything you earn as long as you live".

Yes I know maybe that's a bit unfair hehe

I'm sure there's a case for FA's or planners for many people.

But I'm also sure there's a strong case for spending a little time reading up and learning the basics.

At least that way you can make an informed decision.

Throwing your life savings into Fundsmith is the other extreme to paying someone 1.5% to do something you could often do yourself.

NickCQ

5,392 posts

125 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
sbk1972 said:
Some of this amount will need to be used for school fees over the next 4 years
Timing of spend is key to figuring out the right strategy. Worth putting down on paper what you need and when over the next 20 years (including university I would assume).

A good rule of thumb is to avoid equities for any funds that you might need within 5 years and stick to cash for any funds that you might need within 12 months. Using this you can set a target allocation between cash / bonds / equities and then over time as the kids get older you can rotate your portfolio to match.

Mr Pointy

13,330 posts

188 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
sbk1972 said:
Thanks guys. I'll be honest and say that knowledge of these things is about 20 years out of date.

Some of this amount will need to be used for school fees over the next 4 years. Therefore a percentage will need to be accessible.

I will go through the links you kindly gave me and try to get up to speed.
The only money locked away is any that's put into a pension - if it's in an ISA or GIA you can get at it any time (tax free from the ISA, with potential CGT issues from the GIA). You can break it down of course; put the school fund amount into a savings account & it won't do anything other than lose 2% in value per year due to inflation. The rest can be put into riskier funds that should provide some growth.

JulianPH

10,084 posts

143 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Firsty, congratulations on the windfall.

ISAs and pensions/SIPPs are just tax allowances which you should max out where you can. It is what you hold inside them that counts.

Post on the Intelligent Money sticky at the top of the Finance thread and (as others have mentioned) you can get a load of completely free information and guidance.

This could result in you being far better informed to make your own decisions, or at the least let you know you you should engage with a finanical adviser, but with far more awarenes of things before doing so.

I don't know enough about your personal circumstances, but it sounds to me that you may need a mixture of savings and investments.

sociopath

3,433 posts

95 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
sociopath said:
Which seems to be the case from the OP.

If the usual PH advice was applied to medicine:
Don't use a surgeon, look it up on the internet and operate on yourself. It's piss easy, you'll be much better, and you'll have three legs instead of two.
Whilst I think that's fair there's a similar analogy with FA's that "Yes I know I operated on you in 1999 and we've only spoken for 30 minutes a year since just to check you're still doing OK but I want 1% of everything you earn as long as you live".

Yes I know maybe that's a bit unfair hehe

I'm sure there's a case for FA's or planners for many people.

[b]But I'm also sure there's a strong case for spending a little time reading up and learning the basics.

At least that way you can make an informed decision.[/b]

Throwing your life savings into Fundsmith is the other extreme to paying someone 1.5% to do something you could often do yourself.
I suspect you've been looking at the wrong FAs :-)
I speak to mine probably every couple of months, maybe even more if things are changing in the markets.

I certainly agree it's worth educating yourself, otherwise you might as well get an FA that only speaks SerboCroat

JulianPH

10,084 posts

143 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
sociopath said:
If the usual PH advice was applied to medicine:
Don't use a surgeon, look it up on the internet and operate on yourself. It's piss easy, you'll be much better, and you'll have three legs instead of two.
Sorry, that is mad!!!

Learning about investment funds and tax wrappers is not in any way akin to performing surgery on yourself!


loskie

7,084 posts

149 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
quotequote all
Can you pay the school fees in advance and secure a discount/resist inflation? Obviously I would want a water tight agreement written up. What is the school goes bust?