[shark]

Thanks for link.

Yes. There has been a few back testing studies that have shown that on average lump sum investing comes out best. This assumes you have a lump sum which was what JB has and was asking about.

Regular payment to invest is a good idea if you on a regular salary and the vehicle has low costs such as an ISA or pension with a low cost FTSE tracker or ETF. Just don’t do it based on pound cost averaging.

[Johnny Brown]

Thanks Shark, that's just the no-nonsense older wiseguy advice I was after.

I'm just hoping we have some clarity before 29th March as that's about my deadline.

[IanP]

I'm just hoping we have some clarity before 29th March as that's about my deadline.

Aren't we all  .

Article here https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/articles/latest-thoughts/how-it-works/what-is-pound-cost-averaging agrees with Shark but does mention 'insurance against regret'

'Nobody likes the idea of investing a significant sum of money, only to see the market drop immediately afterwards. For some investors, this fear of regret leaves them paralysed. They decide to wait until they feel more confident about the market, but this time may never come. For these investors, pound-cost averaging may be a way to overcome their paralysis and at least get some money into the market.'

So if you have the option of investment but are putting it off, one route round this may be invest some now and then rest later.  The averages may say that you are more likely to do better by investing all now (though there's also a lesser but still significant risk that you might be worse off) but hedging by splitting investment may make it easier to invest and may even actually have some risk mitigation justification given the high degree of uncertainty around end of March.

Actually facing similar situation with some inheritance money of my daughters which she (with my advice) needs to decide what to do with. 

[Doylo]

I’ve got a private pension but am now employed PAYE (don’t know for how long)  and have been offered another with employers contributions. Am I best trying to get them to pay into my existing private pension? Got a feeling their offer is exclusively for their company scheme.

[IanP]

I’ve got a private pension but am now employed PAYE (don’t know for how long)  and have been offered another with employers contributions. Am I best trying to get them to pay into my existing private pension? Got a feeling their offer is exclusively for their company scheme.

Almost always worth joining employee pension scheme since they pay in as well as you, would think it unlikely they will pay into a private scheme instead.  I would expect the money to be invested into some sort of tracker based fund anyway so similar to the type of investments people are talking about here so only slight disadvantage is that you would have to manage multiple pensions though when you actually come to use them you should be able to consolidate.  WIthout knowing the details I would expect as minimum you should should set you contribution rate at least as much as needed to get the maximum employer contribution (if that makes sense)

[Doylo]

Yeah thanks. Need to milk the employer contribution for as long as it lasts.