ISAs Dont know what to do. Help!!

Dec 18, 2005 6 Replies

I have an ISA with HSBC.



I invested 7k in 2002, this tumbled to a low of 3.9k, and is now on 8.5k



It is invested in blue chip companies in UK and Europe.



I don't know if I should cash them in now or wait.



My fear is the European growth is really poor esp. with the 10 new countries that have joined.



Also UK economy is slowing down. I think there may be tough times ahead.



any idea what I should do?



Cheers


You have been through the highs and lows of the stockmarket and are currently showing a profit. How much do you think you would have now if you had just invested in a savings account? It has been shown time after time that shares (with reinvested dividends) will outperform savings rates over time! Are you investing for a particular reason? This might affect your risk and reward assessment Finally the new EC countries should have no bearing on your investments as you invest in Companies not countries. There may be tough times ahead but what is bad for one part of the economy is good for another. (I don't see Shell and BP complaining about the high price of oil!)

Wait until the tough times turn up, then sell. Decide right now the lowest you're prepared for your investment to fall too before selling - either a fixed amount (£8000, for example), or some percentage less than its highest value so far (10% less than £8500 = £7650). There's a chance this means that you'll sell just before a recovery, but you'll be limiting your losses.

The new countries are the only ones' that are actually growing.

Depends how long you're prepared to wait. For instance UK shares didn't recover from their 1900 peak until 1954. When do you think Japanese shares will get back to their 1989 peak?

Take the profit and leave the original sum invested. You could move the profit into a bond fund.

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