Best safe investments

peter58homepw

Is it safe to invest at this uncertain
Time?martin
Regards
PeterB90/UK

ColdIron

Is it ever safe to invest in uncertain times? Nothing is without risk. If you want the safety of not seeing your capital reduce in £ terms stick to savings and accept the inflationary risk

EdGasketTheSecond

Exactly. National Savings but don't forget you may suffer devaluation of wealth from inflation.

kuratowski

When I google "best safe investments" the top results all look like scammers (such as the one promising 20% returns, no matter what happens in the markets).

I agree with ColdIron, investing means taking risk.  You can choose how much risk to take, but there's always some risk.  If you want to play safe and don't take any risk, you keep your money in savings (not investments) but over time you will lose purchasing power due to inflation.

maximoose94

If you're asking on a forum if now is a good time to invest then you probably don't have an appetite for risk. 

How would you feel if you invested £20k+ and saw that investment go down 50% in a year? If the answer is negative then stick to savings. They're guaranteed. They're safe. 👍🏼

BananaRepublic

The really odd thing is that when the market is booming, and overvalued compared to the historical norm, many people leap in and buy shed loads of stocks, no doubt encouraged by the popular press. Then when it crashes, and the market is undervalued, these same people don’t buy. In fact some of them even sell their investments. So, is it safe to buy now? Well it’s safer than it was three months ago!

Investing in the stock market has an element of risk which is reduced by spreading investments over multiple shares and markets, and by the passage of time. The markets may well go down further, but in the long term historical precedent suggests that it will be much higher than it is now in 5-10 years time. So if you can afford to leave your money invested for 5-10 years, you should do well. In my opinion now is a very good time to invest, but that doesn’t mean that the market won’t go down even more. You need a somewhat detached mentality for this lark. 

Linton

The safety of anything you do with your money depends on your definition of safety and your timescale.  For example

Cash under your bed is "safe" except from burglars but if you had put £10K under your bed 20 years ago it would now have the buying power of £5700.  Is that safe?  On the other hand if you had put that £10000 in a broad range of shares it could now have the buying power of more than £15000 despite 3 major falls of 30% or more in the meantime. Which is safer?

However if we look at a period of 6 months your cash under the bed would be worth about £9900 and your shares £8800.

dunstonh

Is it safe to invest at this uncertain Time?martin

Martin hasn't posted on this site since he sold it.  

All times are uncertain.  This is no different.

It is not as if this is an unusual event in respect of the markets.   Markets do this every now and then.  The reasons vary each time but it is routine.  Indeed, the recent drop is only the third-largest in the last 20 years.   So, if you invest, you have to expect this sort of thing.   

However, that is about investment risk.   There are other risks, as mentioned by others above.    Your post doesn't give much indication of what type of investments you are considering.  So, its difficult to comment more until you let us know.

Albermarle

Then when it crashes, and the market is undervalued, these same people don’t buy.

If the market was 'undervalued' do you not think that all those clever people in the City would be buying up shares until it was not undervalued anymore? By definition the market value is correct at any moment in time .

Thrugelmir

Albermarle said:

Then when it crashes, and the market is undervalued, these same people don’t buy.

If the market was 'undervalued' do you not think that all those clever people in the City would be buying up shares until it was not undervalued anymore? By definition the market value is correct at any moment in time .

The City makes it's money from encouraging others to invest. While holding a different view itself. 

Linton

Thrugelmir said:

Albermarle said:

Then when it crashes, and the market is undervalued, these same people don’t buy.

If the market was 'undervalued' do you not think that all those clever people in the City would be buying up shares until it was not undervalued anymore? By definition the market value is correct at any moment in time .

The City makes it's money from encouraging others to invest. While holding a different view itself. 

How does it do that when collectively its activities must be a much larger influence on the markets than those of all the small investors who deal in shares?