My story so far...

mike88

I would save at least £50 per month of your total in a stocks and shares ISA. Have a look at the Hargreaves Lansdown site. There is no point saving everything you have in Banks and/or or Building Society accounts as the interest will not even keep up with inflation.

moose88_2

I have been buying my contact lenses, from these guys for nearly a year now
www(dot)daysoftcontactlenses(dot)com/

works out too roughly about £10 a month when you bulk order. but of course just try a sample order first in case your eyes might be overly sensitive or something...

In terms of the phone bill, I kinda feel sorry for you. I know you probably believe that it has lots and lots of value, but mobile phone contracts are simply liabilities. EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE I know (and probably everyone that you know) that is on a contract regrets it in the latter half of the contract.

I am on pay as you go, and my commitment to mobile phone networks is based on the same principle that Katy Price has on her partners. who can make me the most money? Right now im with Tesco Mobile pay as you go. £10, free 500 mins plus unlimited web and texts. Its a monthly rolling contract can cancel pretty much anytime I want.

but whats done is done, I don't suppose any amount of persuasion is going to get you to cancel your contract within the 14 days cancellation period that they give you.

with the car insurance, Im sure thats already been covered, you should be able to find a good deal as long as you do your research.


Now you need to be looking into investment. Its so hard to give out investment advice to anyone simply because it all depends on the persons beliefs and how they want to spend their money. So I wont really delve into investment opportunities with you. One thing I will say is, dont own cash. Dont save cash. Cash, money, whatever you want to call it, is the absolute worst investment ever.

having money doing nothing but sitting in a bank giving you less then 5% interest is saying that you 100% trust the government to boost our economy and strengthen our currency. But this isn't the case and never has been the case. that 10k (or whatever amount) that you have saved will be able to buy you 5k worth of goods in the future due to inflation. have you ever asked yourself how much is money worth? say from 30 years ago? if you literally found a £20 note behind your wardrobe from the year 1980, how much would that Note be worth if you went to the bank? the answer is obviously £20 right? ok now how many things could you buy with a £20 in 1980? and how many things can you buy with a £20 note today? the answer is A HELL of a lot less. anybody old enough will agree with me. If you are saving money for the sake of saving, then its not worth it, if you are saving money in a savings account to invest in the short to medium term future, then well done, you are the leaders of tomorrow.

Thats why rich people don't save money, they invest money.

And the reason the middle class never escape is because they save money, rather then investing it. The poor stay poor because they buy stuff.

Im sure what I said above doesn't make sense to 90% of people, but hey ho, never mind.

The biggest recommendation I can make to you Liam, is go and buy a book called "rich dad poor dad" written by Robert Kiyosaki. It will change your outlook on money, and Life for that matter. It is by far the biggest factor that has the potential to change its readers financial future.

moose88_2

PPS thought I may as well add a bit more knowledge.

What is the biggest investment the majority of people save up there whole lives for? - take a guess... before reading further.


Almost everyone you ask will say "a house".

And the reason people believe that is because they have been conditioned from a very young age. even though we don't live in America, we all seem to be buying into this American Dream. We want 3.5 children, with a 3 bedroom house, a lovely family, and maybe even a nice pet dog.

But its all B*llsh|t. The reason why most people will say a house is their best investment is because the past 2 or 3 generations, this has been the case. So they look at the past thinking life is great, but what they dont realize, whats to come is going to be hell. The reason house prices rose was because baby boomer's, grew older, got their first jobs, and saved up enough money to put a deposit on their first homes. So these houses cost around 10k, i kid you not. And now there worth over 100k, , now thats a great investment. but what happens when the baby boomers get older and start having kids, and a 9-5 job, they start saving for their retirements.

So the stock markets boom, and government bond markets boom and house prices boom because the majority of people that exist are baby boomers. whenever the baby boomers reacha certain part of their life, markets reflect that. Just watch how within the next few years, stock prices for retirement homes will be the "next big thing". heck maybe it will get so bad that a crematorium would start selling shares.

anyways. Jan 1st 2011 marks the official day that the first of the Baby Boomers start to retire and hit the age of 65. The economy is crumbling right now, just imagine a mass movement of baby boomers who are withdrawing there retirement funds just to live. all the bubbles that have been blown by the baby boomers, will all burst. The scariest aspect of it all, the biggest bubble of all, is the economy itself.

here are some reputable news sources:
The Telegraph
www(dot)telegraph(dot)co(dot)uk/finance/personalfinance/8250303/Typical-house-price-to-lose-a-quarter-of-its-value.html
"The typical value of a home in Britain will lose a quarter of its value by the end of this year, dropping to just £150,000, economists have warned."


Daily Mail
www(dot)dailymai(dot)co(dot)uk/property/article-1345760/MARKET-WATCH-Why-house-prices-heading-South-year.html
Why house prices are heading South this year

search for yourself...
www(dot)google(dot)co(dot)uk/#q=house+prices&hl=en&tbs=nws:1&ei=0FQrTaqHDsiAhAfAqoj2AQ&start=10&sa=N&fp=acdf426d122b1dae



BTW so sorry to hijack this thread.

liamcowan1

@mike88 - Could you elaborate on this please. I'm not 100% sure what a stock and shares ISA is and how it differs to a normal ISA.

@moose88 - Thanks for the heads up on the contact lense site, I'll definitely be checking that out and trying a pair. I totally agree about the phone. The deadline to end the contract has passed as far as I know. Car insurance will be covered when I start looking into it (in a month or so's time.)

On to investment, as you probably know, I have no idea about investment. I would like to know more about it and where I can find out lots more information about the different types there are. If you wouldn't mind, could you point me in the right direction so I can do some reading?

moose88_2

I suggest you read rich dad poor dad before you do any investing though. it can all be lost if you dont play by the rules. heck if you dont want to read the book, you can hear the audio book for free @
www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=-D6zaMsZF6E&feature=&p=1CD88F487BAC4CB4&index=0&pla ynext=1

moose88_2

whoops sorry double post.

Jake'sGran

liamcowan1 wrote: »

@mike88 - Could you elaborate on this please. I'm not 100% sure what a stock and shares ISA is and how it differs to a normal ISA.

On to investment, as you probably know, I have no idea about investment. I would like to know more about it and where I can find out lots more information about the different types there are. If you wouldn't mind, could you point me in the right direction so I ca.n do some reading?

Liam, it's me again. I first started investing in the early 80's. I made mistakes but it all came good in the end and it is true that the stock market is the place to be.

You can invest a monthly amount say £50 in some places or £100. You choose a fund and use a discount broker - the most popular to the people who post here is Hargreaves Lansdown because they give back the initial charge the fund company levy. It is given back in the form of extra units. In just a few cases they only return 4% of the 5% charge.
My first fund was Fidelity Special Situations. I paid £60 month and didn't know it was considered high risk. When I stopped the payments due to a downturn at home I asked them to keep the money invested. It was about £3600 and became around £50,000 in the 90s. It is now approx £42,500 since the market took a tumble.

I have continued buying funds (and shares) and it is the way to make money but you need to get a feel for it, do some homework.
I use a site called Trustnet where I keep my portfolio and where I can look up the best fund managers, the price of a fund and how well it has done over 1,3,5 years.

Last year I bought First State Asian Pacific Leaders and it has already gained a third.
A share I bought a couple of months ago (with info from this board) has doubled in price.

If you do start to invest in stocks and shares I hope you do well and be rich in retirement.

mike88

Liam. You asked about stocks and shares ISAs and for an explanation how they differ to what you call "normal" ISAs. This link here might help read to gether with the post from Jake'sGran above.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/ISA-guide-savings-without-tax#in

liamcowan1

Hi Jake'sGran, mike88 and moose88 thank you for your imminent replies.

moose88 - I'll get a copy of that within the next few days! You've mentioned it twice now so it must be a worthwhile read

mike88 - Thank you for the link, I'm definitely going to be checking that out on Thursday (my day off) I love the sound of the S&S ISA's. Where's the best companies to open them?

Jake'sGran - Oooh thank you for the information. I'm definitely interested in getting into investment and you sound like you know a thing or two . I'll check out the site you posted.

Are there any good books/e-books/websites where I can learn from scratch. Like knowing whether investment works best using one lump sum of money, or paying reasonable amounts monthly. Could you point me in the right direction please guys

cloud_dog

moose88 wrote: »

here are some reputable news sources:

Daily Mail
www(dot)dailymai(dot)co(dot)uk/property/article-1345760/MARKET-WATCH-Why-house-prices-heading-South-year.html
Why house prices are heading South this year

Moose, I'm sorry but you've lost all credibility. The Daily Wail as a credible source :rotfl::rotfl: