Saving / Investment advice

Spammeh · 27 Dec 2008 at 02:04

I have about £1000 that I would like to save me as much as possible and I'm also willing to invest around £200 of my monthly earnings a month too. At the moment, the grand is sat in a savings account which earns the following:

AER % Gross % Net %
2.75 2.75 2.20

As far as I understand, that's **** poor, and I want to make as much money as I can as I would like a deposit for a house in a few years. Is anyone able to give me a little unpartial advise?

Cheers all

suarve · 27 Dec 2008 at 02:13

ISA, HSBC Internet Saver (6.25 AER iirc)????

gareth.e · 27 Dec 2008 at 02:21

It's not really worth getting a **** poor return rate.. I'd rather risk (atleast half of) it in shares.. (that is if you have a clue)

gareth.e · 27 Dec 2008 at 02:24

suarve said:
ISA, HSBC Internet Saver (6.25 AER iirc)????

afaik they will be a lot less than that..

Natwest screwed up re-investing one of my e-bonds then the rate went waay down.. Luckily after some complaining and a letter to the head office I got the old rate of about 6.5

edit: that reminds me I need to invest my free overdraft

now I've made it into the positive in my student account and theres no way I'm going to settle for the current interest rates lol

Killa_ken · 27 Dec 2008 at 07:31

Just stick those benjamins into some stock. Savings accounting are for idiots right now.

Today I began researching the followings

bum · 27 Dec 2008 at 09:36

Killa_ken said:
Just stick those benjamins into some stock. Savings accounting are for idiots right now.

Today I began researching the followings

interesting, please tell me more!

spirit · 27 Dec 2008 at 10:17

you will need to be careful there, especially since most inputs for the spec chems are ethylene based (oil deriv), some outputs are used in refining, also spec chems have been migrating to china/becoming normal chem products (lots of plans shut down due to air control for beijing 08)...

a1ex2001 · 27 Dec 2008 at 10:31

Killa_ken said:
Savings accounting are for idiots right now.
[/IMG]

Totally not true but don't let that worry you, there are still plenty of good rate savings accounts out here provided you are willing to accept some tie in and regular avers are particularly good. Stocks and Shares are definately not for everyone and if your a beginer in this climate be prepared to loose everything especially if your chasing short term gains.

GinG · 27 Dec 2008 at 10:36

buy some standard life shares...

Mad old tory · 27 Dec 2008 at 10:43

As you only have £1000 at the mo, I'd be looking at putting that in an easy-access ISA with a decent interest rate. It won't be taxed so will likely be better than 99% of standard savings accounts at the moment. Try and build up perhaps 3-6 months worth of rent/bills/other necessities in an easy access account so that you have a backup should you lose your job or whatever. Only then would I be looking at investing

Killa_ken · 27 Dec 2008 at 15:55

bum said:
interesting, please tell me more!

All the companies are solid long term companies, none of them are over valued or speculative in anyway. They present to you value for money in your hand at their current price. No inflated prices because of 'expected' earnings, but solid value right now. They all have a healthy looking balance sheet and right now I'm working on calculating net working capital for each one. I will report back.

Don't go jumping in trying to buy these just yet, I still have to look at their qualitative prospects such as management and environmental factors.

If you look at my previous recommendations and the threads where I've posted my results I am yet to lose any money using my methods. In fact I don't have a single portfolio of stock with a return of less then 25% this year with my concentrated portfolio having a return of 40%.

a1ex2001 said:
Totally not true but don't let that worry you, there are still plenty of good rate savings accounts out here provided you are willing to accept some tie in and regular avers are particularly good. Stocks and Shares are definately not for everyone and if your a beginer in this climate be prepared to loose everything especially if your chasing short term gains.

Beginners = idiots thus savings accounts are for idiots. You see my logic? :cool:

Kreeeee · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:19

I'd be very wary taking any financial advice from ken, no offence.

mangobreeder · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:27

Kreeeee said:
I'd be very wary taking any financial advice from ken, no offence.

QUOTED FOR TRUTH +1

gareth.e · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:28

Kreeeee said:
I'd be very wary taking any financial advice from ken, no offence.

Well I wouldn't take any advice on specific shares (he's in the states anyway).. But personally I would strongly consider shares if you have a reasonable understanding and are willing to research..

Zom · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:28

Killa_ken said:
All the companies are solid long term companies, none of them are over valued or speculative in anyway. They present to you value for money in your hand at their current price. No inflated prices because of 'expected' earnings, but solid value right now.

It doesn't really matter if they are "solid value" now. The only way to make money from these euqities is if their value goes up in the future and since you can't be certain about that I don't think you can say they are good value.

Killa_ken · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:38

Zom said:
It doesn't really matter if they are "solid value" now. The only way to make money from these euqities is if their value goes up in the future and since you can't be certain about that I don't think you can say they are good value.

Yes they are good value, value has nothing to do with their growth prospects but instead it's to do with share price compared to the value of their operation and assets. I suggest you read something about value investing.

What would you recommend? Jump on a bandwagon? Something speculative maybe? By buying companies that are already under alued you have a margin of safety. Warren Buffet swore by value investing and look where it got him.

Either way, my methods have preformed outstandingly for me so I don't really give a toss what you think.

Killa_ken · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:40

Kreeeee said:
I'd be very wary taking any financial advice from ken, no offence.

I wasn't giving him financial advice. I was telling him to stay away from the speculative short term bull**** that 95% of the idiot public buy into.

And no, don't take financial advice from me, you don't know me and shouldn't trust me. The only person you should trust when it comes to your money is your self.

Energize · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:41

Spammeh said:
I have about £1000 that I would like to save me as much as possible and I'm also willing to invest around £200 of my monthly earnings a month too. At the moment, the grand is sat in a savings account which earns the following:

AER % Gross % Net %
2.75 2.75 2.20

As far as I understand, that's **** poor, and I want to make as much money as I can as I would like a deposit for a house in a few years. Is anyone able to give me a little unpartial advise?

Cheers all

The top ISA is currently paying 4.6%.

Kemik · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:44

Killa_ken said:
I wasn't giving him financial advice. I was telling him to stay away from the speculative short term bull**** that 95% of the idiot public buy into.

There's nothing wrong with short termism if you know what to look for. Each person has their own way of investing. I wouldn't advise anyone just to jump on to shares because they're down atm. Just because they're down it doesn't mean they won't drop further.

It all depends on your personal circumstances and what you're looking for.

Heliospherez · 27 Dec 2008 at 16:44

Best you will get on an ISA these days is about 4.5% - 4.6% (and not 6.25......wherever that came from) without any clauses or catches - so if you manage to actually save the £1000 + the £200 a month, you will be looking at most £150 interest or there abouts (compared to roughly half that in your savings account).

You will obviously have the £3400 saved also - but bear in mind any rate can change, including ISAs (mine dropped from around 6% to 2.5% in a year - so I was pretty annoyed and had to swap providers yet again)

Also check how many withdrawels you can make in a year, how often the Int. is calculated and when, and the minimum deposits (some state at least £100 a month, and if you miss one, you don't get the Interest you think) - and most importantly whether you can transfer in/out without penalty or hassle.