tributehub

Let's imagine for the sake of argument that I had, say, ?10,000.

Once we've eliminated the obvious suggestions (shove it up your arse, use it as toilet paper, give it to me etc.), what do people think is the best way to invest this money?  I mean we've got ISAs, Premium Bonds, savings accounts, the Labour Party, blah blah blah.

Any good suggestions as to what might be a sensible investment?

Well I put ?5K in an ISA 2 years ago and it's now worth more than ?7K - a 42% increase in 2 years which is not bad at all.

This was all done by my financial advisor of course who has put ?1K in 5 different funds - I probably like most wouldn't know where to start on my own. In deed I did dabble in an Investment Club a few years back, we didn't have a clue what we where doing and invested in stocks and ended up losing a lot.

I'll add that where you invest should depend on your attitude to risk - professional advice is the way to go here. The max you can put in an ISA in ?7K per annum (maxi stocks ISA I think it's called)

Pension fund was my best investment. It allowed me to take early retirement. Company share save schemes are usually a good bet but a lump sum of ten grand would depend on what your aim was and how much risk you were prepaired to take. Not very helpfull I know.

Go on then Larry, by me a motorcycle.

Definitely put ?7,000 (the maximum allowed in any tax year) into an ISA. That doesn't define the type of investment, though, it just puts it into a tax shelter - you've still got to decide what to do with it. My choice would be a unit trust from one of the top performing companies such as Fidelity. You have to think of this a long term investment, though - after a year you might only just be keeping pace with a savings account, but after 5 you should be way ahead. What to do with the other ?3,000 depends on how much of your total assets this represents - if it is all of it, then you should consider balancing the risk by putting it into a guaranteed interest savings account. If you've got a few million more, then you could be more speculative with it, and invest that in a unit trust too.

Or you could ask someone who knows what he's talking about, such as a financial advisor. Mine doesn't charge me anything, he gets his commission from the investment companies.

*remember the value of your investments and the income from them can go down as well as up. Taking any advice from me could well lose you all your money.

Ah, the sensible suggestion arriveth!