Growth of money without high risks

JanetteC

I often read very interesting and helpful posts on this website's forum and so I thought it worthwhile to see if anyone had suggestions as to how I can best make use of the proceeds of a property I am about to complete on.
I won't be buying another property for at least a year and would like to find ways, without high risks, to build on this money.
I see that gold has dropped in price since last year, would some money invested in this be a good idea for the next year or two?
Would buying a currency like the US Dollar be worthwhile, again for the next year or two.
I don't mind a fixed investment of some of the money for a year but don't know which type of investment to look into, other than a deposit account.
Any help would be appreciated.

marathonic

JanetteC wrote: »

I don't mind a fixed investment of some of the money for a year but don't know which type of investment to look into, other than a deposit account.

A deposit account is the only place you should be looking if you envisage needing access to the money in a year. Your thoughts on gold and US dollars should be quickly ruled out if you're not after high risk.

gadgetmind

I totally agree. Both precious metals and currency can be very volatile, with no-one able to predict their direction over such a short term.

Spread your money around to make best use of the £85k guarantee, and just accept you'll be looking at sub inflation return.

somethingcorporate

The two options you have listed are ultra high risk!

Pop it in a savings account but do not expect a reasonable return.

atush

There is no way to grow money in a year's time w/o risk. And the two you picked are more risky than many others.

Even if you "Pop it in a Savings acct" you will risk that your money will be worth less in a year's time than now, as the rate you get for it will in all likelyhood not even match inflation much less beat it.

The only other alternative (risky but maybe not as much are your original proposition, is to invest half of it in collective investments. But of course, these could fall int he next year and not rise.

Which ever way you slice it, your money will face risk.

Shaolin_Monkey

Surely the volatility in gold prices in the last few weeks (it dropped well over 10% over a couple of days) would have suggested this can be risky? If you have a strong view on the future direction of the dollar exchange rate or the price of gold, and you want to speculate with money that you can afford to lose a percentage of over the next couple of years then that's fine. But it's not low risk and it's unlikely to be sensible to do this with money you can't afford to lose.

kidmugsy

I'm currently a fan of gold, but not as a place to park money for a year.

Buying some USD might make sense if, for instance, you are planning a holiday there in the foreseeable future. But otherwise the cautious advice would be to keep your cash in the currency of your foreseeable liabilities e.g. your next property purchase i.e. sterling, euros, or whatever.

JanetteC

Many thanks to all those who replied to my post. All replies have been helpful, and especially the confirmation that a year is obviously too short a time to invest in commodities without the high risk.
A savings account for some of the money for a fixed period is probably a solution, and I will research further how long I would realistically need to lessen the risks, if I were to invest money that I don't need for the coming years, elsewhere - like commodities.
Thanks again!

atush

Boy you sure have a beady eye on commodities, and seem bound and determined.

I say they are not w/o a large amt of risk.