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Yes two booked already..
Investment
- Thread starter pete01
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Guess I am somewhat opposite, have a few bob invested in shares which if it totally disappeared would not please me ( lost £5k when Debenhams went down the pan, cost of a cruise, mine not yours, grrr) but have enough in bog standard savings and pensions to carry on with life, just a smaller inheritance for the kids I guess. Value of portfolio has increased by16% over the last 12 months, 12months prior to Trump coming in it returned 27% so it just goes to show how things can change (its fun watching figures bounce around - NOT) . Would like to go a step further and trade like Justin but we all have a level of risk that we are prepared to go to, especially if you don't understand what you are doing. Interestingly an old works pension that I have not yet accessed has gone up by 22% in the last year so obviously they are better at investing than me although 20% or more will disappear in tax when I eventually draw on it. Whats that that they say about money makes the world go round.
No, gold is not an investment, it is a store of value.
If you have the good fortune ti buy when it is cheap and sell when it is dear, you will make a profit.
Or the reverse may happen.
Amateur investors have a tendency to buy things when they are popular, and expensive, abd sell them when they are unpopular, and cheap. This is just a feature of the evolved human brain.
It's also why the inexpert investor is often advised to put his money in something unadventurous, and not look at it for a year. Over that year there may have been peaks and troughs, which he has ridden through.
My pension funds ran along with little change for decades. They were not intended to be exciting.
But better to have than have not whether it be a little or a lot
Bugger, I have come to the wrong forum
So where should I put my son's 5k and 100 a month for 20 years, assuming I live that long 
That's a common, and quite interesting point.
The human brain has evolved to attach greater importance to a loss than to a gain. Perhaps it evolved that way to survive periodic famine.
Mathematically, a loss of £100 and a gain of £100 are of equal and opposite value.
But fear is stronger than greed.
If you keep you money in the bank, you are avoiding tbe risk of losing (let's say) £50, and you are also avoiding the risk of gaining (let's say) £100.
Mathematically, £100 is twice £50. But the human brain instinctively thinks the loss outweighs the gain.
This is another of the problems the amateur investor may struggle with.
On a different, but related, issue, money in the bank is pretty certain to be eroded by inflation, and lose its value, every year, maybe by 2%, maybe by 5%, maybe by 10%, maybe by 15%. These losses are cumulative, and you never get them back. Interest that you may gain is generally designed to be less than inflation, and it may even be taxable. On the other hand, if you invest in industry and commerce, there will be peaks and troughs, and what you lose in one year you may regain, and more, the following year.
Over 20 years, you can confidently predict that inflation will erode the value of cash holdings, and growth, plus retained earnings, will increase the value of asset-backed securities.So where should I put my son's 5k and 100 a month for 20 years, assuming I live that long
So what would you do?
What does bring you health and happiness? despite all the advice from doctors, fitness trainers etc from one who has had a life of playing rugby, football, squash, et al I have had major cancer surgery (I'll blame that on alcohol and red meat), heart attack, chronic kidney disease (what ever that is) and just developing arthritis in one of my knees so I reckon health is more down to genes and luck. Happiness is relative, who wants to spend all day in a garden looking for weeds , cutting the grass and hedges etc etc, or doing diy around the house or going out drinking, or walking or playing the stock markets, some people do so each to their own at the end of the day
Stock market in some shape or form, if it does good or bad you may not be here to see it so don't worry about it and your lad should be happy with any monies he gets as its free to himSo where should I put my son's 5k and 100 a month for 20 years, assuming I live that long
I’m happy with a little and not worrying whether it will disappear dependant on the state of the stock market. I don’t need a lot so I can do without the worry of chasing it.
Look at any of the gold charts. It has been rising for many years, like houses. But at the momement it has droped by $900 per oz, but i am sure it will go up again.
I am not you.
If I was not interested in investing, I would lob it into a tax free ISA, for as long as that option is available, with a few low-cost trackers. The annual limit is £20,000 and there is currently no limit on the maximum value your account is allowed to grow to. That might change. I might also pay into a low-cost Stakeholder Pension for him, also in low-cost trackers, where every £80 you put in turns into £100 by the magic of tax rebate.
If your son is not a taxpayer, he is only allowed to contribute £2880 a year to a pension, and get a tax rebate on it, to turn it into £3660, even if he has not paid any tax. This is a slightly odd concession to the low-paid, to encourage them to make provision for their old age out of their meagre earnings. Some low-paid people refuse to join pension schemes, rejecting the offer of free money from government and employers, because they want to spend every penny they have, I find this rather sad. I am now retired so have lost interest in the rules for pension contributions, so am unaware if any recent changes.
