Investment Ideas?

AmDaMan

AmDaMan

AmDaMan

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,023
Location
Wellington, NZ
This has probably been asked many times before but some fresh input would be nice!

So at the moment I have a bit of disposable income at the end of each month, at the moment, i'm just buying gadgets, junk and expensive nights out but I'd like to invest some of it a bit more intelligently..

I'm currently working in NZ but that's not a limiting factor for any investment type..

So the basics first, I have about 1.5k GBP disposable a month and I don't mind taking risks with my cash (as bad as that sounds). I'd prefer higher ROI with higher associated risks (with some kind of sensible strategy obviously to mitigate the risk). I'll also probably put a portion into premium bonds too as a more secure and sensible (boring) investment.

So chaps, what do you recommend?

Business ideas?
Float shares?
Cheapo buy to let properties?

Ideas and suggestions welcomed!
 
I vote property for a long term investment because it's geared. You put a small deposit down and the bank provides the rest.

However any of the above are realistic. Shares are good if you only have a small amount to risk and want to limit your risks to only the capital invested. A business us more of a life style choice than simply am investment.
 
Do what you think is a huge amount of research, then realise you know very little, then do some proper research.

http://www.trustnet.com/ is useful for details, and http://citywire.co.uk/ isn't that bad opinion wise.

I am a big fan of the Troy Trojan fund run by Sebastian Lyon. If you are new to investments, I would start there, then look at what risk you are willing to take.

Remember to diversify, and never have everything in a single asset class (clash, stocks, bonds, etc). Good luck!
 
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For a while I've been half thinking about lending some money through Zopa, it seems to provide a reasonable return and it seems like there's a much more direct connection with the people that you are lending to than just through an investment fund. It may be that it's just a cleverly packaged illusion to give the appearance of a connection but I quite like the idea anyway.

There's a few things that I need to sort out first before I've got the disposable income to do that though.
 
Why throw money away initially when there's a good baseline of knowledge right here? :p

In regards to property - are we talking about 90-95% mortgages and then finding tenants?

In regards to stocks and shares, I've just booked a course with the Academy of Financial Trading to get the basic info before I go down that road. Wonder how that will go..

Gilly - will look at that prospectus fully tomorrow, looks interesting.

Dean - Cheers for the links, will have a read.

EDIT: Zopa looks pretty interesting.. I like how they spread the risk by dividing up your money to multiple borrowers.. Will look into that.
 
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Save enough to buy property at auction, do it up and sell it on or rent it out, rinse repeat. Next property market boom sell everything and then stick it in a bank and live off the interest :)
 
Syla5 said:
Save enough to buy property at auction, do it up and sell it on or rent it out, rinse repeat. Next property market boom sell everything and then stick it in a bank and live off the interest :)
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thats the way to go, rental returns are very high at the moment, my brother has just bought 2 more at £50k each and getting £400pm return on each of them

oh and that was just buying through agents not auctions, may be bigger bargains at auction
 
Rotty said:
thats the way to go, rental returns are very high at the moment, my brother has just bought 2 more at £50k each and getting £400pm return on each of them

oh and that was just buying through agents not auctions, may be bigger bargains at auction
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If only I had enough to buy a second property, I would be doing this, once you can get them paying for themselves then you can use profit to build deposits for the next one. At times I wish I was born 20 years earlier as I wasn't in a position to get on the property ladder until 7 years ago, and only a full mortgage 4 years ago. All of which adds up to having a first full mortgage that is 5 times larger then it would have been 15 years sooner! Step 1 for us is clear this first mortgage down to a "don't have to worry about anything" level then borrow enough for a deposit on a second house, rent that out and that's the wife's pension sorted :)
 
Alternatively, invest heavily in banks like lloyds and RBS who in theory at some point all start paying dividends again, and you will get more now for your money then you will buying in to companies already paying dividends, that is if you like the higher risk/reward option :)
 
Greggs, share price just took a nose dive with McMeikan leaving, but that will rise sharply when the rest of the franchise news is announced.

you didnt get that info here.
 
Invest in a diverse range of low cost index funds, rebalance them regularly, and adjust your asset allocation as your attitude to risk changes (i.e. you get older). Look at the Vanguard LifeStrategy funds as a starting point, they give you a 'portfolio in a fund' - they're what I use.

It does matter that you're in NZ. Investment vehicles are often linked to your residency status. One of the best investment vehicles is a pension, because you get your income tax refunded on anything you pay in - so it's a guaranteed instant 20% return (or 40% or 45% if you're in the higher brackets). Those are the UK rules, but they may be different in NZ, you'll have to look it up for yourself.

Don't go to a bank for any form of investment advice, they're not advisors, they are salesmen and they will attempt to sell you their products, not the best possible investments. If you go to a financial advisor make sure you go to a fee-only one, don't go to one who charges a percentage of your portfolio on an ongoing basis.
 
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