What would you do with £350k to invest?

adam1982

Hi All, :beer:

I have recently come into some money, around £350,000, and wanted some ideas on how best to save / invest it. Don’t worry about paying off a mortgage or any debts as there are none at present. Just want some ideas on how to get the most of it. I like the idea of compound interest and on this amount it seems like the best option?

All ideas greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Adam

bendix

You need professional advice.

What you do with a sum like this depends on so many variables - your age, your objectives, your attitude to risk, your wider financial profile etc - that any other advice given here will be completely meaningless.

dwsjarcmcd

I agree with bendix, what you will get is other peoples preferences, not your own. If I was you I would invest in an IFA to advice you.

dunstonh

There are tens of thousands of variables (if not hundreds of thousands) to consider on a question like this. It would be impossible to give any sort of answer based on one line of text that says very little.

Plus, as above says, you will only get opinions based on the circumstances of the individuals that answer (ie.. what they would do). That could be totally inappropriate for what you should do as the chances of your circumstances being the same are remote.

Rollinghome

You need advice but equally important is to do some research so that you are able to judge the quality of the advice you get. Pay particular attention to the commission any product pays to the advisers as that understandably tends to influence their advice.

You can read a review of different types of advisers here: www.guardian.co.uk.../financial-adviser-fsa-review


Edit:
Whoops, that was to another article but also worth reading. This is the one I had in mind: www.guardian.co.uk.../financial-advisers-reviewed Looks at the advice given by different types of advisers.

alocacoc

well Id blow a bit of it decent car or motorbike etc youd barely touch 350k

you only live once at least you can say Ive done that Im not saying spend it all

dunstonh

You need advice but equally important is to do some research so that you are able to judge the quality of the advice you get. Pay particular attention to the commission any product pays to the advisers as that understandably tends to influence their advice.

£350k pot would be daft doing it on commission. It should be fee based. It will be massively cheaper that way.

dwsjarcmcd

Again, I agree with the above, which is why I used the term 'invest' with an IFA. There is no way you should go down the commission route.

Primrose

I would definitely consult an IFA but consider first the level of risk you want to be exposed to and the investment timescales you are considering. The only other comment I would make is to consider subscribing to a good private healthcare plan if you don't have one already. Money cannot buy you health, but if you do become ill and need serious medical attention you might as well be covered by the best medical insurance cover you can have rather than relying on the cash-strapped NHS and long waiting lists.

Rollinghome

dunstonh wrote: »

£350k pot would be daft doing it on commission. It should be fee based. It will be massively cheaper that way.

Agreed, and that would normally mean someone who rebates all commission, including all annual trail-commission they receive. Such as http://www.nomonkeybusiness.co.uk/why_we_are_different/ . Not just the initial commision.

The problem is that the number of IFAs who work exclusively on a transaction fee basis are relatively few. Most won't have any expertise in investments that don't pay them commission, such as direct share investment, investment trusts, ETFs etc. Many will even have very little knowledge of unit trusts that pay lower rates of commissions such as tracker funds because they would normally avoid them in their commission-based business.

There is also the problem of what "fee-based" means. Many still call themselves "fee-based" when what they do is to charge a percentage of the amount invested. That means the more they persuade the client to invest, the higher their fee is.

What's more, not all IFAs will offer working on a fee basis even though I understand they are required to do so. When I recently asked a director of a large firm of IFAs about investing a sum considerably larger than £350k and specifically asked about the different methods of remuneration I was told "Don't worry, all our fees will come out of our commission, so there won't be anything for you to pay." The possibility of a fee-based arrangement wasn't revealed even when the question was directly asked. The best bet would seem to use someone who is upfront and works solely on a transaction fee basis.

Or put another way, the OP needs to understand the possible pitfalls before he enters into any arrangement with anyone. If in doubt, check it out.

tonysbt

"What would you do with £350k to invest?"

RETIRE!!!