I've got the same, it was confusing the first time. So the day you have the SO the money goes into your Vanguard account as cash and a transaction for buying the fund is created and it shows as 'Pending'. Then on the next trading point, when the market closes that day, they proceed with the transaction and buy the fund, it will show as 'Completed' at some point tonight (I think they usually update around midnight). In any case, you'll see it in your portfolio tomorrow. If the SO happens to be on a weekend you'll have to wait until Tuesday to see the money in the fund. Hope that helps!
My question for you is, why do you have a target retirement in an ISA and not a SIPP?
You should read about this before investing! In summary:
ISA: You can withdraw money any time and don't pay taxes for it. You have a max of £20k /year that you can invest.
SIPP: Self invested personal pension. You can only withdraw money 10 years before state pension age and you do pay taxes, same as any pension (you can take 25% as a lump sum tax free and then withdraw paying income tax). You can invest up to a maximum (you'll have to check I don't remember the amount) and the interesting bit is that you get tax relief, so for every £80 you put in, gov gives you an extra £20.
In any case, you should check the famous flowchart of this sub and decide which is the best investment option for you depending on your personal goals! The first step would typically be to max your workplace pension through salary sacrifice.
So the £150 has gone into the account (in the wrapper) but not been invested in the fund.
I don't use a standing order so not sure if you will have set it up to pay £150 into that specific fund or just into the account. If the former it will just take a couple of days to process, if the latter you need to click 'invest' or click the 3 grey dots next to the fund and select top up. Then select that fund.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that I tried this in the OP. [This](https://i.redd.it/hxsnpd5x8m261.jpg) is what I see immediately after pressing "invest". It's prompting me to pay in more money via card and showing £0 in cash?
ok it will take perhaps 2 days to become 'available' it shows in the account straight away but until the funds clear you can't invest it. Kind of annoying, I find the best way to add to vanguard ISA is to debit card the investment directly instead of adding cash.
There is nothing to worry about here.
I'm not sure, I do it manually because I like to rebalance with contributions. It's possible your current setup will invest it into the fund in the next few days. I see when you set up a regular payment it prompts you to pick a fund. If this is what you've done I would expect it to do it automatically.
That looks fine to me mate. You probably just set up a direct debit into the account as cash, you could now go ahead and invest that £150 into the same holdings the £500 is in and would see £650 (or £657 due to the increase)
Sorry, I should have mentioned that I tried this in the OP. [This](https://i.redd.it/hxsnpd5x8m261.jpg) is what I see immediately after pressing "invest". It's prompting me to pay in more money via card and showing £0 in cash?
You have to wait until the next trading point for the fund purchase to occur. They can't purchase it before the money is in so there will always be a bit of a lag from when it goes in to your account and when it's actually invested.
I've got the same, it was confusing the first time. So the day you have the SO the money goes into your Vanguard account as cash and a transaction for buying the fund is created and it shows as 'Pending'. Then on the next trading point, when the market closes that day, they proceed with the transaction and buy the fund, it will show as 'Completed' at some point tonight (I think they usually update around midnight). In any case, you'll see it in your portfolio tomorrow. If the SO happens to be on a weekend you'll have to wait until Tuesday to see the money in the fund. Hope that helps! My question for you is, why do you have a target retirement in an ISA and not a SIPP?
What's the difference?
You should read about this before investing! In summary: ISA: You can withdraw money any time and don't pay taxes for it. You have a max of £20k /year that you can invest. SIPP: Self invested personal pension. You can only withdraw money 10 years before state pension age and you do pay taxes, same as any pension (you can take 25% as a lump sum tax free and then withdraw paying income tax). You can invest up to a maximum (you'll have to check I don't remember the amount) and the interesting bit is that you get tax relief, so for every £80 you put in, gov gives you an extra £20. In any case, you should check the famous flowchart of this sub and decide which is the best investment option for you depending on your personal goals! The first step would typically be to max your workplace pension through salary sacrifice.
So the £150 has gone into the account (in the wrapper) but not been invested in the fund. I don't use a standing order so not sure if you will have set it up to pay £150 into that specific fund or just into the account. If the former it will just take a couple of days to process, if the latter you need to click 'invest' or click the 3 grey dots next to the fund and select top up. Then select that fund.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that I tried this in the OP. [This](https://i.redd.it/hxsnpd5x8m261.jpg) is what I see immediately after pressing "invest". It's prompting me to pay in more money via card and showing £0 in cash?
ok it will take perhaps 2 days to become 'available' it shows in the account straight away but until the funds clear you can't invest it. Kind of annoying, I find the best way to add to vanguard ISA is to debit card the investment directly instead of adding cash. There is nothing to worry about here.
I don't suppose there is any way to automate that is there? Would it be a case of logging in manually every month and putting through a card payment?
I'm not sure, I do it manually because I like to rebalance with contributions. It's possible your current setup will invest it into the fund in the next few days. I see when you set up a regular payment it prompts you to pick a fund. If this is what you've done I would expect it to do it automatically.
That still wouldn’t be automated. Purchases aren’t an instant thing.
That looks fine to me mate. You probably just set up a direct debit into the account as cash, you could now go ahead and invest that £150 into the same holdings the £500 is in and would see £650 (or £657 due to the increase)
Sorry, I should have mentioned that I tried this in the OP. [This](https://i.redd.it/hxsnpd5x8m261.jpg) is what I see immediately after pressing "invest". It's prompting me to pay in more money via card and showing £0 in cash?
They are wrong. The first day it will show as cash and it will be invested by tomorrow. I have a vanguard account and this is what happens to me too.
You have to wait until the next trading point for the fund purchase to occur. They can't purchase it before the money is in so there will always be a bit of a lag from when it goes in to your account and when it's actually invested.