The Finance Thread

[ketteringram]

Currently paying about £700 a month into a pension. It then goes into four equal amounts into four different funds. Three are currently doing badly, and one is slightly up. I'm thinking of putting it all into the safer one for a few months. I'm not talking about moving the money already in there, just the future monthly payments. At least until things settle down. If indeed, they ever do! 

[eddie]

Scary stuff.

In 2 years I retire - and I'm going to spend the rest of my days brewing. For a small fee (i.e. the pttance you all have left - apart from SB who will own all the rest of the money), you can all drown your sorrows.

I see it being like that scene in Red Dwarf...

Quote

[on the two fighters tracking Red Dwarf]

Holly: They're from Earth.

Lister: That's 3 million years away.

Holly: They're from the Norweb Federation.

Lister: What's that?

Holly: The North Western Electricity Board. They want you, Dave.

Lister: Me? Why? What for?

Holly: For your crimes against humanity.

Lister: You what?

Holly: It seems when you left Earth, 3 million years ago, you left two half-eaten German sausages on a plate in your kitchen. Do you know what happens to sausages left unattended for 3 million years?

Lister: Yeah, they go mouldy.

Holly: Your sausages, Dave, now cover seven-eights of the Earth's surface. Also, you left £17.50 in your bank account. Thanks to compound interest, you now own 98% of all the world's wealth. And because you've hoarded it for 3 million years, nobody's got any money except for you and Norweb.

Lister: Why Norweb?

Holly: You left a light on in the bathroom. I've got a final demand here for £180 billion.

Lister: £180 billion? You're kidding?

Holly: [wearing a silly face mask] April fool.

Apart from the April Fool bit

[SillyBilly]

1 hour ago, eddie said:

Scary stuff.

In 2 years I retire - and I'm going to spend the rest of my days brewing. For a small fee (i.e. the pttance you all have left - apart from SB who will own all the rest of the money), you can all drown your sorrows.

I see it being like that scene in Red Dwarf...

Apart from the April Fool bit

Hopefully I am wrong. I don't stand to make any money if there is a collapse (should make the point), all I'd be doing is trying to protect what money I do have by losing less! I am invested too in the FTSE, I am just calling things as I see it (I am not the most balanced poster on this thread). My position in the last year or so puts me completely at odds with mainstream opinion. I watch the mainstream financial shows and it now generally seems to go along the lines of:

- You're the crackpot guest if you question why 7 years into recovery we can't raise interest rates beyond 0%

- You're a harbinger of doom if you think negative interest rates sounds like a f**ked up policy from the start

- You're thick if you say you can't solve a debt crisis by more debt

Unfortunately pension funds are being thrown to the wolves to prop the system up. Pension funds hold a lot of government debt. Negative interest rates are very bad news but who cares so long as they can buy more time? Need high interest rates in retirement...sorry...need to reward those who take out more debt now.

On a separate note, I've just nicked this chart from the Guardian (figures are much worse in 2016). E.g. corporate debt has doubled in 8 years. Again, global government debt has doubled in 8 years. Financial institution debt is bigger than when it brought the world to its knees. We can now never get back to "normal" without scrapping this financial system. The system needs ever greater debt for increasingly smaller growth - its basically eating the economy from within. The system relies on debt creation (enriching creditors and creating an illusion of demand) not debt destruction (paying down debt). If the world started paying down debt in any meaningful sense we'd go into a depression which would make the Great Depression look like a mere blip. The whole thing is a contradiction! The monetary system needs total reform.

[Zag zig]

1 hour ago, ketteringram said:

Currently paying about £700 a month into a pension. It then goes into four equal amounts into four different funds. Three are currently doing badly, and one is slightly up. I'm thinking of putting it all into the safer one for a few months. I'm not talking about moving the money already in there, just the future monthly payments. At least until things settle down. If indeed, they ever do! 

That's exactly what I did moving to gilts a few years back in a S.i.p.p, even safer would be fixed interest, even if it only earns you 0.1%

Curious. If you feel pensions are risky, why would you want to keep adding to a fund? Even if it's say with company contributions, negating any falls, why do it? Yeah I know, someone will say averaging in, but that still doesn't make sense to me.

[loweman2]

This is the fund to be in to avoid volatility, and make 7% year after year, the best fund out there in my opinion, it's a beast !! Also fantastic for drawdown, never gone down for even a day since 2008 !!

http://www.trustnet.com/Factsheets/Factsheet.aspx?fundCode=KZF20&univ=N

 

[ketteringram]

36 minutes ago, Zag zig said:

That's exactly what I did moving to gilts a few years back in a S.i.p.p, even safer would be fixed interest, even if it only earns you 0.1%

Curious. If you feel pensions are risky, why would you want to keep adding to a fund? Even if it's say with company contributions, negating any falls, why do it? Yeah I know, someone will say averaging in, but that still doesn't make sense to me.

Pensions..... Is a broad term. It's just a company pension scheme which I pay into. A SIPP.  Seemed a good idea. Salary sacrifice, so avoids paying 40% tax etc etc. And yes, I know that may change soon! If I don't put that in there, then as I said, I'd pay tax and NI on it, and then whatever was left over would just get saved in a bank account. I've no other use for it. Like I say, it seemed a good idea for a pleb like me who doesn't know what they are doing! 

[Zag zig]

1 minute ago, ketteringram said:

Pensions..... Is a broad term. It's just a company pension scheme which I pay into. A SIPP.  Seemed a good idea. Salary sacrifice, so avoids paying 40% tax etc etc. And yes, I know that may change soon! If I don't put that in there, then as I said, I'd pay tax and NI on it, and then whatever was left over would just get saved in a bank account. I've no other use for it. Like I say, it seemed a good idea for a pleb like me who doesn't know what they are doing! 

Yeah see the tax logic and not knocking your decision K.R, just wondered if you wouldn't be better off considering a so called safer option in do the options include funds that were less high octane, like trackers or even fixed interest rather than say a China fund, emerging markets, property etc all the usual suspects?

[ketteringram]

4 minutes ago, Zag zig said:

Yeah see the tax logic and not knocking your decision K.R, just wondered if you wouldn't be better off considering a so called safer option in do the options include funds that were less high octane, like trackers or even fixed interest rather than say a China fund, emerging markets, property etc all the usual suspects?

I've just had a look at the funds within the SIPP. Seems like thousands of them. I actually had no idea there were that many. I'll have a look over the weekend, and maybe make some changes. If I can figure out how to! If not, I'll contact HL. Thanks for the heads up. 

[Zag zig]

1 minute ago, ketteringram said:

I've just had a look at the funds within the SIPP. Seems like thousands of them. I actually had no idea there were that many. I'll have a look over the weekend, and maybe make some changes. If I can figure out how to! If not, I'll contact HL. Thanks for the heads up. 

Hargreaves Lansdown? Hmm 

[SillyBilly]

3 banks to watch out for:

CitiGroup - US

Barclays - UK

Deutsche Bank - Europe

If I was with Barclays I would be transferring my account to another bank. Noises aren't great from some people I know in the City.

[Phoenix]

What do you 'ITK' guys reckon to peer-to-peer lending? I have had a modest amount in Zopa for over 2 years and I'm getting about 5% (less tax, at present). It's lent out in £10 chunks, so £1000 is spread over 100 borrowers. Defaulters seem to work out at less than 1% of borrowers. Obviously there's no bank guarantee, but they do have a large contingency fund.

A friend of mine suggested Ratesetter, which could give me 6%.

This isn't for pension-pot purposes, I'm already retired with both Company and state pensions. Just want to make a bit more than 0.1% in an ISA.

I also put a bit each month into a Stocks and shares ISA which has done me proud over the last 5 years or so, but no income.

Any views greatfully received.

[LesterRam]

49 minutes ago, Phoenix said:

What do you 'ITK' guys reckon to peer-to-peer lending? I have had a modest amount in Zopa for over 2 years and I'm getting about 5% (less tax, at present). It's lent out in £10 chunks, so £1000 is spread over 100 borrowers. Defaulters seem to work out at less than 1% of borrowers. Obviously there's no bank guarantee, but they do have a large contingency fund.

A friend of mine suggested Ratesetter, which could give me 6%.

This isn't for pension-pot purposes, I'm already retired with both Company and state pensions. Just want to make a bit more than 0.1% in an ISA.

I also put a bit each month into a Stocks and shares ISA which has done me proud over the last 5 years or so, but no income.

Any views greatfully received.

I have had bad experiences with P2P lending formats, I do know that the criteria is much tighter now than it used to be but still be careful.

[SillyBilly]

Huge day in European markets, biggest day in 5 months! This volatility is not normal, up and down. We will take out the low again soon enough but the swings in itself are a sign the market is on edge.

P2P lending is something I know sweet FA about - not risky enough for me .

[Stive Pesley]

I had a look into P2P lending but the fact your returns were taxable and you had to sort out you own tax return put me off.

 

I had a friend who swore blind that shipping containers were the best investment, so I looked into that but it seemed like a hassle as you seemed to need a US bank account.

[Zag zig]

On 12 February 2016 at 18:26, SillyBilly said:

Huge day in European markets, biggest day in 5 months! This volatility is not normal, up and down. We will take out the low again soon enough but the swings in itself are a sign the market is on edge.

P2P lending is something I know sweet FA about - not risky enough for me .

You must be too busy trading the Vix . Now that is one for the swingers!

[SillyBilly]

Can't believe today. Nikkei index up 7% after we've only just got Japanese data back to confirm their economy contracted again in the 4th quarter (0.4%). Biggest rise in 8 years. Astonishing really. We have yet another Draghi rally in Europe, "ECB ready to act" supposedly. Fed are back-tracking like there is no tomorrow, trying to see how they can go from a rate tightening cycle to negative within a year I guess (and not lose credibility).

[Shang]

Article about the benefits and drawbacks of going cashless in The Guardian. 

http://gu.com/p/4gnxd

[Ramarena]

On 12 February 2016 at 15:03, Phoenix said:

What do you 'ITK' guys reckon to peer-to-peer lending? I have had a modest amount in Zopa for over 2 years and I'm getting about 5% (less tax, at present). It's lent out in £10 chunks, so £1000 is spread over 100 borrowers. Defaulters seem to work out at less than 1% of borrowers. Obviously there's no bank guarantee, but they do have a large contingency fund.

A friend of mine suggested Ratesetter, which could give me 6%.

This isn't for pension-pot purposes, I'm already retired with both Company and state pensions. Just want to make a bit more than 0.1% in an ISA.

I also put a bit each month into a Stocks and shares ISA which has done me proud over the last 5 years or so, but no income.

Any views greatfully received.

Don't know too much about it really. But I was listening to R4 last week (boring I know), but they were talking about P2P lending and discussing a review by some Lord, who was saying it could be one of the next financial sectors to crash and is a big risk to the economy. 

edit: just found a link to the story in the Guardian explaining it much better than my foggy memory.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/10/former-city-regulator-warns-peer-to-peer-lending-lord-turner

[Ramarena]

Look's like we're getting a leg up before the next fall. Good time for those who don't want the risk, to get out. I imagine plenty will be done by central banks over the next few weeks to try and boost confidence, then comes the profit warnings.

[Shang]

36 minutes ago, Ramarena said:

Don't know too much about it really. But I was listening to R4 last week (boring I know), but they were talking about P2P lending and discussing a review by some Lord, who was saying it could be one of the next financial sectors to crash and is a big risk to the economy. 

edit: just found a link to the story in the Guardian explaining it much better than my foggy memory.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/10/former-city-regulator-warns-peer-to-peer-lending-lord-turner

Reading that it reads like someone who wants to put people off P2P lending by saying that there isn't enough background checks so you could be at risk?

I think he's trying to keep lending with the banks to maintain their position.