Member Info for Alas_Smith

Would be nice to close over 1400 but there may be some profit taking in the short term. Anyway, all time high and, with commitment for spending in place no reason for doubt on future sp direction.

Always sensible to fully subscribe into an ISA early in the new tax year. I've 15 holdings which are not yet sheltered in ISA wrapper which will take about 8 years to fully shelter (assuming no growth) to fully subscribe in own and wife's ISA. I can probably do a bed and ISA for 2 holdings which will take us over the CGT limit with the mitigation in the sale RKT which has lost a little under 20% since purchase. It therefore makes sense to do this with those holdings that throw off dividends rather than the pure growth equities and IT's that I prefer.

My holding in UEM is already in ISA wrapper but I am in the process of looking to add to UEM in a SIPP wrapper. Anywy, about to board a flight to Paris for the weekend, so won't do anything until Monday at the earliest.

They read well to me. Time to buy more as I like to average my holding up preferring to strengthen winners.

The level of income is expected to be around £3,500 from those holdings. I am rather resigned to pay tax on the surplus over £1,000 (joint dealing account rules) at 8% but this income is within the personal allowance rules for income tax. We will ignore that as I am not an accountant and things can get messy and confused very quickly.

We fully intend to execute "bed and ISA" deals as a matched bargain so only the dealing cost and stamp duty is paid. This shelters £40,000 for the tax year at the maximum cost of Stamp Duty plus broker fee. We are also generous parents and propose to help our children. We have sufficient capital to be able to gift to them, and we have chosen the figure of £60,000, and need to survive 7 years for it to fall out of our estate for IHT purpose. We can gift it from our joint dealing accounts or ISA's. It doesn't matter.

Rules allow capital withdrawn from an ISA to be replaced in the SAME tax year. We can thus shelter a total of £100,000 over the course of a year. These are figures for me, and you might be different, of course. Selling holdings up to the value of the CGT allowance makes sense for us even if some are sold at a loss. Losses are either applied against gains in the same year or, if not applied can be carried forward, provided that HMRC are told within a certain time limit in an annual return.

At some point we will be selling a 2nd home and the tax from gains on property are far greater than those for shares. Such a gain has to be paid within a few weeks of the property transaction, brought forward losses from previous years can be applied and it makes sense to sell any underperforming holdings to further mitigate tax on holdings that are underperforming. Proceeds either held as cash or re-invested is sensible.

FWIW, I calculate that it will take about 9 years with average growth (and luck) to convert our joint dealing account to ISA wrapper and plan during this time to gift £500,000 to both children and settle further £350,000 into a trust while drawing sufficient income to meet our modest life, running 3 cars, 3 motorcycles, 2 horses, 2 dogs and enjoying a few weeks in the winter skiing and a couple of weeks in the sunshine of the Aegean.

All our multi baggers are sheltered in ISA along with the bulk of dividends that are generated. Don't let the tax tail wag the dog. This is not investment advice, but might give a clue to investors worried about losses (or gains) to use the rules to advantage. Newly married might not feel comfy about gifting capital to spouse. As we approach our ruby anniversary, such doubts were eliminated years ago.

I know this is somewhat off topic, but it relates directly to any holding which has the potential for uplift as a "multi bagger".

And investors have the ability (and have had since the TESSA in 1990) to use efficient wrappers to protect against capital gains and dividend income taxation. The wrapper I am describing in now knows as ISA. For the wealthy investor, this has allowed the sheltering of cash, shares, investment trusts, pooled funds, bonds etc within limits. This limit is currently £20,000. The benefit of this shelter is that there is no tax payable on either gains generated in a disposal as a capital gains tax charge or from income generated from cash thrown off by way of dividend income. In other words, all growth is without taxation. (I'll address what happens on death later).

The benefit of the wrapper has to be used in a tax year that runs from 6 April to 5 April and if unused is wasted. Cash withdrawn from an ISA can be replaced during a tax year. This is particularly beneficial for some investors as I am discovering following a substantial inheritance a few years ago.

The downside of such a wrapper is that losses within the wrapper need to be taken on the chin and there is no benefit from a tax perspective in future years. But, who invests to make a loss? Losses outside a wrapper can be applied against future gains and that, I am finding is a potential real benefit now and in the future.

The current level before CGT needs to be paid is a paltry £3,000 and tax is applied at 20%. Selling 6 holdings that are not within an ISA and banking a profit each time over the course of a year of just £500 will bring an investor to the limit of the rules. For shares that throw off dividends, the limit is just £500. With the average FTSE holding having a yield of 3.59% it is very easy to cross the line and come within the grasp of HMRC.

I don't know about you, but I have worked my socks off to prepare for a rainy day. I've needed to raid my savings and start again 3 times because ventures failed or I needed to settle a bill and was facing ruin. To all intents and purposes, my real savings started in 2002 when we had paid off our mortgage, relocated and had £20,000 cash to invest.

The ONLY sensible way for investments to grow is to use efficient wrappers for some holdings and "play the game" as best as possible. Having inherited after an eye watering amount paid by way of IHT an equal share of my late parents estate (a qtr that of the Government and something I deeply resent), I have been able to shelter in these last 3 tax years £120,000 in ISA. (Husband and wife each have allowance of £20,000). The remaining balance is invested outside ISA (and SIPP) wrapper in a joint account. Some holdings have been sold so that our joint allowance has been used each year to stay within or at the limit for capital gains. Dividends are tricker to manage, so the holdings have little by way of dividend income - this year

A well constructed portfolio allows an investor with a medium attitude to risk and a timescale of 20 years to draw an inflation linked income of £30,000 annually from a £1m pot while preserving an growing capital.

steph - having a single holding valued at £1m even though it is spread accross a myriad of holdings in a single trust is perhaps rather a reckless strategy. After all, GROW does not pay any dividend and although diversified in a range of sectors, these are all fledgling companies made more difficult to sell as they are unquoted. I know it sounds hypocritical to comment like this as I have holdings in 3i Group, Princess Private Equity, Augmentum and Molten Ventures are all doing well, but it is a caution for others who may be influenced by contributors on a financial board.

Good luck with your investment - I genuinely hope that this pays off for you, but urge you to bank profits from time to time. Always sensible to have a decent exposure for each sector, especially in a rising market

News out today. A satisfactory read.

Investors these days (compared with the late 1970's) have the advantage of an almost bewildering array of tools and information that allows financial decisions to be made. Although I am not a fan of charts except as a very broad indicator, it does have relevance that should not, IMO, be ignored.

For GROW, the chart that I like is the 10 year one and, to my interpretation, the share price is beginning to show the hint of an uptick and the point at which investors are starting to hoover up the shares. Of course, buying pressure has only a small influence on the share price which tends not to last very long. Market Capital increases will only be seen with improvement in disposals and re-investment in new enterprise.

As ever, investors should undertake their own research but from my perspective, this has all the hallmarks of being a good time to build a decent holding as equities tend to do well with the tailwind of falling interest rates. there are mutterings that the ECB is hoping to lower rates in May and it certainly won't do the long suffering consumer any harm if the Band of England shave a few points off rates in May/June and further cuts in August and November.

Added a few more today, this time in a SIPP for my wife

Steph, I think that the key to share price growth for this IT is through change to base interest rates.

We do know that rising interest rates the world over are headwinds for equities which are more easily absorbed by companies with wide moats and as the BoE might start to reduce interest rates in May, or more probably, June, this will filter to equity markets. FTSE has recognised this and has reacted and rises in valuations for the smaller markets, and in particular, unlisted companies SHOULD follow, albeit with some lag.

In the same way that the press is no longer reporting a cost of living crisis, different crisis will grab headlines.

With the FTSE exploring new highs this week, a few weeks behind USA, investor sentiment is improving and the share price has perked up for GROW. I've now broken even on my investments and, as finances permit will look to average my holding up over the next few months.

The practice of selling short has never appealed to me since, by its underlying limited return it cannot be considered anything other than speculation. GROW has produced new information this week which will allow investors to compare the formal numbers more accurately.

I remain bullish on GROW and although my holding(s) are underwater finacially, I am more persuaded to buy rather than sell shares in GROW at the moment.

Weak pound is GOOD for UK exporters as most international goods are priced in dollars

More likely that Labour will not commit to the 2.5% GDP spending when in office.

Disappointing results. If this were a school report - has all the hallmarks of "should do better"

Clued - the contributor "Needlesthecat" has made few comments. I have not bothered to investigate further. Drivers for markets include news, sentiment and momentum. Right now, all major markets are, at or have, in the last few days, been at all time highs; that indicates sentiment (to me) which, as the UK has today confirmed an increase in defence spending to 2.5% Gross National Product so this is news (as far as I am concerned. The final piece in the "noise" of the market to consider is momentum and that is based on the longest possible chart for the share price performance.

There is no doubt in my mind that although there will be days when the share price falls, the trend will remain northbound. As "Needlesthecat" provided no flesh or argument to support contention, I ignored the comment. FWIW, despite my optimism in whatever holding I have interest, I tend nowadays to pay greater heed to bearish comment and filter out those that are the most aggressive in their applaud for a company.

TR-1 has been issued today with Downing increasing position to over 10%

Gettingthere67, corrections are inevitable and healthy. That the DOW and NASDAQ have been breaching all time highs is both worrysome and encouraging in equal measure.

Part of the fall was in response to the potential for the Middle East skirmish to escalate but a far greater part is that the FED is unlikely to lower interest rates in early course. Some commentators are suggesting December. The UK also seems to have cooled on interest rates and a May cut seems increasingly fragile.

These are powerful headwinds for substantial companies and are really troubling for smaller ones.~

We have at the moment a UK Government on its last legs where local elections in May might give some flavour of the sort of bloody nose that might be expected in a General Election. I've always done better with Labour in office than I have with a Conservative administration.

This is not the place to discuss politics, except as it applies to equities. Sunak was a better Chancellor than he is as PM and frankly Coco the clown would have been better than Kwartang, hence we have Hunt at the tiller.

Https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/19/bae-systems-linked-to-deals-in-countries-accused-of-human-rights-abuses-report.html

Don't believe that this will have adverse effect on the share price.

First question investors need to ask, is whether the company is a good investment and follow it with "are there better ones" and finally, what financial exposure should I risk?

For myself, I do not like to have more than 2% portfolio capital invested an any single holding including cash, and, for the most part I have been able to do this.

For comparison here is a little snippet that I read this morning https://citywire.com/investment-trust-insider/news/expert-view-aj-bell-dunelm-auction-tech-just-eat-lbg-media/a2440743?page=3