straight talking shares

caelshorn

Hi,

I've tried to look at shares several times now, and every time it leaves my head spinning. I'm looking for some traightforward advice on where to put my money.
I saw this advice on split a few years ago on Oprah:
cash5.0%natural resources7.5%real estate7.5%corporate bonds10.0%government securities10.0%international securities15.0%stock in mutual funds45.0%

I currently have saved up 45k. 10k is in shares with the company I work for, a solid, steady performer in natural resources which is building up nicely through re-invested dividends. Another 10k is in cash ISA's. The rest is wasting away in rotten savings accounts and really needs to work harder.
I've tried to read about Investment Trusts, Funds, Corporate Bonds, blah blah blah, I'm afraid my brain can't hold that much information and certainly not process it. I would love to be able to "play" with the stock market, but I need somewhere for at least 15k for about ten years, possibly more. I'm happy to drip-feed, as long as I don't have to look at the laughable 0.1% "interest" any more. I'm happy to take a risk on some of the money (80/20).

I know there are some super-informed people out there and I would really appreciate your advice.

Many thanks!

Lokolo

Personally I wouldn't touch Oprah's 'advice' with a barge pole.

The different type of investments are assets.

In VERY basic terms you have; Cash, Bonds, Property, Equities and 'Natural Resources'

Cash is cash
Bonds are loans to governements (GILTS) or companies (Corporate Bonds).
Property - usually commercial
Equities - shares
Natural Resources - gold/silver/copper etc.

Different assets have different risks (there are a number of different types of risks).

You can invest in funds which reduce risk through diversification. Funds can invest in all sorts of different assets.

Lower risk type assets are Cash and Gilts. Then Bonds. Then property and equities. Then usually things like gold are classes as high risk.

CLAPTON

as the current time, bonds and gilts are very very very high risk unless you expect interest rates to fall

if you have no real interest in the subject I would suggest you invest in a middle of the road unit trust/EFT tracker (e.g. ft100 tracker)

Jegersmart

Lokolo wrote: »

Lower risk type assets are Cash and Gilts. Then Bonds. Then property and equities. Then usually things like gold are classes as high risk.

Risk is subjective, and perhaps more importantly a function of time. As Clapton has pointed out, I certainly don't see bonds or gilts as "low risk" at the current time either.

J

Jegersmart

CLAPTON wrote: »

if you have no real interest in the subject I would suggest you invest in a middle of the road unit trust/EFT tracker (e.g. ft100 tracker)

I wouldn't recommend a FTSE tracker personally, something relating to China would be my preference although DYOR

J

Glen_Clark

Recent events have shown how futile it is to try and guess the market. The banks should have gone bust, property prices and shares collapsed, and interest rates increased. But the Bank Of England money printing has turned all that upside down. So now you not only have to call the market correctly, you have to guess what the politicians are going to do to distort it. Unless you have inside information, (like the Bank Of England shifting its pension fund into index linked bonds before cranking up the printing presses and destroying ours) the best you can do is spread your eggs around a lot of baskets and hope for the best.

lvader

Governments and central banks not letting banks go bust is unpredictable? :rotfl:

BLB53

Personally, I would spread your 15K between several investment trusts - say £3K in each.

Do some research on www.trustnet.com for past performance etc. Ones that have done well for me are City of London, Murray Income, Aberforth Smaller, Temple Bar, Murray International, Law Debenture, Henderson Far East. Personal Assets is another solid performer.

I think if you drip feed your money in over the next few months would be a good idea as prices may fall back in the new year after a good run recently.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised in ten years time, especially if dividends are reinvested to turbo-charge your returns.

Good luck.

bigfreddiel

BLB53 wrote: »

Personally, I would spread your 15K between several investment trusts - say £3K in each.

most its are trading at a premium - if you're happy with that go for it,

my preference would be a vanguard lifestrategy fund

caelshorn

Thanks everyone! Especially BLB, that's specific advice I can act on. It's not that I'm not interested, I just have to be realistic. I don't have the headspace to give it the attention it needs (just like my PPI claim). Been meaning to deal with this for two years. I intend to get this nailed down by end of January. If anyone else has two pennies to add I welcome your views. Spreading the risk was always my intention. I've heard good things about Jupiter, Aberdeen and baillie Gifford as well as the fidelity money builder uk index. I haven't researched them yet, so I don't yet know the difference or if they're any good. I intend to ask my bank (smile) to set up the ... opening? acquisition? Just for ease, and because my halifax share dealing account charges a lot and doesn't deal with funds as far as I can tell.

Glen_Clark

lvader wrote: »

Governments and central banks not letting banks go bust is unpredictable? :rotfl:

Lots of Governments have. One might not have expected a Government that prided itself on free market capitalism to turn socialist when it comes to subsidising the bust banks.