Investor Snapshot - Sir Steve Webb, LCP Partner and former Pensions Minister

What was your first experience of investing? 

As a child I was always fascinated by Premium Bonds so I bought £5 worth from the post office. My father advised me that this was fine if I just wanted the fun of looking up the numbers each week, but might not be the best investment. As it turns out, he was right on both points, as I don't think the bonds have actually generated any prizes in the subsequent half a century!

Has there been a person or resource you have found most helpful in your investment journey?

My first workplace offered a pension with Equitable Life as my first big investment, and I must admit I didn't really understand how it worked. When I took it out I had to choose between 'unit linked' and 'with profits' and I had no idea what the difference was, so I ended up going for 'with profits' because 'profits' sounded good. Subsequently a friend in the pension industry told me that things were not going well at Equitable Life and so I moved my money out.

What has been the riskiest investment you have made, or considered? 

I had long felt that I should make sure my equity investments were doing good so I took out a stocks and shares ISA with a smaller provider of ethical ISAs. This felt good for a while but the value was extremely volatile and I think I probably took it out at a bad point in the cycle. In the event I gave up after a few years as the 'good' I was doing was invisible but the losses were very visible!

What’s next for your investing journey? 

I'm getting towards an age where my focus will move from building up a pension pot to running it down. At the moment a lot of what happens post-retirement is DIY, and the range of blended post retirement products with some drawdown and some later life annuity is quite limited. But I can see that there's a lot to be said for not having to worry about these things in later retirement and have the security of an income that lasts as long as you do.

What would you tell your 20-something self about investing?

Although being able to find out at the push of a button how your investments are doing, it can be a bit demoralising to see that in 24 hours you have lost hundreds of even thousands of pounds. So my best advice for a young saver might be 'lose the online password', so that you simply save and go away and give the money time to work, rather than fretting about it each day.
 
Thank you Steve. To read other recent Investor Snapshots click on the posts below. 
 
This interview is for information only and it is not investment advice. It is for use in the United Kingdom only. Investments and/or investment services may not be suitable for all investors. Capital is at risk and past performance is not an indicator of future performance.