Amyma Investments 8 May 2018 at 4:06PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Savings & Investments 11 replies 3.5K views

Dan.h1131

Hi I'm new to investing and have savings for £70k and not too sure what to do with it.
Any advice would be appreciated, however I have stumbled across a few websites but my have concerns never hearing of these investors before. I had an inquiry from 'the bond exchange' the other day which I had my doubts with and now I've had an email from Amyma Investments. They emailed me advertising projects returns at 500-800% and high interest rates at 6-12% and they've advertised that their clients are under the rules of the FCA. They say I can invest from as little as 1,000 up to more than I'm willing to risk, so I would start low.
It all just sounds too good to be true when the known investment companies out their advertise much less returns. Also they have a feedback page on Feefo which is mostly positive.

Is it best to stay clear from these and stick to the known investors or are these actually legit and safe to invest with Obviously nothings guaranteed, even with the known investors, but I don't want to be scammed.

El_Torro

You're right to be wary, you're better off with more conventional forms of investments initially. I've never heard of Amyma Investments but based on what you say I wouldn't go near them.


Do you have between 3 and 6 months expenses saved as an emergency fund? Best place for this money is in savings (rather than investments). So in savings accounts, current accounts, or even some in Premium Bonds if you like that sort of thing. Anywhere that is instant access and your capital is not at risk. That way you can use the money whenever you need to (hence the name "emergency fund").


Do you have any expensive debt that you can write off with this money? e.g. credit card debt. Mortgage debt is much less of a concern.


Do you have a pension with your employer? Are you already contributing enough in to get the maximum contribution from your employer? If you are a high rate tax payer and / or you are contributing by salary sacrifice then you may want to put even more in.


Once all these are checked off then whatever money is left can be invested, assuming you won't need access to the money for at least 5 years, preferably 10 years or more.


In your position I would read up on stocks and shares investing and start conservatively. You'll want to invest this money in a tax efficient way (i.e. put what you can in an ISA, adding more to the ISA in future years. Perhaps even a SIPP if you are happy with the restrictions on when you can access your money), in a low cost platform. Probably best to start with a multi asset global fund and go from there once you learn more about investing.


An IFA can help with investing decisions, though with the amount you have it's probably not economical (for you or the IFA) to get one. Another reason to start conservatively and work your way up from there.

eskbanker

As ever, if it looks too good to be true, then there's a reason for that, but to be fair, they do tell you all you need to know if you look beyond the seductive numbers:

https://amyma.co.uk/eligibility-to-invest/:

There are three main categories that investors will be one or more than which are:

High Net Worth Individual (this is typically when a person earns £100,000 or more per annum or has £250,000 or more in assets not including the equity in their home)

Self-Certified Sophisticated investor (this is typically when a person has invested in two or more unlisted bonds or stocks in the past year as well as other factors)

Restricted Investor (this is when you are neither of the above. Your are restricted to investing a maximum of 10% of your net worth, not including the equity in your home)

https://amyma.co.uk/faqs/:

Is Amyma FCA regulated?

No. Amyma is not authorised or regulated by the FCA.

Dan.h1131

Seems I must've read between the lines. I see in small print about them being regulated by the FCA but maybe I misread.

In regards to what El Torro said. Yeah Maybe I'll look in to stocks and shares. I have no debts, and have just a lot of savings over the years. I'm not a high tax payer. I earn about 30k a year with overtime. Last year was more as I really put the hours in, and took nearly 40k.
I have looked in to spreading my money in to different savings accounts and ISA's and is probably the best thing for me to do right now and maybe tread gently in to stocks and shares, as that is all new to me.

ColdIron

eskbanker wrote: »

but to be fair, they do tell you all you need to know if you look beyond the seductive numbers:

Too true

• The information within this site is unsuitable for any other party who should exit this website immediately

dunstonh

they've advertised that their clients are under the rules of the FCA.

According to the FCA register, there is no firm called Amyma Investments on it and the Amyma website confirms they are not regulated by the FCA.

So, if you have an email saying they are then I suggest you send a copy of it to the FCA suggesting that to them that this firm are acting unlawfully.

They say I can invest from as little as 1,000 up to more than I'm willing to risk, so I would start low.

You are willing to take on 100% loss of capital with no FSCS protection? Why not use conventional investments then?

Also they have a feedback page on Feefo which is mostly positive.

And no-one in their right minds considers something like that important as we all know how review systems can be manipulated. I thought I would take a look at feefo and can see some of the daftest reviews going.

All this is not to say what they are doing is wrong. What they offer is genuine. However, it is the sort of thing that is not aimed at retail consumers and should not be marketed to retail consumers. They are not retail investments.

bostonerimus

Never, never, never reply to an email, or phone message about investing that is unsolicited.
Don't invest until you have a bit of knowledge about the subject. Understand what you want to achieve and how you will go about it and then sign up with a well respected platform and implement your plan.

Malthusian

Dan.h1131 wrote: »

They say I can invest from as little as 1,000 up to more than I'm willing to risk, so I would start low.

It is extremely likely that if you started low and invested £1,000 in the way you are thinking, you would lose every penny of your £70,000.

Here's how. First your "low start" money delivers terrific returns. So you invest the rest of your £70,000, while kicking yourself that you didn't invest it all from the start. Then the investments go bust, and you lose all your money.

To quote Warren Buffett*, if you wouldn't invest a million-pound inheritance in it, don't even think of investing a penny.

*Actually I just made that up, but it sounds like a Buffetism, and your opinions carry more weight if you attribute them to famous people.

Dan.h1131

Lol, Yeah I'm going to stay clear.. was just checking I'm not missing out on something here. I had doubts about it as you would hear more about people investing in to bonds and investments like this.

AnotherJoe

Qudos for asking here, but minus 1 zillion points for even imagining this is something you should look at.
Unsolicited email, outlandish claims for returns if 800%, talk of interest rates when it clearly isn't interest, (is that your confusion or theirs?) and your confusing NOT being FCA regulated with being regulated, which is somewhat of a slip up to say the least.

Note that you are likely on a suckers list now so just delete any other such emails or phone calls without wasting time trying to determine if they are genuine. They aren't.

Malthusian

AnotherJoe wrote: »

talk of interest rates when it clearly isn't interest, (is that your confusion or theirs?)

Yours . Interest from an ultra-high-risk corporate loan note is still interest in conventional terminology.

The con in these investments is in allowing you to believe that they are deposits rather than loan notes, but the yield from both FSCS-protected deposits and capital-at-risk loan notes is "interest".