[Masterplan]

Folks,

I'm thinking of ways to plan for my future, and would like some ideas or suggestions on ways to do so. I'm just a young 'un living with parents and a good paying job.

Whether it be basic savings accounts, stocks and shares, property, assurance/insurance etc I would be nice to know peoples views on short/medium and long term planning.

Thanks!

[mkPOTO]

long term: roth IRA im not sure if they have that in the UK but its a great investment in the long run

[Masterplan]

mkPOTO can you explain further?

[Evil Diesel]

Gold, silver and oil.

Even the Bank of England's pension scheme has dumped cash and bonds.

You need to protect yourself from a tsunami of inflation.

[Masterplan]

Originally Posted by Evil Diesel

Gold, silver and oil.

Even the Bank of England's pension scheme has dumped cash and bonds.

You need to protect yourself from a tsunami of inflation.

So would that mean opening a trading account and buying online through the specialist sites?

What about bank shares like RBS etc?

[SiKkBaSs]

Join a trading and investing forum mate. I had some money left over from my savings account and have decided to invest in some shares. Diversify as much as you can and take advantage of fluctuations in share prices every day. I wouldn't invest in a broker because some of the "frictional costs" are ridiculous. If you've done research and know a bit yourself there's no reason not to profit from the market in small amounts every day at low risk (depends on your risk preference and barring a complete mess-up in the stock market.)

Do some background reading on finance though relating to systematic/unsystematic risk (helps being young and doing a finance degree; but my cousin is self-employed yet makes most of his income doing this), relating to fundamental analysis and some technical analysis and like I said join a forum as there is a lot to learn and lots of techniques. Very easy to pick up and safer than "gambling".


Jus my .02

[Masterplan]

Originally Posted by SiKkBaSs

Join a trading and investing forum mate. I had some money left over from my savings account and have decided to invest in some shares. Diversify as much as you can and take advantage of fluctuations in share prices every day. I wouldn't invest in a broker because some of the "frictional costs" are ridiculous. If you've done research and know a bit yourself there's no reason not to profit from the market in small amounts every day at low risk (depends on your risk preference and barring a complete mess-up in the stock market.)

Do some background reading on finance though relating to systematic/unsystematic risk (helps being young and doing a finance degree; but my cousin is self-employed yet makes most of his income doing this), relating to fundamental analysis and some technical analysis and like I said join a forum as there is a lot to learn and lots of techniques. Very easy to pick up and safer than "gambling".



Jus my .02

Man thats great advice, I didnt even think of a forum. I need to sort my finances out properly month to month and avoid the attitude that each wage needs to be spent.

Do you have any advice on what forum t join?

I work for a bank, that offers share saving plans etc. I've often wondered if its worthwhile doing them.

[SiKkBaSs]

Originally Posted by Masterplan

Man thats great advice, I didnt even think of a forum. I need to sort my finances out properly month to month and avoid the attitude that each wage needs to be spent.

Do you have any advice on what forum t join?

I work for a bank, that offers share saving plans etc. I've often wondered if its worthwhile doing them.

Mate DEFINITELY do the sharesave plans as my dad got one from his job. They offered him an option price which is usually lower than the current market price of the share.

Every month he foregoes around 250 quid into a "savings account" with his employer over the course of 3 years and at the end of the term he gets to decide whether he wants to buy the shares at the discounted price (the option price) OR get his money back, so he loses nothing.

When he last did it the option price was around 5-10% lower than the market price so he decided to buy and sell immediately making a fair gain.

With regards to forums, google is your friend. I'm not a specific member of any I just lurk. Idea is usually to invest in over 20 companies to minimise your unique risk and in the end get to a point where your risk is mimicking the market risk. Therefore your returns will match the returns of the market. Though this is always just theory. In practice it's harder but part of the fun or not . I'm currently working on diversifying internationally but have no facking clue how to yet and am aware the costs will be "big boy" ones so will probably wait til I start in a proper job and then see if I'm able to.

[CHG]

You could try Spread Betting or CFD trading. Requires very little capital for initial investment, and can potentially generate massive earnings. Can be risky if you don't manage properly and don't read the markets, but the advantage is you can make money in any market condition.

It certainly pays for my lifestyle, which I can assure you is rather expensive (new BMW). Have a quick search on google and research it... I'd go with spread betting personally, and if you're interested, PM me and I can put you in contact with my broker who will also probably chuck you in a few educational dvd's to get you started.

[SiKkBaSs]

Let me just make clear that I'm not saying shares are the way to go, they are one of the things you should maybe consider. It's up to you to decide and decide how risk averse you are and then pull a trigger on an investment strategy.

Good luck.

[CHG]

Originally Posted by SiKkBaSs

Let me just make clear that I'm not saying shares are the way to go, they are one of the things you should maybe consider. It's up to you to decide and decide how risk averse you are and then pull a trigger on an investment strategy.

Good luck.

+ 1...What he said

[Evil Diesel]

Originally Posted by colourhutgroup

You could try Spread Betting or CFD trading. Requires very little capital for initial investment, and can potentially generate massive earnings. Can be risky if you don't manage properly and don't read the markets, but the advantage is you can make money in any market condition.

It certainly pays for my lifestyle, which I can assure you is rather expensive (new BMW). Have a quick search on google and research it... I'd go with spread betting personally, and if you're interested, PM me and I can put you in contact with my broker who will also probably chuck you in a few educational dvd's to get you started.

These are a geared play on equities or fx. If you want to play with this then set tight stops. On spreads you need gap stops too. If you get this wrong then you get creamed for a lot more than your initial stake.

I did well on fx trading for a year but got stuck for a £20k loss overnight on a CHF/EUR trade when the Swiss got caught dumping Francs in India - the fuckers!

[SiKkBaSs]

Originally Posted by Evil Diesel

These are a geared play on equities or fx.

Ouch, that sounds fackin deadly!!

Geared play on ANYTHING makes me shake

[Masterplan]

I kinda wana make a quick buck to buy the luxuries of life (as do all).

As for medium/long term I think the share plans through my employer seem like a good idea.

Any other suggestions?

[willhollin]

Rob the bank you work for.

[SiKkBaSs]

Originally Posted by willhollin

Rob the bank you work for.

Banks don't keep much "liquid" money on site do they?

[Masterplan]

Originally Posted by SiKkBaSs

Banks don't keep much "liquid" money on site do they?

Nah, I worked in a branch and you'd be a nutter to rob a bank. No where near the money you'd think they have in them. Risks far far far outweigh the rewards.........

[mowflow]

Step 1. Move out of parents house
Step 2. Start being irresponsible
Step 3. Enjoy.

savings accounts, stocks and shares, property, assurance/insurance etc

Kids today

[CHG]

Originally Posted by Evil Diesel

These are a geared play on equities or fx. If you want to play with this then set tight stops. On spreads you need gap stops too. If you get this wrong then you get creamed for a lot more than your initial stake.

I did well on fx trading for a year but got stuck for a £20k loss overnight on a CHF/EUR trade when the Swiss got caught dumping Francs in India - the fuckers!

Definitely! Risk management is the KEY, and an absolute necessity...I've never had losses THAT big, but i've learnt my lessons the hard way. FX is much more volatile than shares, but you still need to limit risk (for me 2%)

[Masterplan]

So with spread betting, say you deposited £1000 can you decide how much to limit a loss so that you can never lose more than you deposited?

[CHG]

Originally Posted by Masterplan

So with spread betting, say you deposited £1000 can you decide how much to limit a loss so that you can never lose more than you deposited?

1. You can never lose more than you deposited, but if for example you make another 1k, you can lose the whole £2k if that makes sense

2. You limit each trade... there are different ways to set your stop...you can either use an online stop loss calculator which will work out X% (depends on how much you want to risk of your total capital) of your capital, or the way I do it, is look at the charts to find the recent support, and then I developed my own calculator which then works out how much per point I put on...

Hard to explain on here

If you check your PM masterplan, i put my phone number at the bottom, so if you give me a call, i'm more that happy to explain it a bit clearer

[Masterplan]

Will need to look into this!

Anyone have any other suggestions?