Investment & Savings Advice
How do investments work?
Investments are something you buy or put your money into to get a profitable return. Most people choose from four main types of investment, known as “asset classes”.
| Cash | The savings you put in a bank or building society account |
| Fixed interest securities (also called bonds) | You loan your money to a company or government |
| Shares (also known as Equities) | You buy a stake in a company |
| Property | You invest in a physical building, whether commercial or residential |
THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY DOES NOT REGULATE NATIONAL SAVINGS.
THE VALUE OF INVESTMENTS AND INCOME FROM THEM MAY GO DOWN. YOU MAY NOT GET BACK THE ORIGINAL AMOUNT INVESTED.
There are other types of investments available too.
Why do I need to invest?
To meet both short and long term investment needs. Short term needs may include saving for a car or a holiday, whereas long term investment needs could be saving for retirement, school fees or providing capital for children as they grow up.
Helping you with your Portfolio
The various assets owned by an investor is called a portfolio. As a general rule, spreading your money between the different types of asset classes helps lower the risk of your overall portfolio underperforming.
Managing investments takes time. This is where we can help, both in advising you on your investment needs and assisting you in managing your portfolio.
Please contact us so that we may assist you in determining an investment strategy best appropriate for your needs and circumstances.
Examples of some of the different types of investments
New ISA Saving accounts (NISAs).
From July 1 2014 all ISAs became New ISAs (NISAs). This applied to all existing ISAs and new accounts opened after 1 July 2014. Cash and shares Isas are now merged into single New Isa (Nisa) with annual tax-free savings £15,240. This is to make the system “simpler”. You can use the full limit for either cash, investments or a mix of both.
Saving in a NISA provides you with certain tax benefits, primarily that growth is not subject to Capital Gains Tax and any income or interest earned within the NISA is free from any further income taxation (dividend income carries a 10% income tax credit that cannot be reclaimed, even within the NISA).
The value of investments and income from them may go down. You may not get back the original amount invested.
Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future.
Unit Trusts.
A unit trust reduces your risk of investing in the stock market by pooling your savings with thousands of others, and then spreading the money across a wide range of shares or other types of investment.
OEICs.
Open ended investment companies were introduced into the UK in 1997, from Europe. Open-ended means shares in the fund will be created as investors invest and cancelled as they cash in.
Investment Trusts.
Investment Trusts are companies that buy and sell shares in other companies. When you invest in an investment trust company, you become a shareholder of that company. Your shares will rise and fall in value according to supply and demand for the shares.
Unlike a Unit Trust and an OEIC, the number of shares within an investment trust is limited (there are only so many that can be bought and sold at any time). This means that as well as being influenced by the value of the assets held by the Investment Trust, their price is determined by investor demand, rising with popularity, and vice versa. This means that a share in an Investment Trust can be more expensive than the total costs of the relative assets in the investment: this is called trading “at a premium”. If the reverse is true, it is said to be trading “at a discount”. This adds another layer of risk for investors in an Investment Trust, but can also creates buying opportunities.