Timing a unit trust investment

[Gordon Brown]

I am now sat like a coiled spring waiting to see what the markets are going to do before I invest a good chunk of the companies retained profits in a range of investments in the UK, EU and US markets. Given that these market have fallen 1% today I wonder if there might be more falls before we get good news, strong enough to feed a bit of a rally?

I obviously want to buy at the bottom! Any clues as to whether I should buy now or leave it a few weeks?

Given the problems in Pakistan and the suggestion that unemploymnet in the US is feared to trigger a recession, slowing in the Uk service sector, the suggestion that UK interests will remain steady and perhaps fall over rthe next few months, blah, blah, blah I am just confused.

[LeTim]

Probably best to use a 'pound cost averaging' approach then, feed the money into the funds a little at a time, say a weekly contriubution.

We may be in for a recession, and some turbulance, but that doesn't necissarily mean that the FTSE for example will fall, infact stock markets have tended to rise during consumer recessions.

[dcb]

Gordon Brown said:

I obviously want to buy at the bottom! Any clues as to whether I should buy now or leave it a few weeks?

If you are buying a unit trust, the timing won't
make much difference.

The spread on the buy / sell prices will see to that
- spreads of 5% are common.

Suggest split your wedge into ten, and feed each
tenth in once a month.

After ten months, you will have got some averaging,
and in that time you will have some idea
how your UT is going.

[Gordon Brown]

Thanks folks. Mesage seems to be slowly slowly catchy monkey.