Savings account - thank you Mr Barclays!

[Ozzie Osmond]

Savings account rate reducing to .... wait for it, wait for it ....

v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v

0.05% (Five one hundredths of one percent.)

So if you have savings of £1,000 you will receive interest of ........ 50p a year!

Gotta love banks.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Thanks guys, I'm feeling much better now.

[Ozzie Osmond]

C0ffin D0dger said:

V8mate said:

30p after tax

Not so, no tax on personal savings interest after April this year, up to a limit of course and dependent on your tax bracket

Hmmm, that's a very good point. I can have personal savings with Barclays of up to £10,000,000 completely tax free. Get in!!

[Ozzie Osmond]

DonkeyApple said:

Ozzie. Borrow a couple of hundred K, buy an old 911, sell it in 6 months. Pocket the tax free profit.

Saving's for hoes.
Porsche's for pros.

Nothing can go wrong. Everyone's doing it. It's free money.

Darn, you can find some great advice on this forum! Knocks into a cocked hat my previous "double or quits" idea of lending P2P to people with poor credit ratings who want to get into BTL.

Fanks mate, innit.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Targarama said:

seriously, I'm thinking of chopping the TVR for a McLaren.

In my opinion that's the "£100k+ car of choice" right now. 570/540 should give the other players a good thrashing out of the showrooms. No way would I spend that money on a Porsche despite the fact one of their more basic cars is sitting in my garage and works very nicely.

[Ozzie Osmond]

"cautious and well diversified"

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

[Ozzie Osmond]

droopsnoot said:

I just struggle to do anything at all.

That's something I well understand. I've been investing for many years but always find it difficult to actually do things.

The secret is, I think, to make sure your head rules your heart. You have to get over your natural emotional fears and just do it, based on a coherent strategy.

droopsnoot said:

I'm about 75% in cash, and it frustrates me beyond belief that I can't quite persuade myself to do better with it,

IMO what you have to tell yourself is that under current circumstances holding cash is a 100% certain way to lose money. Its value is being eroded by inflation more quickly then interest is being earned.

droopsnoot said:

by the time I got the first annual statement it had halved in value and then took years to get back

Yes, that's the inevitable hazard and it never feels nice. However, as per my first point above you just have to believe that you have a sensible long term strategy and press on.

In your situation what would I do? I'd take 20% to 25% of your cash and just invest it in some mainstream equity funds right now, then sit back and do nothing for 6 months. Review the situation early 2017 and work out what to do next.

If at all possible use ISA and/or pension to get the tax advantages. If you can get 20% or 40% tax relief buying pension then you can sustain a 20% or 40% drop in stock markets without losing a penny! At least, that's the way I think of it.