should i continue to pay into an investment scheme?

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pAnTs

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I have an investment scheme going since the SSIA, Im still paying into it on a monthly basis. I was wondering what your thoughts were on whether I should

A: freeze the payments going in but leave the shares where they are. I can then just save the money I was buying shares with in a deposit account which I am opening in Nationwide UK Ireland (invaluable advice from AAM!!) along with a lump sum deposit in NUK.

B: Cash in the shares and transfer the entire amount into the NUK account, although the value of the shares is down i can earn interest it at 3.15%

C: Continue buying more shares while the prices are low and sit on it and wait till the markets turn 'round but risk losing it all as the government can guarantee anything at the moment!! and put the lump sum into the NUK account as planned!!

I would really love to hear your thoughts on what you would do. I understand its personal and down to me but i would love to hear the pro's and cons of each. thanks very much in advance :)
 
Some questions ...

This all depends on how risk adverse you are? What direction you expect the shares to take in the months/years to come? The amount of money involved? What you are savings for?
 
well Ive about 11k invested and it's more just saving for a rainy day, I may need it in the next 5 years but nothing immediate. As far as risk goes I'm feeling a bit worried at the moment reading whats on here and listening to the radio etc. I had originally decided that I would leave the money there for another 5 years or so and continue paying into it until the markets recover but now Im thinking wow with the way things seems to be going my money may not be there when I go to retrieve it in 5 years. Im so confused now and am wondering would I be better off paying the monthly amount I usually pay into my savings scheme into my new NUK account with my lump sum deposit?? It's hard to know what to do when you are not involved with finance in any way and just trying to learn from the talkshows and AAM!!
 
The only other option I have considered is cashing it in and lodging it into my nationwide Uk Ireland account so I can earn 3.14% on it, I'm not an accountant / economist and I don't have anyone to ask so really I just trawl this site to get other peoples ideas and thoughts on things.
 
The decision to continue paying in is quite seperate to the decision to cash it in. You have the option of stopping making further contribtions, and leaving the money in the fund to (hopefully) accumulate over time.
 
well I feel if I'm not going to cash it in I may as well buy shares. I mean if Im leaving the money there to let them accumulate wouldn't it make sense to buy also when they are cheap or.... is that non-sense?? I really have no clue :(

I'm thinking the risk is that I may loose them with AIB's future not looking so bright so I should cash them in and move the money but then thother side is that buy when shares ar low etc etc ....
 
Sorry to jijack thread but im in the same boat myself,continued paying into an SSIA Irish Life Scope account when it matured . At that time was worth 21,000 a short time later was worth 17,000 and now three years later having paid in approx 240 per month its worth about 28000.
Has earned interest of approx 7% this year to date.
I dont need the money urgently as it is a nest egg for the future but am a bit worried about what might happen if euro goes belly up.
W200
 
pAnTs said:
well I feel if I'm not going to cash it in I may as well buy shares. I mean if Im leaving the money there to let them accumulate wouldn't it make sense to buy also when they are cheap or.... is that non-sense?? I really have no clue :(

I'm thinking the risk is that I may loose them with AIB's future not looking so bright so I should cash them in and move the money but then thother side is that buy when shares ar low etc etc ....
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Really, you'll find it much easier if you look at this as two separate decisions. The first decision is what do with your spare €2xx per month. This is an investment strategy decision - what level of risk are you prepared to take? How long will you tie up this money for?

The separate decision is what do with the funds accumulated to date. Again, you need to think about your risk tolerance and your timescale. What kind of charges are you paying on the existing funds?

What is your overall financial position - any outstanding debts?
 
Complainer said:
Really, you'll find it much easier if you look at this as two separate decisions. The first decision is what do with your spare €2xx per month. This is an investment strategy decision - what level of risk are you prepared to take? How long will you tie up this money for?

The separate decision is what do with the funds accumulated to date. Again, you need to think about your risk tolerance and your timescale. What kind of charges are you paying on the existing funds?

What is your overall financial position - any outstanding debts?
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Hiya Complainer (nice name :D) well I have no outstanding debts apart from my mortgage and I would be happy with a slow but steady profit, Im not greedy about it so I don't think I would take a huge gamble. It's taken me a long time to save so a smaller safer profit would be preferable. It's funny though coz in the last 2 days I noticed my fund value increase €200, this makes me think I should just leave it?? I suppose I could stop paying into it and start some other savings scheme some where else. (Question: would it not be a good idea for the government to start another SSIA type scheme to recapitalise the banks??) maybe i could do a poll to see who has stopped paying into their savings schemes, I just want to be a sheep on this one!!! follow the masses, safety in numbers etc...
 
pAnTs said:
C: Continue buying more shares while the prices are low and sit on it and wait till the markets turn 'round but risk losing it all
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What makes you think the markets are going to turn around and what makes you think your shares in particular are going to rise?

As you said yourself it's a risk, a gamble. So if you are risk adverse you cash it in and take your steady 3.5% deposit interest instead.
 
1) You generally make money by doing the exact opposite of what the market is doing, buy when everyone else is selling, and sell when everying esle is buying.

2) Another SSIA scheme would be a disaster - we need to get people spending, not saving.

3) If you prefer low risk/low return, then do move your money out of shares into deposits. Keep in mind the risk of having your deposits eaten up by inflation.
 
Complainer said:
1) You generally make money by doing the exact opposite of what the market is doing, buy when everyone else is selling, and sell when everying esle is buying.

2) Another SSIA scheme would be a disaster - we need to get people spending, not saving.

3) If you prefer low risk/low return, then do move your money out of shares into deposits. Keep in mind the risk of having your deposits eaten up by inflation.
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AHA! so people are selling or buying now? sorry Im clueless....I am thinking I would probably be better off taking the money out and getting the interest rate offered by nationwideUK. Im alarmed though by this "Keep in mind the risk of having your deposits eaten up by inflation" do you mean if I leave it in there for a super long period of time?? how to avoid this from happening??
 
Ye I agree it's difficult to know what to do when you have no idea. I try and educate myself with opinions from AAM etc but everyone has a different idea so I'm a bit confused. I have though learnt that perhaps I'm better off with a slow but steady gain on a deposit account.
 
Bronte said:
What makes you think the markets are going to turn around and what makes you think your shares in particular are going to rise?
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well before the IMF etc I had in my mind that I didn't need the money urgently so I could pay into my fund for another 3 - 4 years. I was speaking to someone before all this mania who said that you should buy when the shares are doing badly and sell when they are doing well, I figured that now was the time to buy more. I was also told that the ideal situation when investing in shares is that you have time to let the markets recover if they drop, invariably they do recover after some time and it's all part of a normal economic life cycle. Don't markets tend to go through peaks and troughs? I was planning on waiting this one out and coming out the other side!! Now I'm presuming all bets are off and perhaps everything could be gobbled up with a collapsed bank etc...does that make any sense? I suppose what I'm really asking on here is whether other people are still paying in etc...
 
I'm no expert or anything but this would be my take on your situation.

I presume you are paying into a Unit Linked Fund & that you do so on a regular monthly basis. If that is correct then you are mitigating risk by using a technique known as dollar cost averaging ( look this up for an explanation ). In other words because your premiums are regular then you are smoothing out the peaks & troughs. The market bottomed in March 2008 & there was a decent rise for the rest of the year after that which has kind of plateaued since. Overall your fund may be down but I would bare with it if I were you. The world economy is still depressed & the laws of average suggest it should hopefully begin to grow eventually. The counter arguement of course is that there may be a double dip recession but that is practically impossible to tell.

You should ensure that the fund you are paying into is diversified by geographical location, commodities, bonds, cash, different industries etc.

Stay away from investing in Irish based funds for now. You live, work & pay taxes here, therefore you are heavily enough invested in Ireland as it is, without investing in Irish based equities as well.

If you are diversified then the IMF being in Ireand shouldn't make a whole lot of difference to your fund.

If you are so worried about your investment choices then why not hedge your bets. Leave your 11K as is & reduce your contribution by 50%. Open a Nationwide Uk A/c or any other depending on which is most appropriate tou your circumstances & put the other 50% in there on a regular basis.

Hope that helps.
 
Pauliwalnuts said:
I'm no expert or anything but this would be my take on your situation.

I presume you are paying into a Unit Linked Fund & that you do so on a regular monthly basis. If that is correct then you are mitigating risk by using a technique known as dollar cost averaging ( look this up for an explanation ). In other words because your premiums are regular then you are smoothing out the peaks & troughs. The market bottomed in March 2008 & there was a decent rise for the rest of the year after that which has kind of plateaued since. Overall your fund may be down but I would bare with it if I were you. The world economy is still depressed & the laws of average suggest it should hopefully begin to grow eventually. The counter arguement of course is that there may be a double dip recession but that is practically impossible to tell.

You should ensure that the fund you are paying into is diversified by geographical location, commodities, bonds, cash, different industries etc.

Stay away from investing in Irish based funds for now. You live, work & pay taxes here, therefore you are heavily enough invested in Ireland as it is, without investing in Irish based equities as well.

If you are diversified then the IMF being in Ireand shouldn't make a whole lot of difference to your fund.

If you are so worried about your investment choices then why not hedge your bets. Leave your 11K as is & reduce your contribution by 50%. Open a Nationwide Uk A/c or any other depending on which is most appropriate tou your circumstances & put the other 50% in there on a regular basis.

Hope that helps.
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Thank you so much, that has been an enormous help, infact that is exactly what I was wondering :) my fund is as follows

AIB Managed fund series 2 - 50%
AIB Multi-track fund - 50%

Allocation rate 97%

I contribute 100 euros a month, it also says

an entry charge of 3% will be deducted from contribution before purchasing units

No exit charges

a fund charge of 1.5%

the cost of buy, selling and maintaining the investment are borne by the fund itself

23% deducted on profit of investment at the end of 5 years (not sure if this happened automatically at the end of the 5 years or whether they will do it when I cash it in)

If I was to switch to some other fund would that just be a case of cashing in/selling my shares and purchasing other shares with the lump sum? Im sure there probably is some better options out there...
 
OMG my shares have lost €1,000 since Monday! :eek:

is this because of Japan and oil prices etc??
 
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