Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

What you don't want is someone actively managing your portfolio for you. That's what the banks want, because they can charge fees. Passive investments - e.g. tracker funds - tend to do better at much lower cost.

 

I don't get why you'd go and queue up for them when you can buy them online, and get any winnings automatically paid out too.

 

Skipton International. They make you jump through hoops, though, both to invest and to keep tabs on it.

 

Got my fingers badly burnt when buying shares in the company I worked for, I think just buying shares without some knowledge is not a good way to go.
One reason why I went for a Stocks and shares ISA, no tax to pay, admittedly you have someone managing it but they know more than I do about such things, and spread the inve stment over a large area of the stock market.

 

If it's a company scheme, and you are buying them with your before-tax earnings and getting free matching shares as well, it's too good a deal to turn down really. I've got a decent sized holding in my employer built up that way, but it's not money I'm depending on for anything. RBS was a prime example of how wrong it can go. Many of the employees had not made any other pension provision for themselves, and then the financial crisis struck, they lost their jobs and their shares became worthless.

 

I was buying shares in the company in a Share save scheme, back in the 80s and 90s , you bought shares at the price they were three years previous.
Everything was doing well, the shares were worth £19 each at one point and I rarely paid more than £2.50 for many of them, some were £6.50 it was my retirement nest egg.

About 3 months before i retired they actually dropped to 60p a share in about two or three weeks with the fall of Carillion.

I've still got them and that have made so rises, but nothing like they were and I am never likely to get my money back.

At the same time they also stopped paying dividends.
Lesson learnt.

 

I worked 30 years for the same large LEEDS Company, and payed more each month towards my works pension
When I retired, I claimed my pension, and was informed that the Gov HMRC had allowed the company several Pension fund "holidays" and there was no money in the Pot to pay me
A pension fund has now taken over the pot and I get 20% of what it should have been
Several years later my younger colleagues came to retire and they now get 5% of what it should have been
The LEEDS Company, closed down FRIDAY SEPT 2020 and opened on the MONDAY SEPT 2020
providing the same business though the name has has changed by a couple of letter
WAS GROUP now NET

I hope the directors burn in hell when the time comes

 

Always seems to be a railway embankment collapsing somewhere these days usually they say due to excessive rain.
Obviously nothing to do with all the trees railtrak cut down some years ago because they couldn't deal with leaves on the line.

 

@Jack McHammocklashing, in a fairer financial world that would not be allowed to happen. The Big Boys make the rules … and change these as suits. They get protection, everyone else gets risk.

 

Sounds like phoenix companies. I've seen Small Boys do this, not just big guys.

Phoenix companies and the role of the Insolvency Service

 

I was one of those hit by the RBS collapse. I didn't work for them by the time it all went down the drain, but I had worked with them for 12 years and been in the share save scheme all that time. From having around 20,000 shares worth nearly £8 each they were suddenly worth 10p!
Virtually all my savings wiped out in an instant. I was comparatively fortunate. One of my former colleagues was using their shares to pay for a house they were having built.
Ironically, I left RBS through voluntary redundancy after they took over NatWest. Therefore I got my RBS pension immediately without it being reduced for taking it early. My redundancy payment was also far better than those who lost their jobs at the collapse. So for me, there was the slightest glimmer of a silver lining. Very slight!

 

In addition to equity shares, government gilts have also been a good buy lately. Inside or outside of an ISA they are capital gains tax free too. Anyone can buy them. I'm not giving advice here!