Want to invest my savings to make more money!

andrewthomas2008

Hi Everyone,:beer:

My names Andrew, I have a dilemma on my hands, I currently have roughly £40,000 in savings to spare. Spread between ISA's, Regular savings accounts, an easy access account.

Every year I usually invest my total ISA allowance and try to put money into my easy access account every month and drip feed from the easy access into my regular saver accounts.
But with the interest rates on savings accounts so low and the fact that inflation is eating away at the value of my money. I want to try something new.

I also use TCB when shopping online, any vouchers I can find, sometimes bring my own pack lunch to work.

To honest I'm tired of seeing the measly returns on my money from these accounts.

I've got a few ideas at the moment:

1. Looking at investing in Stocks and Shares.
I lost a bit of money a few years back when I invested in ISA stocks and shares, I invested about £4000 and lost my nerve after a few years when their value went down to roughly £2600, eventually sold them off for £3500, so obviously I'm a bit wary).

2. Investing in property.
I have never bought a property, but I have done some research by speaking to friends who have purchased, reading the MSE pdf guide and various web searches.
The only problem is I live in South London and as I'm sure everyone knows London as a whole is very expensive.
I don't want to buy outside of London, as I'd like to be more hands on.

3. Lease Option
I have been reading a manual on the principles of Lease Options, which is supposed to be very popular in America, but seems to have had some bad press in the UK.

I was watching a documentary about the real estate in America being a lucrative business, would it be easy to replicate in the UK?

Would appreciate if anyone can give any advice or add any ideas to the list. Ideally I'd like to double my money in a few years without including additional savings from my job or am I being totally unrealistic.

Any comments either positive or negative are welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!

So don't hold back :rotfl:

jimjames

Can I ask why you sold out your investments before at a loss?

It certainly is possible to double your money - however the easier time to do it would have been in 2009 when the market was at a low point - possibly the time you sold out.

If you were uncomfortable with seeing your pot worth less than you invested before, do you think you would feel the same again? If so putting money into investments may not be the best option and any of the options you have mentioned would have the same problem.

andrewthomas2008

To be honest at the time I invested the £4000 into the stocks and shares ISA, I took advice from one Halifax's financial advisor in one of their financial assessment plans.

She told me I would be likely to get 12% returns on my money, but that was around 2007. I think it was invested in things like FTSE 100, UK Equity Bonds, if I remember correctly.

I withdrew the money thinking the market was crashing so it was better for me to cash out at a loss and reinvest when the market is hits another low, because at that time I admit I had hardly any knowledge about whether the markets were doing well or not, I just invested blindly on the advice from the Halifax advisor. When I should have realised that she just wanted my funds to be invested.
She was trying to get me to take up every product under the sun, although I can't blame her for that as it's her job.

So the experience of not knowing much at the time made me jumpy.


But it was partly my fault as I should have done my research before saying "Yes" to her.

But now I feel more comfortable as I know I have to do a lot more research and have greater understanding when making these types of decisions

bigfreddiel

andrewthomas2008 wrote: »

To be honest at the time I invested the £4000 into the stocks and shares ISA, I took advice from one Halifax's financial advisor in one of their financial assessment plans.

well what have i been saying :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

not helping i know - but beware ANY fa - they live up to their initials - they an only damage your wealth

see ya!

fj

atush

Ignore bigfredi and his idiocy.

He doesn't understand the difference between IFAs, FAs, Banks, stock brokers and maybe loads of other things.

You are basically a poor investor in that you let your emotions and possible greed influence your decisions. as shown buy you buying at the top of the market, selling at a loss then not knowing when to get back in. In all likelyhood, you would be quids in had you stayed invested- even better if you were a drip feeder.

So here is my advice, for you ambitious yet scaredy cat types.

Don't make lump sum investments, don't try to time the market. Just drip feed in, and you will eliminate a lot of the volatility and increase your profitability in these volatile markets.

Google Pound Cost Averaging

MoneySaverLog

atush wrote: »

Don't make lump sum investments, don't try to time the market. Just drip feed in, and you will eliminate a lot of the volatility and increase your profitability in these volatile markets.

Google Pound Cost Averaging

Also worth googling Value Averaging too, that would appear to be even smarter.

atush

Indeed and something I do.

But let us not put the cart before the horse here ;-)

andrewthomas2008

atush wrote: »

Ignore bigfredi and his idiocy.

He doesn't understand the difference between IFAs, FAs, Banks, stock brokers and maybe loads of other things.

You are basically a poor investor in that you let your emotions and possible greed influence your decisions. as shown buy you buying at the top of the market, selling at a loss then not knowing when to get back in. In all likelyhood, you would be quids in had you stayed invested- even better if you were a drip feeder.

So here is my advice, for you ambitious yet scaredy cat types.

Don't make lump sum investments, don't try to time the market. Just drip feed in, and you will eliminate a lot of the volatility and increase your profitability in these volatile markets.

Google Pound Cost Averaging

Thanks for the advice.

Would you suggest using the money invested already in cash ISA's and converting some of it on a monthly basis into ISA Stock and Shares? or using cash I have saved elsewhere?

atush

Either, but you do need some cash reserves for emergencies, even if the interest they get is silly low.

So if you are single, at least 3 months spending in cash. Towards 6 months if married, dependents, self employed.

I'd be inclined to drip new money in, and leave your cash ISAs for the above emergency fund.

And should you get the impulse to put in a LS again, wait until the markets are falling and everyone else is bailing out like you did Then buy a good quality income paying share/fund/trust at a good value price.

LannieDuck

If you do decide to have another look at S&S, I would suggest taking a look at the vanguard thread.

andrewthomas2008

atush wrote: »

Either, but you do need some cash reserves for emergencies, even if the interest they get is silly low.

So if you are single, at least 3 months spending in cash. Towards 6 months if m
arried, dependents, self employed.

I'd be inclined to drip new money in, and leave your cash ISAs for the above emergency fund.

And should you get the impulse to put in a LS again, wait until the markets are falling and everyone else is bailing out like you did Then buy a good quality income paying share/fund/trust at a good value price.

Cheers, what would you say is the best sources to identify when markets are really low? (How do you know when everyone is bailing out) or is it as simple as looking at when how fall the share prices have fallen?

Also I've got an example, when Halifax was a building society my parents opened up an account when I was a baby, so when they changed their status into a bank I was even shares, which were once worth over £1000 at their peak and I was getting dividends. But since the financial crisis the same shares are worth under £100, which are HBOS shares since the takeover by Lloyds.

So would HBOS be a good idea to invest in? Since they have been very low for years now.

I've been reading the things like the telegraphs stocks and shares tips section or is this type of information too general, because I read somewhere that once information on a company is published then you've usually missed the opportunity to gain greatly from your investment.

I also read that it's good to monitor the past management record of a company who is about to take over another company as a good indicator of how likely they are to make the newly acquired company more of a success.

Thanks

N.B. I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but everyone's advice is very much appreciated!