6 year plan, traditional investments too slow?

Thrugelmir

whatstheplan said:

csgohan4 said:

I would rather put spare money in investments which I know on the whole will mean i will end up more than I originally put in, such as index tracker. Depending on your Risk appetite, more risky equities, or if your feeling brave, individual stocks.  

In a way, joining this forum maybe wasn't a good idea from my perspective.  I joined to ask about a crypto plan however I find myself today browsing stuff online about various (more traditional) investment routes and I feel myself getting more and more interested! 

There's a whole universe to be explored once you start drilling down deeper. 

MaxiRobriguez

whatstheplan said:

csgohan4 said:

I would rather put spare money in investments which I know on the whole will mean i will end up more than I originally put in, such as index tracker. Depending on your Risk appetite, more risky equities, or if your feeling brave, individual stocks.  

In a way, joining this forum maybe wasn't a good idea from my perspective.  I joined to ask about a crypto plan however I find myself today browsing stuff online about various (more traditional) investment routes and I feel myself getting more and more interested! 

Wise.

Just because you want to retire in <10 years doesn't mean your investment horizon is <10 years. You have to make your money work for another 40 years from where you are now. Crypto may do well for you, equally so it might leave you with a gaping hole to fund the rest of your retirement.

The other thing not touched upon so far in this thread is that you could access a SIPP within 7 years, and pushing money into a SIPP will result in an immediate 20% gain (40% if you're a higher rate tax-payer, which maybe you are with 3x BTLs) by way of ability to avoid the tax. That's a benefit Crypto doesn't have and puts you 1/5th of the way to doubling your money straight away.

Aceace

MaxiRobriguez said:

whatstheplan said:

csgohan4 said:

I would rather put spare money in investments which I know on the whole will mean i will end up more than I originally put in, such as index tracker. Depending on your Risk appetite, more risky equities, or if your feeling brave, individual stocks.  

In a way, joining this forum maybe wasn't a good idea from my perspective.  I joined to ask about a crypto plan however I find myself today browsing stuff online about various (more traditional) investment routes and I feel myself getting more and more interested! 

Wise.

Just because you want to retire in <10 years doesn't mean your investment horizon is <10 years. You have to make your money work for another 40 years from where you are now. Crypto may do well for you, equally so it might leave you with a gaping hole to fund the rest of your retirement.

The other thing not touched upon so far in this thread is that you could access a SIPP within 7 years, and pushing money into a SIPP will result in an immediate 20% gain (40% if you're a higher rate tax-payer, which maybe you are with 3x BTLs) by way of ability to avoid the tax. That's a benefit Crypto doesn't have and puts you 1/5th of the way to doubling your money straight away.

Is actually a 25% gain for a BR tax payer, I.e. £80 investment is boosted to £100, a 25% gain. Similarly, its a 66.7% gain for a HR tax player. 

Albermarle

The other thing not touched upon so far in this thread is that you could access a SIPP within 7 years, 

I have mentioned a couple of times that the OP should pay more attention to their workplace pension, and I think they are getting the message ,

whatstheplan

Albermarle said:

The other thing not touched upon so far in this thread is that you could access a SIPP within 7 years, 

I have mentioned a couple of times that the OP should pay more attention to their workplace pension, and I think they are getting the message ,

As is usual in my life, I always think about acting on things at least a decade AFTER I should have #StoryOfMyLife

Sebo027

Thrugelmir said: 

In the longer term the money is the commercialisation of the technology i.e. blockchain. 

At the moment - with respect to bitcoin - does that mean mining and providing processing power for transactions? 

Sebo027

whatstheplan said:

Hi
New here, would be interested in your thoughts on the following.  Before I start, some background info on me:

49 years old.
Full time (relatively secure) employment, work place pension.
3 x BTLs (mortgaged), 1 x residential mortgage, no other investments.

My own mortgage will be paid when I hit 62.  The plan is to retire then, consolidate the BTLs keeping 1 (with mortgage paid off) to boost my pension.  If it transpires the numbers don't quite work at that stage, the backup plan would be to keep on working to 65 max then call it a day.  I'm quite frugal though so hopefully 62 is achievable even though it'll mean less of a pension lump sum and lower amount received monthly.  And if it still exists I'll get my state pension come 67 to boost things a bit more.

However, I'd like to explore one or two avenues that might make it possible for me to retire even earlier, whether that's 61, 60, 59 or possibly even younger.  In short, yes perhaps it's a mid-life crisis, I want to escape the proverbial rat race as soon as I possibly can.

Rightly or wrongly (and if you think I'm wrong feel free to say so!) my take on traditional investments e.g. stocks and shares, is that whilst they can pay dividends in the longer term, to see any potential significant growth in your investment you need to play a longer game than I want to e.g. 10+ years.  As touched on above, at this stage in my life, I'm not interested in starting an investment portfolio that might prove fruitful when I hit 65+.  I'll get by on the above plan money wise.  I might have looked at this differently if I was 39 as oppose to 49, however I am where I am.

This is where some of you will roll your eyes and think 'oh no, another one!' however I've been looking at crypto, specifically Ethereum.  I'm toying with a dollar cost averaging investment approach of £250 monthly until 2025, possibly increasing this if the value of Ethereum continues to rise.  Although much of crypto is crystal ball stuff, analysts predict Ethereum could be worth £6.5k - £50k come 2025.  Although a different product than the likes of Bitcoin, I think it's perfectly reasonable to assume somewhere between those figures could be achieved.  Equally it could be worthless, I take that as a given.  Although hindsight/past performance is no indication of future performance, who would have predicted 50x growth for Bitcoin since 2017 and 90x for Ethereum.  I don't think many expect that sort of growth to continue, I don't, however I do think crypto is here to stay.

The informed chance/gamble I'm taking is this approach has the potential to buy me another few years of retiring earlier than 62, whereas a traditional approach e.g. stocks and shares is unlikely to offer that level of payout within what is a relatively short timescale when looking at investments.

Based on where I am in life and what I'd like to achieve, is my approach valid in your eyes or complete and utter lunacy?  If the latter, why?

If you've read to this stage, many thanks in advance for your time

How much work are you willing to put into turning a positive return in 5-10 years? This guy's videos are pretty interesting on value investing:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrTTBSUr0zhPU56UQljag5A
But it will require alot more time and effort than making your regular contributions and hoping the crypto prophecy will come true.