It's a simple enough question, what do I do with £110,000 liquid assets?

At the moment I'm living alone in a rented flat for what I consider a very 
reasonable £380 pcm. I'm not exactly happy here but it's perfectly 
acceptable. I'm not keen on buying this place though.

My current income is around £800 pcm. And my outgoings swallow a great deal 
of that.

I want to make this money work for me and provide a substantial income 
eventually if that's a realistic proposal, without any high risks to the 
capital.

At the moment I've moved the bulk of it to 1 year fixed interest savings 
with kaupthing and ICICI and also started 2 managed stocks&shares ISA funds.

This is just a temporary measure to get it earning something while I look at 
other, possibly better options.

Any advice is very welcome.

JohnR wrote:

> Any advice is very welcome.

Find an Independent Financial Advisor.

http://www.unbiased.co.uk/
-- 
Facts are sacred ... but comment is free

"Robin T Cox"  wrote in message 
news:Y7Xsk.48449$E41.6161@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> JohnR wrote:
>
>> Any advice is very welcome.
>
> Find an Independent Financial Advisor.


Agreed, but beware the hobgoblins that jump up at this point and say 
'don't'.

But if anyone is going to make any comments here they'll need to know how 
old you are and whether you are married, for starters.

Then they'll need to know what you mean by 'high risks'. Do you want any 
risk? What do you mean by 'high'?

Then they'll need to know if you have any other investments, or prospect of 
any.

Then they'll need to know if you're prepared to tie up the money and for how 
long.

Rob Graham

robgraham wrote:

> "Robin T Cox"  wrote in message
> news:Y7Xsk.48449$E41.6161@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>> JohnR wrote:
>>
>>> Any advice is very welcome.
>>
>> Find an Independent Financial Advisor.
> 
> Agreed, but beware the hobgoblins that jump up at this point and say
> 'don't'.

Don't.  :-)  And don't forget that such hobgoblins have no axe to grind.

For a sum as small as £110k it's debatable whether there is much
point in doing all that much much active investment with any of it.
Commission-based IFAs are apt to persuade the client to put all
of it through their good offices (thus maximising their commission)
and may fail to suggest that a good chunk (say 1/3 to 1/2) be kept
in cash (i.e. high interest savings bonds/accounts).
Fee-based (advice-only) IFAs might do the latter but are presumably
few and far between.

> But if anyone is going to make any comments here they'll need to know how
> old you are

Why?

> and whether you are married, for starters.

Not necessarily.  It's his money, and he may or may not wish to
share it with his wife, if he is foolish enough to have one.

> Then they'll need to know what you mean by 'high risks'. Do you want any
> risk? What do you mean by 'high'?

Fair enough.

> Then they'll need to know if you have any other investments, or prospect
> of any.

Only if *they* are going to use this information to modify their
understanding of what *he* has told them about his attitude to risk,
i.e. if he's got another safety net, he can be more devil-may-care
with *this* money.

> Then they'll need to know if you're prepared to tie up the money and for
> how long.

No.  They can simply tell him what options there are.  Tying up the money
typically gives a better return in the case of cash-based investments, and
for market-based investments it helps smooth out short term booms and busts.
Then he can choose to tie up some part of it for longer, and some for less.

"Ronald Raygun" <no.spam@localhost.localdomain> wrote in message 
news:pQ_sk.48561$E41.29597@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> robgraham wrote:
>
>> "Robin T Cox"  wrote in message
>> news:Y7Xsk.48449$E41.6161@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>>> JohnR wrote:
>>>
>>>> Any advice is very welcome.
>>>
>>> Find an Independent Financial Advisor.
>>
>> Agreed, but beware the hobgoblins that jump up at this point and say
>> 'don't'.
>
> Don't.  :-)  And don't forget that such hobgoblins have no axe to grind.

They may well have.

>
> For a sum as small as £110k it's debatable whether there is much
> point in doing all that much much active investment with any of it.
> Commission-based IFAs are apt to persuade the client to put all
> of it through their good offices (thus maximising their commission)
> and may fail to suggest that a good chunk (say 1/3 to 1/2) be kept
> in cash (i.e. high interest savings bonds/accounts).
> Fee-based (advice-only) IFAs might do the latter but are presumably
> few and far between.

All IFAs have to offer the fee option - you must have known that.

>
>> But if anyone is going to make any comments here they'll need to know how
>> old you are
>
> Why?

Come on. Should a 20 year old get the same advice as a 70 year old?

>
>> and whether you are married, for starters.
>
> Not necessarily.  It's his money, and he may or may not wish to
> share it with his wife, if he is foolish enough to have one.

I think you're winding me up - fair enough.

Rob

robgraham wrote:

> "Ronald Raygun" <no.spam@localhost.localdomain> wrote in message
> news:pQ_sk.48561$E41.29597@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>> robgraham wrote:
>>
>>> "Robin T Cox"  wrote in message
>>> news:Y7Xsk.48449$E41.6161@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>>>> JohnR wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Any advice is very welcome.
>>>>
>>>> Find an Independent Financial Advisor.
>>>
>>> Agreed, but beware the hobgoblins that jump up at this point and say
>>> 'don't'.
>>
>> Don't.  :-)  And don't forget that such hobgoblins have no axe to grind.
> 
> They may well have.

Exceptionally, perhaps, as in "Don't see an IFA, just lend the
money to me."

>> For a sum as small as £110k it's debatable whether there is much
>> point in doing all that much much active investment with any of it.
>> Commission-based IFAs are apt to persuade the client to put all
>> of it through their good offices (thus maximising their commission)
>> and may fail to suggest that a good chunk (say 1/3 to 1/2) be kept
>> in cash (i.e. high interest savings bonds/accounts).
>> Fee-based (advice-only) IFAs might do the latter but are presumably
>> few and far between.
> 
> All IFAs have to offer the fee option - you must have known that.

I didn't know that, I thought they had the choice.

>>> But if anyone is going to make any comments here they'll need to know
>>> how old you are
>>
>> Why?
> 
> Come on. Should a 20 year old get the same advice as a 70 year old?

Most definitely.  The age of the investor is irrelevant, other than
indirectly.  It is up to the investor to specify the time frame over
which the investment is expected to remain "active".

>>> and whether you are married, for starters.
>>
>> Not necessarily.  It's his money, and he may or may not wish to
>> share it with his wife, if he is foolish enough to have one.
> 
> I think you're winding me up - fair enough.

The bit about being foolish to have a wife was a joke, but the
rest of it was serious.  Any money coming to a husband does not
automatically co-belong to his wife.  Of course any provision
he may wish to make to ensure his partner is provided for in
the event of his death etc is up to him, and, except for tax
implications, is independent of whether he's actually married
to her (or him).  It's more relevant to what he puts in his
will than whether and how he decides to invest the loot.

Well, we are all entitled to our views.

But re the bit about IFAs having to offer a fee option, this has been around 
for a year or two. If they don't offer the fee option then they can't call 
themselves independent.

Rob

On 26 Aug, 17:57, "JohnR"  wrote:

> It's a simple enough question, what do I do with £110,000 liquid assetsRead - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motley-Fool-UK-Investment-Guide/dp/0752265393/

For a good holistic view of your finances - work through -

http://www.fool.co.uk/10steps/index.aspx

I'd invest in one of the following, in order of personal preference -

High yield, buy and hold strategy
http://www.fool.co.uk/specials/2006/specials060208.htm

High yield, change each year
http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=10414020

iShares FTSE UK Dividend Plus
http://www.trustnet.co.uk/etf/funds/?fund=34

Invesco Perpetual Income
http://www.trustnet.co.uk/ut/funds/?fund=477

Invesco Perpetual High Income
http://www.trustnet.co.uk/ut/funds/?fund=476

Barclays Global Investors (BGI) iShares FTSE 100 Exchange Traded Fund
(ETF)
http://www.trustnet.com/etf/funds/?fund=288

You should be able to get an inflation linked monthly income of
£370-550 from the above.

If you're interested in buying a house, then wait until property
prices have stabilised for at least a year - there's no hurry.

--
Daytona

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:57:39 +0100, "robgraham"
 wrote:

>
>"Robin T Cox"  wrote in message 
>news:Y7Xsk.48449$E41.6161@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>> JohnR wrote:
>>
>>> Any advice is very welcome.
>>
>> Find an Independent Financial Advisor.
>
>
>Agreed, but beware the hobgoblins that jump up at this point and say 
>'don't'.

Don't waste you money on an IFA.  

The main interest of an IFA is to maximise their income - anyone who
tells you otherwise is probably an IFA.


Chose the 4 highest interest paying accounts from one of the "money
saving" sites and split the total amount between them.  You can
probably get guaranteed rates of about 7% for a year and your money
will be totally safe.

"judith"  wrote in message 
news:115lb4htjmpqih38hanjq316nea025f2o8@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:57:39 +0100, "robgraham"
>  wrote:
>
>>
>>"Robin T Cox"  wrote in message
>>news:Y7Xsk.48449$E41.6161@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>>> JohnR wrote:
>>>
>>>> Any advice is very welcome.
>>>
>>> Find an Independent Financial Advisor.
>>
>>
>>Agreed, but beware the hobgoblins that jump up at this point and say
>>'don't'.
>
> Don't waste you money on an IFA.
>
> The main interest of an IFA is to maximise their income - anyone who
> tells you otherwise is probably an IFA.
>
>
> Chose the 4 highest interest paying accounts from one of the "money
> saving" sites and split the total amount between them.  You can
> probably get guaranteed rates of about 7% for a year and your money
> will be totally safe.
>
That's the option I've chosen for the short term, with a small component in 
a blackrock ISA stocks and shares fund (well 2 funds to be exact) which I 
will add to year on year if the returns seem worthwhile. Being new to the 
investment scene I just want to spend some time absorbing what's available 
and the relative merits.

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:45:57 GMT,
    Ronald Raygun <no.spam@localhost.localdomain> wrote:
> robgraham wrote:
>
>> But if anyone is going to make any comments here they'll need to know how
>> old you are
>
> Why?
>
If the OP is getting close to 55 then he should consider putting
as much as possible into a cash SIPP. (IIUC he can effectively avoid
paying any tax each year while he is doing this). Then, once he's 55 he
can withdraw 25% cash free and use the rest for income drawdown.

If he's a long way from retirement or has a chance of being a higher
rate taxpayer in a few years time then he should probably wait.

(I'm not sure if there are any limits on how much cash can be held in a
SIPP)


Tim.


-- 
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t," 
and there was light.

  http://www.woodall.me.uk/    http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/

On 31 Aug, 13:58, judith  wrote:

> Don't waste you money on an IFA.  

I find your comments about IFAs amusing given that you then go on to
give worse advice. At least it didn't cost John anything.

Cash deposits are not a good investment for anything other than short
term money. Here's a post I made from November 2006, the situation is
unlikely to have changed greatly -

"Looking at retail price inflation (RPI), the buying power of a sum of
money in November 1996 has been reduced by 23.5% and a sum in November
1986 has been reduced by 50.6%.

Interest rates, and therefore income, have fluctuated by  36% since
Nov 1996 and by 62% since Nov 1986.

Combining these gives us -

Capital Income

1986 100,000 10,875
1996 64,575 3,834
2006 49,400 2,470

Sources -
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=868
http://213.225.136.206/mfsd/iadb/Repo.asp?Travel=NIxIRx


--
Daytona
(Not a financial advisor)

> The main interest of an IFA is to maximise their income - anyone who
> tells you otherwise is probably an IFA.

Just out of interest, would you consult, or recommend that one was 
consulted, if he charged a fee rather than commission?

Rob Graham