Investment Advice

noel123ie

Hi all,

I have approx 25k to invest.

I have looked at Anglo Irish, Rabo,Northern Rock and rabo seem the best at 3.5%

I would need access to 10 k short term but the other 15k could be put away for a longer period ie 3-5 years

Im looking for something with medium security

Any ideas please would be great

Cheers
Noel

Hugh_C

noel123ie wrote:

Any ideas please would be great

Cheers
Noel

askaboutmoney website

noel123ie

Cheers site is down at the mo no links are working so I said id try boards.ie

Hugh_C

noel123ie wrote:

Cheers site is down at the mo no links are working so I said id try boards.ie

It's working for me at 13:55

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

If you only need immediate access to the 10k, then that is the max you should put in at 3.5%. Bear in mind, that inflation will probably be higher than that this year, so you will actually be losing money on every penny you put in a savings account.

For a savings account - Rabo seems to have a lot of people excited. Their rates are near the top, and they have a very handy online system for depositing and withdrawing money.

For the rest (15k). Investment funds would be the logical way forward. Once again, Rabo seems to have a wide selection of these. As a general rule of thumb you should steer away from funds that are 'hot' at the moment e.g. Eastern European. The hotter something is, the more likely the underlying asset is overpriced.

Maybe the pan-European fund? Europe can't get much worse. And, we do have some star companies. The other thing, is that big foreign exchange surplus countries such as those oil countries in the Middle East, Russia, and China, are eventually going to stop solely focusing their reserves on investing in the US. When they start putting some of their money into Europe (as South Korea recently announced) then European equities are going to experience a positive upswing.

You could also keep maybe 1-2k out and use it to buy one or two exciting small companies on your own. There is a lot to be said for the excitment of following an investment that you yourself have selected. Obviously, this is very risky, but sometimes the excitment and the potential upside can make up for that risk.

The AIM market in London would be the best place to look for these risky stocks. It goes without saying that you should stay away from oil, property, commodities, pharmaceuticals, and "companies you don't understand". The first three of these categories (oil, property, commodities) are subject to 'bubble-like' conditions and pharma stocks are phenomenally risky.

Hope this is some sort of useful advise.

Possibly the most important feedback in this post is the idea that you shouldn't simply save it all. You don't need to immediately access all the money (only 10k), and you will be losing money because of inflation for every penny you save.

All the best!

Sarsfield

You could also check out Quinn Lifes range of index tracking Freeway Funds. They're cheaper than Rabo and have the advantage of handling all the tax for you (I've got a bee in my bonnet about this tax thing at the moment! :rolleyes: ). I signed up for Quinn today.

Gwynston

Sarsfield, thanks for the heads-up. I was interested in Rabo, but looking at Quinn, they do seem a better deal. Just to make sure I understand the situation correctly:

- Quinn charge no entry and exit fees, while Rabo charge 0.75% for each.
- Quinn annual rates are 1.0 to 1.2% while Rabo's are mostly 1.2 to 1.75%.
- Quinn allow 2 switches a year and charge €25 for any extra switch. Not sure about Rabo.
- With Rabo, you have to manage your own tax obligations and fill in a tax return, whereas Quinn handle tax implications for you somehow. I'm not clear how this works - can you explain?
- Obviously the choice of funds differs between the two

Comments?

stepbar

sally would you ever go and sh1te