Seems a bit extreme.....

[tut]

http://business.financialpost.com/inves ... ysmic-year

I cashed in my Investment Portfolio a few months ago and put it into our three Santander Bank accounts at a safe 3% which covers £60K, and looking at Peer to Peer for the rest. The top three are well established now and have excellent records although your investment is not guaranteed. Average returns are 6% after fees and bad debts, and the Government actually invests £20M in Funding Circle, so I think the risk factors are low enough to cover the higher returns.

Anybody on here ever gone this route?

tut

[campbell]

Article reads line sensationalist bullocks. Or am I being harsh.

We're staying in our stocks ISAs as far as I'm aware.

[robin]

It depends on your age and needs.

Campbell, you still have 100 years before you can retire, so you can ride out the bumpy stock exchange knowing that (hopefully) the underlying trend is better than cash interest - which it probably is if you have a reasonable portfolio, but won't be if you handpicked 20 stocks 10 years ago and now cannot remember even what they were

Tut, on the other hand, is a bit older than you and is more in need of savings with predictable value and the ability to convert from savings to cash as and when he has the need. Its possible that hi's savings are really part of his pension arrangements, for example. So he would be much more risk averse than you. That's not to say I endorse the "sell now, the end of the world is nigh" article. Far from it, but certainly in his shoes I would be looking to keep a much larger chunk of cash or near cash than I would in your shoes (where I might have no more than needed to deal with a rainy day or two).

Given how everything is going, we could easily see a 25% drop this year. America might go OK which might help us; Europe might recover; Russia - eek; don't mention China and friends; wars between the Arabs are looking more and more likely; Saudi antics with oil prices; ISIS might cost us a fortune; etc. etc.

Of course I have no idea what will happen (and in general I am always wrong - so the best investment strategy is to invest in anything that I am not invested in ), but I can understand why Tut would be looking for cash-like investments.

Cheers,
Robin

[robin]

P.S. Tut, peer-to-peer lending whilst having good returns has a much higher risk factor; you need to be careful to understand the total size of their fund and what diversity they have in the people they're lending to, otherwise you run the risk of them losing disproportionate amounts.

[Kelvin]

Andrew Roberts has been saying this since 2010. If it's as bad as he predicts then there will be few hiding places for your cash. I've started stockpiling tins of beans.

[campbell]

Wasn't suggesting Tut was wrong (just to be clear).

Completely agree that circumstances are crucial.

Cue BigD, except FCA rules probably don't allow him to comment

[tut]

Don just mailed me. I had told him that I might be looking at investing spare funds after he had completed the Mortgage, and he has just come back to me after this post with his own advice of getting similar returns to P2P but with the safety net behind it.

I do not want this to be taken the wrong way, but I am in a different situation than most of you. I have now been retired for 23 years, I have a guaranteed Bristow, War untaxed, and OAP Pension which is way more than I deserve, Verian also has her own Pension, so along with what is left from my enforced retirement the savings along with income is way more than we need to live on. Along with that we are probably spending £12K a year less on expenses here than we were at TT, so it is a case of just letting what is sitting there generate interest as opposed to wasting it. All three kids are in the oil industry and non of them have safe jobs, Clare will probably lose hers with Shell Dubai next week. If so then she and Jamie would come back and be living with us until things were sorted out, so we would be in the position of supporting them and also helping the boys out if it came to that. Weatherford are clamping down in Canada along with everyone else so things are not as bright there as they were for Ian, especially as he sold up here and moved over to Canada lock, stock, and barrel. Luke is with Shell in the North Sea, his conditions have been changed but not by too much, but he is still on the same salary and has a job though probably still walking a tight rope.

If I hear one more "man in the street" tell me how great it is with the price of fuel below £1, I swear I will commit Hari Kari. These are the Intgelligensa that will be voting for whether we stay in the EU or not, and most of them are not even capable of fastening their shoe laces on a foggy day.

I suppose that will suffice for tonight's rant.

tut

[robin]

Its possible that hi's savings are really

Awesome typing skills

[j2 lot]

If I hear one more "man in the street" tell me how great it is

Or SNP MSP !!!!
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/1418 ... s__booming_/

[tonyg]

I do not want this to be taken the wrong way, but I am in a different situation than most of you. I have now been retired for 23 years, I have a guaranteed Bristow, War untaxed, and OAP Pension which is way more than I deserve.
tut

Dave, i have to disagree, as far as I'm concerned you deserve it all.

[tut]

Don't beat yourself up for the sake of an apostrophe Robin, my bloody space bar along with the A key are part stuck so I am having to edit and change half of my posts.

Do I remember you saying that you were not considering the 12" Macbook because of the keyboard action?

tut

[robin]

It's not the keyboard that is at fault ... it's the meat-ware using it I said that I didn't like the keyboard on the 12" mac - the keys on the normal macbook's are nice, but that thing is crazy .... might still get one at some point if the MacBook Air dies.

Cheers,
Robin

[campbell]

Not like Apple to be substandard?