Investments, stocks, shares

[Lako42]

15 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I assume all you Warren Buffets on here

Nice passive aggressive opening 

[grobyfox1990]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

I assume all you Warren Buffets on here have got a proper instant access emergency fund saved up before even thinking about investing?

 

I mean like a minimum of 6-9 months living expenses in case you lose your job/get ill, or everything goes TU?

 No need for the smug condescending comment, especially if you’re asking a private question.

It’s an investment tips forum, if you think it’s good advice to keep 6-9 months expenses in a saver, just say it 

[Tommy G]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

I assume all you Warren Buffets on here have got a proper instant access emergency fund saved up before even thinking about investing?

 

I mean like a minimum of 6-9 months living expenses in case you lose your job/get ill, or everything goes TU?

I think that point depends on your notice period and how highly paid you are, just my opinion.

 

[Paninistickers]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

I assume all you Warren Buffets on here have got a proper instant access emergency fund saved up before even thinking about investing?

 

I mean like a minimum of 6-9 months living expenses in case you lose your job/get ill, or everything goes TU?

As previous poster says, it's an insight/opinion/tips section. And yours is to have a warchest.

 

I'm.the same,.I like the comfort of having three months set aside. 6-9 months seems excessive to me though.  should be able to live off Warehousing at Amazon wage if need be. 

[Izzy]

2 hours ago, Lako42 said:

Nice passive aggressive opening 

 

1 hour ago, grobyfox1990 said:

 No need for the smug condescending comment, especially if you’re asking a private question.

It’s an investment tips forum, if you think it’s good advice to keep 6-9 months expenses in a saver, just say it 

Apologies, failed attempt at humour. Didn’t mean to be a dick.

 

Was a genuine question but can see it might not be relevant here.

 

FWIW, yes, I do think it’s good advice to have a 6-9 month emergency fund in place before investing (and also have all debt apart from mortgage cleared before investing)

[grobyfox1990]

17 minutes ago, Izzy said:

 

Apologies, failed attempt at humour. Didn’t mean to be a dick.

 

Was a genuine question but can see it might not be relevant here.

 

FWIW, yes, I do think it’s good advice to have a 6-9 month emergency fund in place before investing (and also have all debt apart from mortgage cleared before investing)

Also apologies for my comment coming across as a ****
I also fully agree with your advice 

[Paninistickers]

43 minutes ago, Izzy said:

 

Apologies, failed attempt at humour. Didn’t mean to be a dick.

 

Was a genuine question but can see it might not be relevant here.

 

FWIW, yes, I do think it’s good advice to have a 6-9 month emergency fund in place before investing (and also have all debt apart from mortgage cleared before investing)

Hmmm, I'm old school with that kinda deep ingrained protestant aversion to debt, but I've gone against the 'clear debt' mantra many times in my own small way these last 10 years or such cheap credit. Buying some assets effectively for free,.such was the availability of cheap credit. 

 

 

[Tommy G]

51 minutes ago, Izzy said:

 

Apologies, failed attempt at humour. Didn’t mean to be a dick.

 

Was a genuine question but can see it might not be relevant here.

 

FWIW, yes, I do think it’s good advice to have a 6-9 month emergency fund in place before investing (and also have all debt apart from mortgage cleared before investing)

Agree to an extent but if you can grab something on 0% credit and have the savings for the equivalent value it makes no sense to use your own money, use someone else’s. 6 months would be enough if you had a 3 month notice period, it is also age dependent, if you are 55 you would have access to your SIPP should you need it. 
 

Another factor is, having 5 grand knocking about with low to average interest just would be worth a decent chunk in a pension fund 20 years down the line. 
 

Compound interest everything you possibly can!

[Izzy]

11 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

Hmmm, I'm old school with that kinda deep ingrained protestant aversion to debt, but I've gone against the 'clear debt' mantra many times in my own small way these last 10 years or such cheap credit. Buying some assets effectively for free,.such was the availability of cheap credit. 

 

Yeah I totally get that and I've gone against my principles many times in the past when I less responsibilities. I think what's made me very risk averse these days is nearly going bankrupt during the credit crunch recession. I made a bad investment while still being in debt and nearly lost the house and everything. Shit me up big time and I've probably been over cautious since.

 

4 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Agree to an extent but if you can grab something on 0% credit and have the savings for the equivalent value it makes no sense to use your own money, use someone else’s. 6 months would be enough if you had a 3 month notice period, it is also age dependent, if you are 55 you would have access to your SIPP should you need it. 
 

Another factor is, having 5 grand knocking about with low to average interest just would be worth a decent chunk in a pension fund 20 years down the line. 
 

Compound interest everything you possibly can!

I work for myself and the advice I was always given as self employed was actually to have 9-12 months worth of an emergency fund. But you're right, there's lots of personal factors to consider and we're all in different situations I guess.

 

I'm seven years off being able to access my SIPP and trying to put as much money as I can into that now as we've just paid the mortgage off. 

 

I've made so many bad financial decisions over the years that it makes me angry. If only I knew then what I know now!

[Zear0]

1 minute ago, Izzy said:

Yeah I totally get that and I've gone against my principles many times in the past when I less responsibilities. I think what's made me very risk averse these days is nearly going bankrupt during the credit crunch recession. I made a bad investment while still being in debt and nearly lost the house and everything. Shit me up big time and I've probably been over cautious since.

 

I work for myself and the advice I was always given as self employed was actually to have 9-12 months worth of an emergency fund. But you're right, there's lots of personal factors to consider and we're all in different situations I guess.

 

I'm seven years off being able to access my SIPP and trying to put as much money as I can into that now as we've just paid the mortgage off. 

 

I've made so many bad financial decisions over the years that it makes me angry. If only I knew then what I know now!

P790s?

[Spiritwalker]

22 hours ago, TeamRocket said:

Is it worth buying gold for investment?

If you’re making a long term investment then stocks massively outperform gold.

[lcfcsnow]

24 minutes ago, Spiritwalker said:

If you’re making a long term investment then stocks massively outperform gold.

As someone who has only ever had a cash isa, where would I start with this? I don't want to lose money, so not sure it's even a starter for me though

[Tommy G]

29 minutes ago, lcfcsnow said:

As someone who has only ever had a cash isa, where would I start with this? I don't want to lose money, so not sure it's even a starter for me though

Have a look at vanguard. How old are you and how long do you want to hold it before touching it? 

[lcfcsnow]

3 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Have a look at vanguard. How old are you and how long do you want to hold it before touching it? 

I've looked at it before but it confuses me to be honest, appproaching 40.. have some money in a fixed rate cash isa but interest has already gone up by 0.5% since I started mine which is frustating.

[Bellend Sebastian]

On 25/03/2024 at 23:15, TeamRocket said:

Is it worth buying gold for investment?

Sorry, missed this.

 

Spiritwalker is right, long term returns are no great shakes. Its history and limitations are well explained here:

 

https://monevator.com/is-gold-a-good-investment/

 

The lack of correlation with other asset classes gives it some appeal, but I think it's something you can hold a bit of alongside bigger holdings in other things. Punters often seem to view it as a safe bet as an investment but the truth is, buy it at the wrong time and its value can still drop like a stone like anything else. Where I've seen people actually invest in it it's usually amateurs who have convinced themselves it's time to go into gold for *reasons* , it doesn't do what they were convinced it would and they then sell it for a loss

 

 

[HighPeakFox]

This has to be one of my favourite threads on here. On a long drive yesterday, my very good friend and I were discussing many imponderables around this subject. He's pretty well off and showed me his Vanguard investments, which he's held longer than I have, and he's been able to max out every tax year. He's made a lot of of money, albeit higher risk than I was willing to go (60/40 split stocks / shares felt racey enough for me in 2020). 

 

In the larger scheme of things, I'm far too late to the party, which is more an indicator that I only started caring about my life relatively recently, but I now have a chance. One thing he says, which comes across here loud & clear, is not to treat such an investment as a short term thing.

 

The next foreseeable junction in the road will be when a parent dies, but it's probably wise not to assume anything in the mean time.