Is it not time to have a separate Saving and investing forums?

Stavros_3

On the subject of investing, those of you who have investment portfolio's, how are they doing?. Is your portfolio UP or DOWN? on your initial investment., over what period of time and by what percentage?. I ask because On the 1st of December I come out of cash deposits, and investing a hefty sum long term for growth of capital, I am using a well established IFA and well established Fund House with a wide spread of investments.

savingforoz

Yes, I think it would be useful to have them separate - it may help to underline the difference between saving and investing, and save those of us who are more interested in investing from wdaing through lots of irrelevant posts.

Lansdowne

Another thing that would help, is to prevent old threads from being revived. One from two years ago was just bumped.

MrMicawber_2

It would be very useful to have separate threads for Saving and Investing. There are shades of grey but broadly they are quite distinct although the words are sometimes interchanged.

Being someone who saves a bit and invests a bit it would good to have the clarity separating the two would give.

afro_2

nahhhhh.

It's not in the spirit of the site.

Go to fool.co.uk for investment chat, not here.

This site is about saving and shaving off the costs. Not taking risks.

Blah99

afro wrote: »

nahhhhh.

It's not in the spirit of the site.

Go to fool.co.uk for investment chat, not here.

This site is about saving and shaving off the costs. Not taking risks.

Actually I thought this site was about making the most of your money, and investment falls squarely into that category (unless you're happy with a negative real rate of return on your savings in a bank account).

john_s_2

gozomark wrote: »

the key difference is risk - savings involve preservation of capital, investment means putting something at risk in the hope of a higher return. It can get blurry at the edges, as some investments can be structured so there is no risk to capital eg equity products with a guarantee of capital protection. However you can break such a product down into a number of investments
1. long exposure to equities - investment
2. an option on the market, (paid for by dividends to be received) - investment

Thanks for the definition! It's pretty much in accordance with what I thought it was. Although I thought GEBs would have been classified as savings down to the capital protection offered?

It seems to me it's not black & white - there's every shade of grey (cliches are me ;-) in between. GEBs being a case in point.

I agree with the poster who points out that while this board has a sub-board for ISAs it doesn't for investments. It wouldn't hurt to include one IMHO.

Lastly, for the sake of amusement, using 'risk' as the criterion of whether something is an investment or a saving, that would make lottery tickets an investment and premium bonds a type of saving.

LongTermLurker

gozomark wrote: »

the key difference is risk - savings involve preservation of capital, investment means putting something at risk in the hope of a higher return. It can get blurry at the edges, as some investments can be structured so there is no risk to capital eg equity products with a guarantee of capital protection. However you can break such a product down into a number of investments
1. long exposure to equities - investment
2. an option on the market, (paid for by dividends to be received) - investment

Sorry, that's wrong. By definition, "investment" means you are putting something into someone else. On the other hand, "saving" just means not spending what you've currently got - it's nothing at all to do with risk.

If you invest in my company, you buy a share in it. If my company is worth £1m and you invest £100,000 and I have invested £900,000 you own 10% of the company - you get 10% of the profits and pay 10% of the losses, it's as simple as that.

You can get low risk investments and high risk investments. Low risk generally equate to low chance of substantial growth. In contrast, for a high chance of substantial growth you would have to take an equivalent level of risk to your capital.

gozomark

Sorry, that's wrong. By definition, "investment" means you are putting something into someone else. On the other hand, "saving" just means not spending what you've currently got - it's nothing at all to do with risk.

you are talking about saving, and not savings

wagdog

Recent events should have made it clear to everyone that savings, whether it be in a bank account or in a cookie jar, is really a sub-class of investing. Putting your money in a bank account offered by RBS, buying a bond issued by RBS, or buying shares in RBS all carry unique risks, yields, penalties, and restrictions.

Sterling kept under a mattress is similar; it all depends on what you'd eventually exchange it for in the future. A trip to the US, then you've lost out. A barrel of oil, then you've actually gained.