Investment ideas needed as money in the bank is pointless

gadgetmind

haf63 wrote: »

I assume REIT will be more risky as its one company versus a spread in the trust

There are funds such as Blackrock Global Property Securites Equity Tracker, which tracks a huge basket of global REITs.

Here is a bit more info on the infrastructure trusts.

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/investing/2011/08/31/a-defensive-sector-for-turbulent-times.aspx

Ark_Welder

haf63 wrote: »

Thats a fairpoint and I'll have to look into REIT versus infrastructure investment trust. I assume REIT will be more risky as its one company versus a spread in the trust

Both REITs and infrastructure investment trusts are single companies, and both will hold several individual assets, either fully-owned or part-owned. Note that infrastructure trusts do not necessarily restrict themselves to ownership of buildings: toll roads, power stations and water companies, for example. Also, some might own the debt of a business rather than the business itself.

fizio

The initial conclusion i have come to since starting this thread (and also via the HL lifestrategy thread) is that I have a good balanced portfolio covering the key asset classes via pension/avc/isa/property.

I now want to use 2011 and future isa's for slightly more risky investments but still try to minimise risk and also minimise time/effort.

So the feedback todate is making me think i'd like to go with the investment trust/index tracking type vehicle as they are diverse and easy to manage. Plus I'd like to invest only via ISA if poss.

I'll start with some combination of property (poss REIT) and commodities (more work to do to pin down) and also look at gold.

I'm less sure about a few of the other suggestions like VCT/EIS/with-profits-bonds etc but will revisit later.

ps My timescale is 10 years hence I need to be move to mainly lower risk investments over time.

many thanks to all those who offered advise.

brasso

Wine might be worth a punt, but you need to know what you're doing.

There are still 'en primeur' offers open on red Bordeaux 2010. Recent investment in the top wines have seen huge rises in value.

The pros include:

• Growing wine consumption / investment in China = increased demand / value
• The supply reduces as the wine is consumed, driving up price
• You can always drink the stuff yourself if value drops!

Cons include:

• Nothing to guarantee continued price rises if global economy tanks further
• Investing in the right vintages and right producers is critically important
• To maintain value you have to store in certifiably correct conditions, which means paying cellar charges