Researching your ISA investments

Information you may want to look at when making ISA investments

Jon Wild, 30 January, 2009 | 5:41PM
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Having covered the basic types of ISA investments, this week we will have a quick recap on what information you may want to look at when making those investments.

When researching any potential ISA investments, it is important that you have access to sources of information and advice that are independent and can be used in conjunction with the detailed information each ISA provider can give you.

Whether you are saving into a Cash ISA or a fund, you are buying a product and as with any product purchase you want to be able to compare the key features and pros and cons of a range of alternatives before deciding which one is suitable for you.

When it comes to doing this you have a simple choice:

  1. Gather the information yourself
  2. Get some professional advice (from an Independent Financial Adviser or IFA)
We will look in detail at the role an IFA plays in a couple of weeks.

Doing your own research - DYOR
Whether you are looking to buy a fund, open a Cash ISA account, set up a stock trading account in an ISA wrapper, or start investing in funds, there is a wealth of independent information available online.

What should I look for?
Cash ISAs

Most websites that give information on Cash ISAs allow you to compare:

  1. Interest rates
  2. Tie-in periods
  3. Frequency of interest payments
  4. Special features and restrictions
If you know your preferred criteria for some or all of the above then these websites can quickly give you a shortlist of accounts to choose from.

It can be useful to look at a few websites as any single site may not have an absolutely comprehensive coverage of accounts.

Stocks

Most sites that provide information on stocks will give the following information for free:

  1. Simplified company accounts
  2. An overview of how a given stock has performed recently
  3. Any relevant company news
  4. Advice and articles from investment professionals
Many of these sites will also have discussion boards where investors can exchange opinions on stocks but beware: the opinions on these boards are not necessarily independent or even necessarily particularly well informed.

Funds

If you are looking to include funds as part of your ISA investments, most of the sites available on line will provide the following information:

  1. The performance of the funds over various time periods – the funds are often displayed in categories or peer groups of similar funds to make performance comparisons easier. Remember that past performance is not a guide to the future!
  2. Details on charges and fees associated with the fund
  3. Contact details for the fund provider
  4. Details of how much money you will need to invest initially and how much money can be invested regularly
  5. A summary of what the fund is currently investing in
In addition, some information providers also give funds a rating that takes into account not only past performance but also the risk associated with achieving that performance and commentary on how they think the fund is being managed.

Morningstar.co.uk offers access to and objective information on more than 9,000 funds and, via its Hemscott.com site, more than 19,500 companies available to individual investors in the UK. Together the two provide investors with decades of data history, up-to-the-minute equities and funds news, independent editorial content produced by analysts and journalists, and management and director information.

The links below provide some simple examples of the information available from Morningstar across a range of equities and funds.

Company overview

Fund analyst research

Fund manager information

Fund charts

Links to other articles that may be of interest:

What is an ISA?

Don’t make these three investment mistakes

Hedge fund managers fail to deliver in 2008

Bear market roils asset managers

Rekenthaler Report: The Perpetual Headwind

UK rates now at record low

Lessons from the Madoff scandal

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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