"If I knew then what I know now" what would you invest in?

N6xxy

Title pretty much sums it up. I'd be really interested to know what people would invest in today if they knew then what they know now. I am sure i'll get a lot of Apple, Bitcoin etc answers but would you invest in something other than property etc?

I see so may posts from very intelligent people (dragons etc) saying that we should all invest but in all honesty I can't get my head around everything I have read in terms of investing, it just doesn't seem to want to convert in my brain and I wouldn't know where to start and how little is too little.

Thank you for any input

eskbanker

N6xxy said:

Title pretty much sums it up. I'd be really interested to know what people would invest in today if they knew then what they know now. I am sure i'll get a lot of Apple, Bitcoin etc answers but would you invest in something other than property etc?

I see so may posts from very intelligent people (dragons etc) saying that we should all invest but in all honesty I can't get my head around everything I have read in terms of investing, it just doesn't seem to want to convert in my brain and I wouldn't know where to start and how little is too little.

Thank you for any input

It's not a direct answer to your question, but IMHO it's really important to understand that you can't realistically expect to invest on the basis of picking the winners, however easy it is to spot them with hindsight!  

Far better to take a more structured approach and to identify your objectives, timescales, risk tolerance, etc, and then to devise a strategy to accommodate all of these, along with your wider financial circumstances - investing for most is a fairly mundane activity, despite what Hollywood would have you believe....

BargainJunky

My dad who died in 1987 at the age of 50 always wanted to buy Krugerrands - I think he was right.  Sadly never took his advice - wish I had.

N6xxy

Thank you, yes that is the impression I get that you're not really investing...you're gambling on whatever you are putting money into going up in value one day and selling/walking away at the right time and at the highest value. On that premise it is also much 'safer' for someone who already has a nice wedge of money to invest.

N6xxy

I hadn't heard of Krugerrands before, are they the equivalent of buying gold bars?

I wonder whether over paying the mortgage is a good move but then with the interests rates going up and down, it could be a moot point...also do you look back after paying it off and think that's great but we should have used that money to have the experiences we are now too old to fully take advantage of. Oh to have a crystal ball!

friolento

I’d do global trackers all over again.

LHW99

I wouldn't have ever "invested"in a with profits fund.

In the days when getting any information on pension and other funds was very difficult unless you were wealthy enough to have a stockbroker, with profits were (and still are ) extremely difficult to understand, even with the information that was provided when they were taken out.

eskbanker

N6xxy said:

Thank you, yes that is the impression I get that you're not really investing...you're gambling on whatever you are putting money into going up in value one day and selling/walking away at the right time and at the highest value.

Not quite sure what you're meaning with the bolded wording, but my point is effectively the opposite, i.e. that trying to identify specific individual companies that'll do well is much more akin to gambling, whereas playing the odds and investing in well-diversified portfolios, typically via collective investments such as funds, isn't really gambling, in that over enough time you're practically guaranteed to come out ahead.

N6xxy

I don't know why it went bold, It wasn't like that on my screen... oooh I see so investing in companies that have consistently done well over the years? So buying shares in well established companies etc?

InvesterJones

N6xxy said:

Title pretty much sums it up. I'd be really interested to know what people would invest in today if they knew then what they know now. I am sure i'll get a lot of Apple, Bitcoin etc answers but would you invest in something other than property etc?

I see so may posts from very intelligent people (dragons etc) saying that we should all invest but in all honesty I can't get my head around everything I have read in terms of investing, it just doesn't seem to want to convert in my brain and I wouldn't know where to start and how little is too little.

Thank you for any input

If I could go back in time I'd tell my younger self to invest in a single, global tracker on a platform with low costs. I've done alright, but probably would have done better if I'd known.

eskbanker

N6xxy said:

I don't know why it went bold, It wasn't like that on my screen... oooh I see so investing in companies that have consistently done well over the years? So buying shares in well established companies etc?

I bolded the wording for emphasis!

Like others replying on the thread, I see the benefits of passive investing in global trackers or multi-asset funds, instead of trying to pick individual "companies that have consistently done well over the years" or "well established companies".