Alternative asset forms

peaksoft

For various reasons (all of which are legal and honourable, I hasten to add) it would be in my favour (to the tune of about £9,000 a year) to translate my cash savings into tangible assets.

In the past, property was the obvious answer, but clearly not at the moment.

Postage stamps, fine wine, etc, all seem a little too clever-clever to a simple guy like me.

Does anyone have any suggestions? At present, we're looking at about £80,000, with a further £130,000-£140,000 possibly coming along.

Keeping pace with inflation would obviously help, but security and the ability to realise part or all of the cash value at any time would also be important.

baby_boomer

Cash is King at the moment.

Pretty much every asset class is under pressure.

purch

Pretty much every asset class is under pressure

There is a huge deflation in all asset classes at the moment, it won't continue forever, and once it settles down it will be important to see what the overall situation is then.

There is a chance of a period of Stagflation...which we havn't really seen since the 1970's

I saw this chart yesterday, on the FS 'Blogsite' on a piece by Krassimir Petrov, PhD for Cramer Research

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/petrov/2008/1024.html

alchemistkevin

purch wrote: »

There is a huge deflation in all asset classes at the moment, it won't continue forever, and once it settles down it will be important to see what the overall situation is then.

There is a chance of a period of Stagflation...which we havn't really seen since the 1970's

I saw this chart yesterday, on the FS 'Blogsite' on a piece by Krassimir Petrov, PhD for Cramer Research

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/petrov/2008/1024.html

Yes, but we're talking a small time investor.

With these sort of funds, looking to beat inflation, make some money, I'm not sure if the OP has an appetite for risk.

I would vote cash too.

purch

Yes, but we're talking a small time investor.

With these sort of funds, looking to beat inflation, make some money, I'm not sure if the OP has an appetite for risk.

I would vote cash too

Whoops.............my bad !!! :eek:

I must have missread the OP.

I was sure that he said he wanted to invest in something other than cash :cool:

peaksoft

purch wrote: »

Whoops.............my bad !!! :eek:

I must have missread the OP.

I was sure that he said he wanted to invest in something other than cash :cool:

And so I did. Having cash savings (or shares, premium bonds, or anything that provides an income) is not in my best interests, to the tune of £9,000 a year for the next five years, but whatever I hold has to be realisable to support living expenses if necessary.

alchemistkevin

peaksoft wrote: »

And so I did. Having cash savings (or shares, premium bonds, or anything that provides an income) is not in my best interests, to the tune of £9,000 a year for the next five years, but whatever I hold has to be realisable to support living expenses if necessary.

I apologise if I'm getting the wrong end of the stick but...

1. do you want to find the safest asset form that can support living expenses if necessary

2. Want to know the an alternative asset form that may or may not be able to support living expenses if necessary?


If it's 1. I'm not sure if there's anything apart from keeping cash in various accounts/fixed deposits/ Govt. bonds.

If it's 2. then I guess purch's post was spot on.

alchemistkevin

purch wrote: »

Whoops.............my bad !!! :eek:

I must have missread the OP.

I was sure that he said he wanted to invest in something other than cash :cool:

I'm a bit confused with his post as well

jon3001

peaksoft wrote: »

For various reasons (all of which are legal and honourable, I hasten to add) it would be in my favour (to the tune of about £9,000 a year) to translate my cash savings into tangible assets.

Could you clarify what you mean by tangible assets?

Do you mean:

1. Physical things you have in your possession? (e.g. art, antiques, jewellery, precious metals, property, land)
2. Securities backed by a physical assets? (Property funds, commodity futures)
3. Something else?

peaksoft wrote: »

Keeping pace with inflation would obviously help, but security and the ability to realise part or all of the cash value at any time would also be important.

Index-linked bonds might have those charateristics but they're not hards assets which I think you're looking for.

peaksoft

It has to be something tangible I can buy and sell.

jon3001

peaksoft wrote: »

It has to be something tangible I can buy and sell.

Ok. Doesn't really expand on what you mean by a tangible asset. But I'm going to assume it's something physical you have in your possession (rather than a fund/certificate/etc that confers ownership rights).

i.e. in line with:
1. Physical things you have in your possession? (e.g. art, antiques, jewellery, precious metals, property, land)

As you infer from you consideration of stamps and fine wines, many of these are going to need specialist knowledge of the market and prices will be heavily based on investor psychology.

I think precious metal bullion is probably among the simpler ones to gain an understanding. 1oz of gold is pretty much 1oz of gold no matter where you get it from (unlike a stamp or a piece of art). And the market is pretty transparent in terms of what you can buy and sell at.