How best to invest?

My spin on your analogy would be:
If your mechanic tinkered with your car and charged you a fixed % of the value of the car, regardless of whether they fixed it or made it worse, you might start to look for alternatives.

I'm not sure that I can think of a rational argument to counter that Chris. Succinct and effective point.

Gary

There have been some very good points made on this thread so far, and I 100% agree that the true wealth out there is in the land, property and businesses, but the property market still has another 3-5 years of falling before it hits rock bottom. So yes it is a good place to store your wealth, but in my opinion, not yet. So I'm going to play devils advocate here. If you take every asset class over the last 30 years, what asset has appreciated the most do you think? Gold and silver. When you compare gold and silver to even the tech or real estate industry, they dwarf them. Gold increased by a factor of 24 and silver a factor of 36 in that time frame. Even in the last 10 years they have out paced everything. Yet, financial professionals don't recommend them properly. The main reason is that there are 7 ways to invest in these metal and all of them will burn you apart from 1. It's just a case of knowledge. And gold and silver haven't even start to climb yet......

But hey, there's my 2 cents! And by the way, I've killed my pension....pensions are not the way forward as most are index linked and a stock market correction is imminient...plus the currency supply is on an exponential rate of growth, so ones pension is dwindling away as I type...

When gold has increased by 24 times and silver by 36 times a vision of a bubble enters my head. If wisdom comes with age then I can remember the Bunker Hunt brothers going bust when these oil rich billionaires tried to corner the world market in silver. They huffed and puffed and this giant bubble they made went pop. And the price came tumbling down. All that Georgian silver melted down, that should have been criminal.

Go for metal to make you rich. 6 out of 7 ways of investing in metal will burn me but 1 won't. And you know that one way. Frankly, if I knew that way then I wouldn't be telling 4N'ers, I would be out on my yacht. Alternatively, I might take the opinion that something for nothing, an easy way to get rich, if it is too good to be true ......... well, I think I will stick to my knitting.

Gary

This makes an awful lot of sense.

Gary

Investing in metals is not get rich quick. Simply a hedge against uncertainty. The 1 way to positively invest in them is to buy physical investment grade bullion, and to stay well away from ETFs etc. Yes, it will enter a bubble, but the precious metals bubble has barely begun. And the 1970's bull market followed by the 1980 peak is a completely different ball game from today.

Essentially, gold is hoarded, silver is consumed. And not many people know that there is far far more gold available than silver. There's a lot more to this than that, but I'm simply spreading the word as we're in an exponential rate of growth with the currency supply at the moment so the pounds in your pocket is devaluing as I type this....worth having a little gander at the video in my signature mate...

You do realise that, as a pension is just a tax wrapper, this statement makes no sense at all, don't you?

Firstly, it is like saying - "I've smashed all of my mugs because the coffee I bought the other day tasted awful"

Secondly - if you don't want your pension to be index-linked (by which I assume you mean invested in equities.. the phrase index linked is unbelievably broad) then don't invest it that way.. fairly simple stuff! - How about buying Gold / Silver with it?

Just re read my post and you're completely correct! And yes, I'm all in when it comes to precious metals. 90% metals, 10% cash. And I have diversified my portfolio...I've got gold AND silver! :-P

Perfectly put. I used the coffee mug analargy earlier this week at a seminar, glad someone else uses it too!

You hit on a great point, that investors need to focus more on the investment (coffee) and not the tax wrapper (mug).

Thanks Philip... Someone elses uses the coffee mug analogy!!??? #kindredspirit

One alternative being take it to a different mechanic. One who has been recommended to you and one who will charge a transparent fee for a specific piece of work.

Since we are using analogies, a mechanic may fix your brakes, but if a lorry side swipes you, your car is still wrecked even though you did the sensible thing and had the brakes fixed. 

Unfortunately, we can't prepare for everything and we have all been tarnished by the practices of some less than scrupulous mechanics/IFA's in the past.

I still think taking the advice of a wealth manager is wise. Of course, some are charlatans, but far from all. Our money is mostly in long term investments, not pension funds specifically, but making a shares based, and healthy, return. At the moment, capital growth, and tax efficiency, are to us as important as monthly interest payments.

But this is highly variable counsel depending on your own individual circumstances, risk aversion and needs. I have no regrets for taking advice on this.

Oh, and mostly, it is not in the UK.

andy,

how did you get that halo in your photo? are all IFA's angels?