[plimsolls]

in nature's secret cupboard.

[thesmileyone69]

Putting 6k in an ISA is just going to make the bank money and pay bonus' for its staff.

Then 10 years later the bank goes bankrupt, and you lose it all, and the bank gets bailed out by the taxes you pay on your earnings so that its top boys can have even bigger bonuses.

Proof of Concept: Northern Rock
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...232m-loss.html

[Mr Bee]

Premium bonds Buy a 5k block and 1k. Block has a higher chance


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[zara55]

(Original post by Mr Bee)
Premium bonds Buy a 5k block and 1k. Block has a higher chance


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Oh dear, here we are again with Premium Bonds. Why on earth do people think they will get a return from PBs? There is no guarantee whatsoever that any of the numbers you buy will ever come up with even small wins. The figures they quote for % returns are AVERAGES. A few people win big. Some people win small. A great many people never win. Please.

[zara55]

(Original post by thesmileyone69)
Putting 6k in an ISA is just going to make the bank money and pay bonus' for its staff.

Then 10 years later the bank goes bankrupt, and you lose it all, and the bank gets bailed out by the taxes you pay on your earnings so that its top boys can have even bigger bonuses.

Proof of Concept: Northern Rock
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...232m-loss.html

And your alternative suggestion?

The fact is that someone with £6K in an ISA is better off than someone who keeps it under the mattress.

Unless you are fortunate enough to have larger sums to invest and a spread of risk portfolio or similar, there is little choice for the smaller investor. At least, sensible choice.

[partoftheweekend]

(Original post by zara55)
And your alternative suggestion?

The fact is that someone with £6K in an ISA is better off than someone who keeps it under the mattress.

Unless you are fortunate enough to have larger sums to invest and a spread of risk portfolio or similar, there is little choice for the smaller investor. At least, sensible choice.

This. Plus any savings under 85k are protected by the government.

With regards to putting it in the stock market, imagine playing a game of poker with a bunch of world champions. Unless you get very very lucky they are going to take your money.

Maybe if you had a bit more you could put it in a fund that tracks if you think the market is going up but you'll still fall foul of management charges and capital gains tax.

[thesmileyone69]

Which is only 20%

[mucgoo]

(Original post by partoftheweekend)
This. Plus any savings under 85k are protected by the government.

With regards to putting it in the stock market, imagine playing a game of poker with a bunch of world champions. Unless you get very very lucky they are going to take your money.

Maybe if you had a bit more you could put it in a fund that tracks if you think the market is going up but you'll still fall foul of management charges and capital gains tax.

If you do want to expose yourself to equities you'd be better of buying 5 or so FTSE 100 companies and self managing than a tracker.
But as a private individual anything outside the FTSE 100 is foolhardy.

[DontBeJelBeReem]

(Original post by diggy)
I only say Gold because comparative to these other things the OP always has something stable

Say he really needed money he could quickly get the cash from gold

Whereas bonds and stuff is very risky

PLUS he can wear the gold

Hmm, i've seen you post on about gold, but he will simply be buying 'paper' gold, which is fueled simply be speculation. Buying paper gold means that you will not own the gold that you buy OP, you own a promise to receive physical gold. If you want to buy PHYSICAL gold, as diggy states, it costs about $51,000 dollars a kilo, rougly $1500 an ounce, so its your choice but don't be fooled into investing in something that has 'gold' written on it.

[AverageExcellence]

(Original post by iSMark)
Why are we getting silly answers like this when the OP asked specifically for minimal risk. Anyone who invests in emerging markets knows that it is a higher risk investment, even those who have invested vast sums, they know it's risky.

£6k, just put it in an ISA, you'll just about reach the limit for 2012-13, so maybe put the remaining 500ish in a stocks and shares ISA, investing in a fund that isn't classed as risky.

You can invest in emerging market where you have a guarrentee on your money, obviously the returns are less but its still beneficial. Please know what your talking about before you start to be condescending.

[zara55]

(Original post by AverageExcellence)
You can invest in emerging market where you have a guarrentee on your money, obviously the returns are less but its still beneficial. Please know what your talking about before you start to be condescending.

He's condescending because it's rubbish. (1) Emerging markets funds are notoriously risky, far too risky for them to constitute a sensible place to put a small sum like the one OP has into if those are his only savings. (2) The management fees alone on typical funds would eat into it.

This thread is over as the correct advice (ISA) has been given, there isn't scope here for nonsense suggestions.

[Paperhouse]

I took a big risk and invested in a company called LQMT, went up 150% over night. (look into it) sold it, but then a few days later it kept going up (hated myself), but then it tanked. made a good amount of money, but learnt that there are tremendous risks if you want to play for high rewards.

[cl_steele]

as another poster said risk and return go hand in hand, you wont get a good return on a very safe bet whilst you will with more risk, as is the way the world works and all.
personally if i was you id keep the money in cash for a bit, with the recent turmoil on the markets investing money, unless youre alreayd well read in that area, could backfire horrifically. eassiest/safest thing you could do is dump it in an ISA i think santander have got one offering 4% at the moment [you cant touch it for two years though..] thats probably the best rate of return youll find as well. but as mentioned you could always go to a stock broker and tell him/her to make money with it but be prepared for losses, after all the stock market has lost about 500points in the past couple of weeks and its only forcast to get worse...

[thesmileyone69]

I do wonder if some of the people in this thread who discourage trading have actually traded themselves.

[diggy]

(Original post by DontBeJelBeReem)
Hmm, i've seen you post on about gold, but he will simply be buying 'paper' gold, which is fueled simply be speculation. Buying paper gold means that you will not own the gold that you buy OP, you own a promise to receive physical gold. If you want to buy PHYSICAL gold, as diggy states, it costs about $51,000 dollars a kilo, rougly $1500 an ounce, so its your choice but don't be fooled into investing in something that has 'gold' written on it.

how does paper gold work and why doesn't one own it?

The gold my aunts and uncles own are EXTREMELY thick and heavy lol I wasn't talking about a string chain of gold

(so sick of talking about gold now lol)

[mucgoo]

(Original post by thesmileyone69)
I do wonder if some of the people in this thread who discourage trading have actually traded themselves.

The poker analogy someone used above is a good one.

Apart from anything else as a private individual with £6,000 your going to be facing fee's of £10 or so per trade. That alone destroys profit margins for anything but a buy and hold.

[Kennedy7697]

Facebook shares.

[zara55]

(Original post by diggy)
how does paper gold work and why doesn't one own it?

The gold my aunts and uncles own are EXTREMELY thick and heavy lol I wasn't talking about a string chain of gold

(so sick of talking about gold now lol)

A lot of people have been conned into buying things called Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in gold. Most of them don't hold real gold, they are just clever derivatives that speculate in the price of gold. I call them a con because although they are heavily promoted to all kinds of people, if the market crashes they will likely be worthless, there will be zero compensation and the people who have them are frequently confused and believe (falsely) that they are trading in real gold.

These derivatives are often sold by the same con-merchants who caused the first round of the crash, namely big banks and financial institutions.

[Rascacielos]

I have a tracker bond with Lloyd's which gives you a pretty decent interest rate but you can't touch your money for the duration of the term (usually 12-18 months).

[lemoncha]

It depends on how little/much risk you're willing to go for, and how long you will be holding the money off for.

I have to disagree with how risky some people say the stock market is today. Obviously the stock market is volatile (as always), but currently there is a huge opportunity to invest in the stock market since many shares are undervalued.

FTSE100 firms, aka blue-chip companies (the 100 largest firms on the London Stock Exchange by market capital, i.e. what it's worth) usually have the lowest risk. Firms such as Morrisons, Aviva and Royal Dutch Shell FTSE100 firms.

Regardless of how much the share price is now, it is much more important to look at the fundamentals of the company (their balance sheet, debt, growth potential, operating areas/countries etc.) If the fundamentals are good, then it is likely that the company can weather the economic storm and their share price will be appropriate valued in time. Since many of these big companies are undervalued at the moment, they present themselves as great opportunities if you're willing to hold for at least several years.

The other thing you can look out for is whether companies pay out dividends or not. Dividends are essentially quarterly or half yearly payments to shareholders, and they vary from company to company. It is often higher than the 3% of most good ISA accounts nowadays. Again, Morrisons, Aviva, Shell, BP, Tesco etc. all pay out dividends.

Therefore, if you do your research into a FTSE100 company with strong fundamentals which is currently undervalued in price, AND if it pays out dividends, then it's a win-win situation - you have a stream of income from dividends equivalent to (or maybe greater than) interest from an ISA account, and in future when/if the share price rise you can sell it for a profit.

Investing in blue-chip companies that pay out dividends is generally considered as low risk.
But the disadvantages/things that can go badly may include:
- You don't know when to buy the shares, since they may go even lower (Greece might leave the eurozone, Spain and Italy still have their problems, France's future with a new president opposed to austerity measures etc.)
- Your company may go bust (though if it's a FTSE100 firm with solid fundamentals, i.e. you've done proper research, then the chances of a wrong pick will be minimised)

If you do decide to invest in the stock market, then do look at it in a medium- and long-term time scale, and also don't just buy one share. Diversifying your portfolio also reduces risk (i.e. buy many shares from different industries).

Last advice, take a look at articles on The Motley Fool (www.fool.co.uk), often with intriguing reads. You can also learn more about investing on the website, listen to their podcasts etc. They're also an online stock broker (I use them!)

Hope it's helpful

PS: I would stay away from gold since people invest in it as a means to preserve the value of their wealth. Gold prices have already been driven to quite a high price, plus you don't really get much of a return on it. My understanding is that investment in gold is more of a "store" of wealth, rather than as a tool for creating a return on your investment.