The Best way to invest 40K

Scarum

Have you any loans? If so pay these off.

Could you add value to your house (conservatory?)

Invest in your childs future, I think there is some kind of investment you can't touch but would fund your child through university.

pegginout

yeh my mum lost 22k on the stockmarket this week so my friend wants to avoid it like the plague!
She was advised to do it by a IFA too! She's gutted but knows its her own fault as stockmarket is a risky business.
You win some you lose some i guess.

jem16

pegginout wrote: »

yeh my mum lost 22k on the stockmarket this week so my friend wants to avoid it like the plague!
She was advised to do it by a IFA too! She's gutted but knows its her own fault as stockmarket is a risky business.
You win some you lose some i guess.

£22k out of how much? That could be a large drop or a very small one.

Brum_Man

pegginout wrote: »

yeh my mum lost 22k on the stockmarket this week so my friend wants to avoid it like the plague!
She was advised to do it by a IFA too! She's gutted but knows its her own fault as stockmarket is a risky business.
You win some you lose some i guess.

Has she sold any of the shares/funds that make up this £22k drop? If she hasn't then she hasn't actually lost anything, it's only been a paper loss which doesn't really mean a thing depending on her time scales for holding the stock.

The stockmarket can be risky but so can putting it in a savings account that is outstripped by inflation. There is more that one type of risk.

Ian_W

She was advised to do it by a IFA too!

Sorry if this sounds harsh pegginout, but that really is a very silly comment IMO.

An IFA doesn't have a crystal ball, if they did they wouldn't be IFAs - they'd be too rich to bother advising others and too busy counting their fortune!!
They will advise your mum based on her tolerance to risk which funds, market sectors etc she should invest in and s/he should have advised your mum that investments are for the longer term, 5yrs +, and that markets can move sharply up or down over shorter periods. Over the longer term though they have historically generally beaten cash deposits by a good margin.

Inveso Perpetual High Income is one of the UK's most popular investment funds but over the last 12 months performance lost 6%. Now why would folks invest £9billion in a fund that lost 6% over the year? Because this is the record over 5yrs - where it's returned over 130% [including last years loss] to its' investors. Now if you can find me a bank account that returns over 20% pa I'd be very interested indeed!

As Brum Man says your mum has only lost money if she sells now, if she remains invested for the longer term there is every likelihood she'll get much better returns than in a bank account. Though, of course, with investments nothing is guaranteed.

pegginout

jem16 wrote: »

£22k out of how much? That could be a large drop or a very small one.

My mum had invested a large sum which was compensation for my fathers death (he was killed in an industrial 'accident' but thats another story).
She is going to leave it in and hope it recoups the loss.

Sorry if i've made dumb comments but I'm normally on the Boots/Tesco thread, just popped over for a bit of financial wisdom as I have none!

Mikeyorks

pegginout wrote: »

.... just popped over for a bit of financial wisdom as I have none!

In which case (as I had spotted that .. by glancing at other of your posts ... and was tempted to say this at post #2;) ) ... with the greatest respect, you should not be offering advice to your friend? Even if you take information from this thread ... there's the risk of it being confused. By either or both of you.

Best friendly advice you can offer her, is to see an IFA. Not one tied to a Bank / BS ... but an independent.

pem2

Just a point in respect of the new NR 6.9 fixed bond that a few people have been recommending on this thread which is fine. I am also considering opening one, but although there are no penalties on withdrawals - NR do state that that applies only while the bond is open, so unless someone knows that it is going to be open indefinitely be cautious if you would need to make a withdrawal in the fixed 1year.

Mikeyorks

I've only really glanced at it .. but I didn't read that penalty free withdrawals are in any way restricted? Their website says :-

With the Fixed Rate Access Bond you have no-notice, charge-free access to your money and there are no limits to the number of withdrawals that can be made. The minimum withdrawal amount is £250.
All withdrawals will be processed by post only. If you wish to make a withdrawal for any amount from £250 upwards, simply write to our Savings Department.

....the only criteria I noticed that terminates when they decide the Bond is closed to further applications was the ability to add further funds to existing Bonds?

Hungerdunger

pegginout wrote: »

My mum had invested a large sum which was compensation for my fathers death (he was killed in an industrial 'accident' but thats another story).
She is going to leave it in and hope it recoups the loss, i've got my fingers crossed coz that could be my inheritance!

I do hope that the second part of that last sentence was a joke.