Changing my NISA investments

[Utachiyo]

I started NISA this year and I want to change my investments from having a separate world stock fund and a Japanese stock fund to just one all country stock fund. Should I sell what I currently have and then start over with the new all country fund? I would have to do this after the new year since this year is almost at the limit. OR should I just leave it as is and put any NEW investments into the all country fund? Note: I'm not sure how much I'll be able to invest over the coming year due to certain changes to my job.

Please format any answers in "for dummies" mode, please!

[N00bster]

If you sell you will basically lose the benefit of 4 years tax free investment since you cannot reuse the allocation after selling.

So unless you don't have enough to fulfill your allocation next year, it is probably wiser to not sell what you already have unless you have serious doubts about the funds you chose at that time.

[RetireJapan]

Generally if I decide to change my investments I'll just buy the new version alongside the old version. The only exception is if I have an actual reason to sell (as opposed to the new version being marginally better).

[Utachiyo]

What about the difference in fees? To be honest, I have no idea how the fees work. Is that something that gets subtracted when you sell? Or from any dividends?

[RetireJapan]

There are roughly three types of fees: purchase fees (to be paid when you buy the fund), management fees (paid annually, taken directly from the fund), and sale fees (paid when you sell).

If you look for 'no load' funds, they won't have purchase fees or sale fees, so you just have to be aware of the management fees. Ideally they will be in the low 0.something percents.

[Utachiyo]

Of course, I always buy "no load" funds. So, I guess we're just talking about the yearly maintenance fees. My current funds are 0.154 each. The all country fund is 0.1144. Wouldn't it be better in the long run to sell the (relatively) more expensive ones?