20K at 23 Y/O

tom188

I certainly would not suggest you keep gold at home. The transaction fees with actually giving you the gold also makes having it held somewhere secure more attractive.

sambessey

amcluesent wrote:

You may want to read "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" for an insight into trading, especially on shorting.

Gold is a defensive play, are you really convinced that the post-oil western economy is a crock? Sadly we must expect use of nuclear weapons within your lifetime and gold will be valued then!

I've been worried about the political position in China, Vietnam and India but you can't argue with the growth achieved. But will further oil-price shocks (a per-emptive strike on Iran's bomb factories?) burst the bubble short-term? The USA looks finished, destined for same decline in the next 100 years as the UK experienced in the last. (Just compare the UK's quality of live in 1900 with now!)

What are the opportunities around carbon-trading/offsetting, forestry, and alternative fuels? The VCs are pouring money in - could this be bigger than the .com boom?

Profits are made when you buy, not when you sell!

Funnily enough I have heard that trees and sustainable forestry are excellent areas to look at for future growth. I already have stock in a company that recycles solar wafers to make solar panels and have seen huge growth in my holding already.

amcluesent

>already have stock in a company that recycles solar wafers...<

Care to pump and dump or is it ReneSola?

sambessey

haha yeah it was ReneSola. Have been in for a while and intend to stay in as I want to see 1200p out of this one

Entertainer

At your age you are right you don't have to be too defensive if you are happy to lose the money in speculative investments. It's your money, it's up to you what you do with it. There are no hard and fast rules about allocation of assets as long as you are prepared to accept the risk of your chosen strategy. It looks like you have done well so far with your share picks, so there's no need to break a winning formula. You are right to have the shares in a self select ISA just in case they did really take off, you wouldn't have to deal with CGT and you would also be shielding more money from tax.

I am not keen at all on gold, for me it is far too defensive and you miss out on income. It just feels like a cop out.

I am not as pessimistic about property as you are in the U.K although affordability is your issue no doubt and buying to let is not very attractive right now.

If you wanted a more attractive option than the tracker but with greater safety than shares you could try investing in an investment trust to give you that exposure to the stockmarket without the requirement of constant monitoring.

roswell

Well not much i can add but will your compnay pay more into your pension if you pay more than 3% ?

sambessey

Roswell: No. I don't gain anything more from my company by upping my contributions.

Thanks for the advice. I will look at options for investment trusts.

Entertainer: I wouldn't call gold a cop out- the price has risen by almost 10% in the past month which isn't a bad return at all.

I think my main strategy will be to continue to look at foreign property markets- it offers diversification in my investment portfolio, and like most people are saying if I lose some of my savings on some speculative investments it will not be disasterous at my age; if I were 40 or had 2 kids and a mortgage it would be far too risky.

Entertainer

sambessey wrote:

Entertainer: I wouldn't call gold a cop out- the price has risen by almost 10% in the past month which isn't a bad return at all.

Remember you don't get any income though. Add in income and capital growth and compare it to the best mutual funds and gold has lagged well behind in the last 20 years.