Investments - Strategies, Ideas, Options & advice

[williamalex1]

I'll see how it pans out for a week or so, then make a decision, to invest or just stick to the savings account.

Update, so far my Trading 212 cash savings account daily interest rate has been 5.17% earning £2.88 per day, I'm quite happy with that.
But, seemingly the interest rate is going down to 4.80% soon,
any advice is welcome
TIA.

 

[Red devil]

Update, so far my Trading 212 cash savings account daily interest rate has been 5.17% earning £2.88 per day, I'm quite happy with that.
But, seemingly the interest rate is going down to 4.80% soon,
any advice is welcome
TIA.

Just had an email. Dropping down to 4.9% from 01/12/24.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Update, so far my Trading 212 cash savings account daily interest rate has been 5.17% earning £2.88 per day, I'm quite happy with that.
But, seemingly the interest rate is going down to 4.80% soon,
any advice is welcome
TIA.

All of my savings accounts are reducing their interest rate, as I don't have fixed rate.
Nature of the beast Im afraid

 

[hambugerpete]

Update, so far my Trading 212 cash savings account daily interest rate has been 5.17% earning £2.88 per day, I'm quite happy with that.
But, seemingly the interest rate is going down to 4.80% soon,
any advice is welcome
TIA.

I put my savings into ETFs.had some individual equities but slowly closed those out and just gone trackers. They both up about 18% in the last year.
These are long term though , I don't plan on touching them for maybe another 10 years

 

[Mudball]

Q for those in the know about Long Term Capital Gains. In my head LTCG allowance for stocks outside an ISA was in the 10-12k per year. However, I just checked and it looks like now it is a paltry 3600. Property LTCG is different.

The reason for checking was because I was talking to a friend who is thinking of retiring early. He has about 100k worth of company stocks that he has bought thru employee scheme over a long time. Needless to say he wants to cash out. But LTCG will be very steep. My initial thinking was to max his 10k allowance on CG per year (the sale value could be higher). So he may sell 30k worth of stocks, but the LTCG may only be 8-10k. This way he may be able to exit in 3-4 years. But with 3600 LTCG limit, it will take him a very very long time.

Anyone looked at it.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

My MiL has investments that are held in trust with my wife as the (now) sole beneficiary, and Mrs and myself fairly soon to become trustees as she retires herself and appoints us. The investments do not seem to get much in the way of investment return and so we are looking for advice from our FA/FP on whether we should surrender/cash in the investments and move the funds into alternatives.

However - and its a BIG however...

The thing I have not yet come to understand is whether or not cashing-in the investments that are in trust will make them liable to consideration for IHT come the day - which will unfortunately come - and if the amount taken out the investment will be considered gifts beyond what is allowable in someones final 7yrs - when I know that with them in trust they would have been outside IHT considerations. Part of the answer is, I know, going to be tied up in the nature of the trusts - and for two that seems unclear.

A third trust we know was set up so that the beneficiaries could have requested their 'share' once they had reached the age of 18..but they didn't know about it. Does anything coming out of that trust investment and provided to my wife (as a beneficiary) count towards the gifted allowance exceeding £3000. I dunno - and I'm not sure our FA/FP will know. The two trusts we're not sure about we'll almost certainly just leave alone until then day comes. But this 3rd one

 

[PaulMdj]

My MiL has investments that are held in trust with my wife as the (now) sole beneficiary, and Mrs and myself fairly soon to become trustees as she retires herself and appoints us. The investments do not seem to get much in the way of investment return and so we are looking for advice from our FA/FP on whether we should surrender/cash in the investments and move the funds into alternatives.

However - and its a BIG however...

The thing I have not yet come to understand is whether or not cashing-in the investments that are in trust will make them liable to consideration for IHT come the day - which will unfortunately come - and if the amount taken out the investment will be considered gifts beyond what is allowable in someones final 7yrs - when I know that with them in trust they would have been outside IHT considerations. Part of the answer is, I know, going to be tied up in the nature of the trusts - and for two that seems unclear.

A third trust we know was set up so that the beneficiaries could have requested their 'share' once they had reached the age of 18..but they didn't know about it. Does anything coming out of that trust investment and provided to my wife (as a beneficiary) count towards the gifted allowance exceeding £3000. I dunno - and I'm not sure our FA/FP will know. The two trusts we're not sure about we'll almost certainly just leave alone until then day comes. But this 3rd one

Surely the current trusties can answer all your questions? Isn’t that their role?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Surely the current trusties can answer all your questions? Isn’t that their role?

There is only one - and that’s my MiL and she doesn’t recall any of the detail. We know her intent and much of it was around reducing exposure to IHT, but also in part to have savings she could pass on to her children, the beneficiaries. The question I guess is more around what status her investments have if the trustees decide to surrender the investments out of trust before my MiL decides to fly with the angels.

 

[hambugerpete]

Q for those in the know about Long Term Capital Gains. In my head LTCG allowance for stocks outside an ISA was in the 10-12k per year. However, I just checked and it looks like now it is a paltry 3600. Property LTCG is different.

The reason for checking was because I was talking to a friend who is thinking of retiring early. He has about 100k worth of company stocks that he has bought thru employee scheme over a long time. Needless to say he wants to cash out. But LTCG will be very steep. My initial thinking was to max his 10k allowance on CG per year (the sale value could be higher). So he may sell 30k worth of stocks, but the LTCG may only be 8-10k. This way he may be able to exit in 3-4 years. But with 3600 LTCG limit, it will take him a very very long time.

Anyone looked at it.

Depends on the scheme. Im in 2 HMRC approved ones, buy as you earn, where I buy £150 of shares each month and the company match them up 2 for 1. These are all tax free if I hold for 5 years and sell via the plan, regardless of the amount. No CGT.
The other is save as you earn, 500 pm and buy the shares at the option price set at the start. Subject to CGT but you can transfer in to an ISA up to your limit and anything over can go into your sipp or just sell.

 

[Mudball]

Depends on the scheme. Im in 2 HMRC approved ones, buy as you earn, where I buy £150 of shares each month and the company match them up 2 for 1. These are all tax free if I hold for 5 years and sell via the plan, regardless of the amount. No CGT.
The other is save as you earn, 500 pm and buy the shares at the option price set at the start. Subject to CGT but you can transfer in to an ISA up to your limit and anything over can go into your sipp or just sell.

thats sounds like a very good deal. I dont know what he is on.. but will ask him to check.

Mine is a similar 'Emp Share Purchase Plan' where you can buy quarterly at 5% below Market average. Money taken after deduction of personal tax - so not tax efficient either. When u sell, Rachel will come knocking.. No options to transfer into ISA/SIPPS et al

 

[Mudball]

feeling a bit smug.. When Palo Alto stocks took a beating, I had some spare cash sitting in ISA. I was pretty sure PANW has a good product and a safe bet. It sat there for a while, dipping and diving .. then decided to move. Because i needed an exit, i had a ladder on exit.. booked 30% at about 15% gain, next 30% at about 22%... left the remainiing trucking away... currently up 34% and running. I do wish i had not booked profits, but hindsight is 20/20.
Unfortunately, put some of the money in Broadcom and it is sitting at about -5%. But it will move and I have time..

 

[Mudball]

feeling a bit smug.. When Palo Alto stocks took a beating, I had some spare cash sitting in ISA. I was pretty sure PANW has a good product and a safe bet. It sat there for a while, dipping and diving .. then decided to move. Because i needed an exit, i had a ladder on exit.. booked 30% at about 15% gain, next 30% at about 22%... left the remainiing trucking away... currently up 34% and running. I do wish i had not booked profits, but hindsight is 20/20.
Unfortunately, put some of the money in Broadcom and it is sitting at about -5%. But it will move and I have time..

What a set of results and guidance.. it is a good stock but did not realise the bounce .. has gone from -5% to +28% in a matter of weeks.. thank God it is in an ISA

 

[hambugerpete]

What a difference, glad I'm in global and S&P 500 !

 

[PNWokingham]

View attachment 56293
What a difference, glad I'm in global and S&P 500 !

UK equities are massively cheap, cheapest relative to others for years. I personally think they have a good chance of outperforming over the next few years as they are relatively very defensive. The US has been massivley buoyed by the magnificent 7 that have driven the returns and given that the US has been setting new highs after new highs this year, i think they are looking increasingly vulnerable.

Tesla alone is worth more than all other global carmakers combined at its new all-time high - currently valued at $1.486 trillioin. This is madness and it has rallied from $142 share in late April to $462 now and is in an industry where nearly all other players are having major problems and share prices are down. I would short the heck out of this as a tactical from here! Tesla has even more than doubled in less than 8 weeks. I smell tulips!

The other thing about this chart is that it excludes dividends and the FTSE is way higher so the total return difference above would be a lot less looking this way

 

[Mudball]

UK equities are massively cheap, cheapest relative to others for years. I personally think they have a good chance of outperforming over the next few years as they are relatively very defensive. The US has been massivley buoyed by the magnificent 7 that have driven the returns and given that the US has been setting new highs after new highs this year, i think they are looking increasingly vulnerable.

Tesla alone is worth more than all other global carmakers combined at its new all-time high - currently valued at $1.486 trillioin. This is madness and it has rallied from $142 share in late April to $462 now and is in an industry where nearly all other players are having major problems and share prices are down. I would short the heck out of this as a tactical from here! Tesla has even more than doubled in less than 8 weeks. I smell tulips!

The other thing about this chart is that it excludes dividends and the FTSE is way higher so the total return difference above would be a lot less looking this way

Other than some oil & gas and a bank, i am completed out of the UK market. Unfortuantely, i am not very optimistic of the UK economic chances at the moment. though the UK market and the UK economy are not always correlated. Yes they are cheap, but it is tying up capital in home of appreciation. In one year between Tesla, Broadcom, Palo Alto, i have more than 50% and this excludes my badluck at cutting my Nvidia positions. Meanwhile Lloyds Bank has gone nowhere, and the divided is nothing to write home about. Also all the new stocks are listing in the US. Poor prospects for UK (and this is not political)

TSLA is a full pump and dump stock. Right now it is being chased by those missed out buying it at $180.. It will hit 500 before year end. Will correct once Q4 delivery numbers are out, Trump is in the House or when Cramer says it is a good buy. Unless you have deep pockets, I would not dream of shorting it.. It is the worlds biggest shorted stock

 

[PNWokingham]

Other than some oil & gas and a bank, i am completed out of the UK market. Unfortuantely, i am not very optimistic of the UK economic chances at the moment. though the UK market and the UK economy are not always correlated. Yes they are cheap, but it is tying up capital in home of appreciation. In one year between Tesla, Broadcom, Palo Alto, i have more than 50% and this excludes my badluck at cutting my Nvidia positions. Meanwhile Lloyds Bank has gone nowhere, and the divided is nothing to write home about. Also all the new stocks are listing in the US. Poor prospects for UK (and this is not political)

TSLA is a full pump and dump stock. Right now it is being chased by those missed out buying it at $180.. It will hit 500 before year end. Will correct once Q4 delivery numbers are out, Trump is in the House or when Cramer says it is a good buy. Unless you have deep pockets, I would not dream of shorting it.. It is the worlds biggest shorted stock

Each to their own and i have lost out massively over the last year by being short US and particuarly the magnificent 7, but i would defo not go in here and if i owned i would be cutting as if there are wobbles next year US and particulary the tech will feel the heat a lot more than the FTSE 100 - indeed, we do not need to see much of a wobble in earnings to massively knock the big tech stocks. Maybe Tesla has a slight bit more air to go higher but i would guess it is within 10% of the start of a decent correction and would expect that it will afgain have a market cap of less than 1 trillion at some point in the next year

Lloyds current dividend yield is estimated at 5.7% - not sure what you consider good but i reckon that is very decent