Safe place for large sum of money?

DreamweaverB

kingmonkey wrote: »

The OP is looking for safety

Thanks everyone for the food for thought.

You're absolutely right that all I'm interested in in the short term is security that my hard earned cash isn't going to disappear into some banker's pension payout leaving me with just £50k if another bank fails.

I'll check out properly the banks mentioned although it's been an eye opener already that many accounts seem to have upper limits far below what I'd need - I'd never considered that some bank accounts had a cap on how much they would accept of your money!

withnell

Lol_UK wrote: »

Standard Chartered bank - just posted a healthy profit. Name me another bank that has!

The OP's current bank, HSBC

Lol_UK_2

kingmonkey wrote: »

Saying the pound will be worth less & everything will cost more is really the same thing as they are both relative to eachother. Price of goods increase therefore you need more pounds to pay for them. The cost is really the same, as there is also wage inflation.

Except wages will be capped- or even reduced (as has already been the case) which is where the problems really start!

Lol_UK_2

withnell wrote: »

The OP's current bank, HSBC

Really?...2008 profits posted: 5.728 billion dollars, Capital injection needed:
12 billion pounds (nearly 17 billion dollars)...bad debts on books: 25 billion dollars...

Reaper

Lol_UK wrote: »

Really?...2008 profits posted: 5.728 billion dollars, Capital injection needed:
12 billion pounds (nearly 17 billion dollars)...bad debts on books: 25 billion dollars...

Yes, really. From the Economist:

HSBC is one of the best-performing banks in the western world right now. Its 2008 results were riddled with one-off items, but the bank still made an annual pre-tax profit of over $9 billion in a year when most peers made losses.

Lol_UK_2

Reaper wrote: »

Yes, really. From the Economist:

Pre-tax profit...irrelevant. The figures seem to tell a different story (along with the share price)... Least worst performance doesn't mean good performance!

Reaper

As I'm sure you know share price works on expectations. A company that reports a profit will see its share price drop if the profit is less than expected. A company that reports a loss will see its share price rise if the loss is less than the market expected.

And yes if HSBC has the "least worst performance" that seems a sensible place to keep the money.

You are very negative about everything - where would you put £1 million? Under the mattress? Gamble on gold? Abroad? - if so in which least worst performance country?

DreamweaverB

Lol_UK wrote: »

Pre-tax profit...irrelevant.

I'm getting confused by your comments...

Lol_UK wrote:

Standard Chartered bank - just posted a healthy profit. Name me another bank that has!

... you were the one who recommended a bank based on its profits.

Lol_UK_2

DreamweaverB wrote: »

I'm getting confused by your comments...
... you were the one who recommended a bank based on its profits.

Pre-tax and net profits are not the same...so no confusion there.
Even if HSBC posted a profit look at the other figures- they are not looking in great shape- huge potential toxic assets.

Not sure what I would do with a million...yes buy some gold, look at Standard Chartered bank, listen to Jim Rogers or Peter Schiff for investment advice and stay well clear of UK and US bonds, stocks and shares. Maybe buy some auction property in 6 months or so, or whenever the market starts to really drop!

SORRY- must add that Standard Chartered figures are also pre-tax- however they are not asking for rights issues or declaring massive toxic assets...so still looking good to me!

kingmonkey

Please can anybody who is reading this and wanting 100% short term safety NOT buy gold, shares, bonds or property.