I don't understand why people can't be bothered!

missbiggles1

bigfreddiel wrote: »

The number of people I talk to at work, old and young, who can't be bothered to just do some very simple investment or savings decisions always astounds me.

For example, many years ago I started a cash ISA, made me £90 tax free interest that year. So I saved myself £18 in tax. My mates all laughed at me. Said it was a waste of time!

Now some years later, learning along the way, I moved from cash ISA's to stocks and shares ISA's and it's producing £500/month, or £6,000/year. Tax saving £1,200. My mates aren't laughing now!

What is it that stops anyone even starting a modest investment portfolio?

With all the online tools and research sites it's easy to learn how to invest, so there is no excuse now is there?

I suppose a few excuses could be lack of money, no time, too busy doing other things, too hard to understand.

Just my observation.

Cheers fj

If you don't have any money left over after paying your living costs, as many people don't, then "lack of money" is a reason rather than an excuse.

Jonbvn

CLAPTON wrote: »

e.g. if one had a urgent need for money in 2003 or 2008/9 then one would perhaps take a more considered view.

Nobody said to put all your money into S&S. Money you may need in less than say 5 years should be in more liquid savings/investments.

History shows that over nearly every 10 year period a good portfolio of diversified stocks with dividends invested has outperformed bonds and savings accounts.

TBH, I am surprised by your attitude given your bullish views on property....:cool:

POPPYOSCAR

Archi_Bald wrote: »

As you have admitted it already, I can confirm that you don't know enough about it.

It's a crying shame that most people weren't taught in school what savings and investments, and their differences are, and why everybody should want to invest for their own future.

There are a lot off great books and websites about investing, and everyone should care about acquiring at least some basic understanding. Especially with the advent of workplace pensions, it seems pretty critical that people have some basic grasp of investments.

You are right.


Our daughter recently started work and we have been explaining tax, credit cards,mortgages, savings etc to her.


Much of this has come as a surprise to her and she has questioned why she was never taught any of this at school, and I agree.

joeblags

to be fair unless you learn how to invest then why would people want to? all they think is im not risking loosing all my money. But whats really quite lazy is how people cant be bothered to open a donor account or switch there own account for the free money banks are offering. As soon as my credit rating is that bit better next year ill be bank hopping at least another 4 banks that currently wont accept me.

Sam_J12

CLAPTON wrote: »

if you're comparing money earning dividends with money kept under the matress then please make it clear.

You claimed that many investments made in 2000 are still showing a loss, and you were asked to provide an example of a mainstream investment that has shown a loss since 2000. You gave the FTSE 100 as an example that clearly does not show a loss since 2000. Why on earth would you ignore dividends when it is one of the primary reasons people invest in stocks?

The only investments I can think of would be someone who invested heavily in a small number of companies that have done very poorly since 2000 (e.g. gone bust!) and you would have to have had a very undiversified portfolio to still be suffering a loss.

ChesterDog

Quite so, Sam.

Clapton, what you perceived as sarcasm in my graph post was actually incredulity. You dismissed out of hand the FTSE 100 as a loss-making instrument, when the reality is it churns out savings-beating income. Leaving the income invested (as you might be expected to leave the interest in a savings account to compound) leads - as shown - to very considerable gains.

Risk of capital loss? Short-term, yes. So investing should be longterm and not with too high a proportion of one's capital. Plus, for the benefit of potential newbie investors, the FTSE 100 is a lacklustre index (70% over 15 years from a so-so index...) and there are much better, more diversified ways to invest.

Glen_Clark

My uncle started with nothing and built up 7 butchers shops, he was very good at what he did. And yet his understanding of investments was incredibly little. I recall him saying to me you could invest £30k* at 10% interest and live on it indefinately. He was fortunate in selling the Butchers shops when there was still a market for them. But sadly he lost most of his money on shares like British Leyland when he retired. Which made my dad see buying shares to be the same as gambling.
*(to put £30k into perspective you could buy a 3 bed detached house with garage for £10k at that time)

Malthusian

CLAPTON wrote:

investing is easy : making a profit is less so

Actually it isn't. 1) Diversify 2) Don't borrow to invest 3) Don't panic. None of that is complicated, and if you find it hard there are plenty of people who can help you, either professionally or on forums like this one.

Incidentally, many mainstream technology funds are still showing a loss (including dividends) since 2000, which was obviously the height of the dot-com boom. But other investments in your portfolio would balance out those losses by a wide margin. Unless you were extremely clever and put all your money in dot-com funds because you knew that the boom was permanent, P/E ratios in three figures were sustainable and "this time is different".

ChesterDog

Choose well, diversify, leave it alone.

That's pretty easy, and there is lots of information and help available.

Fidelity recently found that the portfolios of their clients that performed best were those whose owners had died. So there was no tinkering.

There you go - it's so easy that even dead people can do it well.

Lokolo

I have thought about this a lot in recent weeks and there are a few things on my mind.

- I put 25% into my pension (and I am young-ish, on a very high salary)
- I have a mortgage which I OP by a little
- I have £10k in S&S, £8k in Cash and am saving £1k a month, in cash. No more going into S&S
- I spend a lot (live a little, but also high travel costs into London)

I have thought, oh cash is crap, I am getting decent interest from my current accounts. But the rest is sitting in a crappy Cash ISA earning pittance (apart from the nice £10 a month bonus).

BUT I know I want kids in the next few years, which means I will want savings so I can take time off work, plus I want a bigger house which means save short term.

So at this point I think, why would I want to invest my money? I am saving for the short term as my main priority. But I am getting pittance.

Many people my age still rent, and don't own property. They are madly saving (although most could save a lot more if they tried). Most think first things are a house. But by the time they've bought they want kids (early 30s). So at no point is there a time they think "Oh I am now settled, I can start investment for long term".

There's also some education. I actually work in the financial industry, so I know about this stuff anyway. It's rarely taught at schools, maybe a bit about equity and market cap in Business Studies A Level, but for the general person, there's no teachings about investing apart from what people see on the news, and I can't imagine the BBC saying "So the FTSE100 is up 0.7% today, if you had invested 15 years ago you would have X return".