After years of refusing to discuss Stocks & Shares Investments publicly, because he's not an authorised adviser, Martin Lewis has announced that his show next Tuesday 9th December 2025 will cover Stocks & Shares Investments - I think this is an excellent move as he has also said that's where is own money is held, not in the savings accounts he covers on his show! Over the longer term, 5 years or more, stock market investment always beats savings accounts but in the shorter term you may get less than you paid in.
I've used Stocks & Shares ISAs, and PEPs before them, starting with Abbey National shares when they privatised followed by a selection of Unit Trusts. It's important to state that everyone needs a "rainy day" fund held in an easy access savings account before venturing into stocks & shares. The advantage of Stocks & Shares ISAs is that they're completely exempt from capital gains tax, dividend tax and income tax - as well as inheritance tax if they're left to your spouse.
I've used Hargreaves Lansdown for my PEP/ISAs for about 30 years, at the time they were about the only retail investment platform but since then others have joined the market with varying charging structures, some lower monthly charges but adding dealing charges on, others with higher monthly charges but no dealing charge. In the case of Hargreaves Landown they also provide comprehensive information on investments leaving the customer to choose which to buy.
I presently have 4 unit trusts, in mirrored accounts for my wife and myself, which have averaged 16.64 % per year over the last 5 years, from which 0.45 % is deducted for platform charges - despite having a poor pension due to historical goverment incompetence we have some income left over each month which is used to increase our investments, along with all the dividends which are reinvested - this has resulted in a healthy investment "pot" from which we can withdraw large amounts for a car or caravan, or just helping our son and daughter-in-law.
The 4 unit trusts we have are a global income trust, a global indexed trust, a UK income trust and a UK growth trust - each chosen for their performance over 1, 3 and 5 years compared to their peers. We've also put some money into Lifetime ISAs for our son & daughter-in-law when they retire and into Junior ISAs for our grandsons when they're 18 - with their agreement I manage their investments and use the same 4 unit trusts as our own.
With a 50:50 split between global and UK, we're light on global investment according to convention but the present government wants more investment in the UK - so it's a dilemma which way to go.
I have used Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) in the past but found their recommendations poor and biased towards their own commission - just my experience, others may be better.
I'd be interested to hear if any other contributors have Stocks & Shares ISAs which they manage themselves.
I've used Stocks & Shares ISAs, and PEPs before them, starting with Abbey National shares when they privatised followed by a selection of Unit Trusts. It's important to state that everyone needs a "rainy day" fund held in an easy access savings account before venturing into stocks & shares. The advantage of Stocks & Shares ISAs is that they're completely exempt from capital gains tax, dividend tax and income tax - as well as inheritance tax if they're left to your spouse.
I've used Hargreaves Lansdown for my PEP/ISAs for about 30 years, at the time they were about the only retail investment platform but since then others have joined the market with varying charging structures, some lower monthly charges but adding dealing charges on, others with higher monthly charges but no dealing charge. In the case of Hargreaves Landown they also provide comprehensive information on investments leaving the customer to choose which to buy.
I presently have 4 unit trusts, in mirrored accounts for my wife and myself, which have averaged 16.64 % per year over the last 5 years, from which 0.45 % is deducted for platform charges - despite having a poor pension due to historical goverment incompetence we have some income left over each month which is used to increase our investments, along with all the dividends which are reinvested - this has resulted in a healthy investment "pot" from which we can withdraw large amounts for a car or caravan, or just helping our son and daughter-in-law.
The 4 unit trusts we have are a global income trust, a global indexed trust, a UK income trust and a UK growth trust - each chosen for their performance over 1, 3 and 5 years compared to their peers. We've also put some money into Lifetime ISAs for our son & daughter-in-law when they retire and into Junior ISAs for our grandsons when they're 18 - with their agreement I manage their investments and use the same 4 unit trusts as our own.
With a 50:50 split between global and UK, we're light on global investment according to convention but the present government wants more investment in the UK - so it's a dilemma which way to go.
I have used Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) in the past but found their recommendations poor and biased towards their own commission - just my experience, others may be better.
I'd be interested to hear if any other contributors have Stocks & Shares ISAs which they manage themselves.
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