Money - Making it and saving it

[PongRiddims]

Hello friends,

Couldn't see a money thread so thought I'd start one, apologies if one already exists (and Mods definitely not spamming any EZ-Money type thing I promise)

Was talking stocks and shares with a buddy the other day, I've had some decent returns in the past through employee sharesave schemes, but since moved into a different line of work that can't offer such benefits. Was wondering if anyone invested privately and how they make their decisions?

Also, how much do you reckon you spend a week at work? How do you feel about it?

Safe x

[brommy]

Buy high and sell low. Or is it the other way around?

Not sure what you mean about spending at work. I earn money at work. Perhaps that is where you need to improve.

[wazzap24]

I can give you all the advice you want on spending more than you earn if that's any good to you?

I'm awesome at accumulating debt, not so hot on the rest.

[lloydxmas]

Tend to play the Foreign Exchange market quite a bit.

 

Risky as hell and can be very stressful.  Would not recommend it to a novice. 90% of the people, lose 90% of their money within a year by all accounts.

 

You need to be comfortable enough to carry on trading even on a losing streak, which is why i'd never do it for a living.

 

I do alright though I suppose and get some free beer money every month.

 

Pimping is way easier

[Eames]

Chuck it in an ISA or buy property. 

[zak]

Chuck it in an ISA or buy property.

 

IMO alot safer and easier to make money than playing with the market.

 

You dont need to buy a House, there are Property investment funds that crowd fund and so you only need sometimes as low as 5k to invest (but obviously you have little control over your investment)

 

One i am signed up to (although not invested) is a minimum of 20k and you are likely to have to keep your money in for 2 years but expected returns are 20% p.a

[PongRiddims]

Tend to play the Foreign Exchange market quite a bit.

Risky as hell and can be very stressful. Would not recommend it to a novice. 90% of the people, lose 90% of their money within a year by all accounts.

You need to be comfortable enough to carry on trading even on a losing streak, which is why i'd never do it for a living.

I do alright though I suppose and get some free beer money every month.

Pimping is way easier

What kind of outlay would you start off with? Are there signs of where to invest? I've not heard of anyone doing this before, quite interested

[PongRiddims]

Chuck it in an ISA or buy property.

IMO alot safer and easier to make money than playing with the market.

You dont need to buy a House, there are Property investment funds that crowd fund and so you only need sometimes as low as 5k to invest (but obviously you have little control over your investment)

One i am signed up to (although not invested) is a minimum of 20k and you are likely to have to keep your money in for 2 years but expected returns are 20% p.a

If you get involved in one of the properly investment funds is it just for a set period of time, say money locked in for two years at a time? Anywhere you would recommend looking to get more information kind sir?

[lloydxmas]

Tend to play the Foreign Exchange market quite a bit.

Risky as hell and can be very stressful. Would not recommend it to a novice. 90% of the people, lose 90% of their money within a year by all accounts.

You need to be comfortable enough to carry on trading even on a losing streak, which is why i'd never do it for a living.

I do alright though I suppose and get some free beer money every month.

Pimping is way easier

What kind of outlay would you start off with? Are there signs of where to invest? I've not heard of anyone doing this before, quite interested

You can open an online trading account (I use GFT) with 250 pounds I think. In return you can leverage that to 100x it's value.

So for 250, you can place trades for 25,000. Your chance of profit is greatly increased, but so is the chance of you blowing the 250 quid.

You can open a demo account to get used to the way it works, but it's an entirely different kettle of fish when there's money on the table!

Reading about basic trading techniques (stop losses, take profits) and technical charting (resistance and supports levels, trend lines and RSI) is a good place to start. Then you need to be tuned into to economic data releases and central bank decisions (The trading platforms have all this on their apps) as these can dramatically effect the prices.

It all depends on what sort of time frames you're looking at too, many people day trade and do multiple trades per day for or you can take a longer term view.

Best advice I can give you. "Have a plan and stick to it"

You can lose more than your initial deposit too, this is so important and many people don't realise this. Check out the EUR/CHF on the day the swiss bank removed the cap of 1.20. Heard stories of people owning 10,000s for only having 400 in their account. Stop losses aren't guaranteed when that happens.

Personally I think buying USD and selling EUR is a good medium term bet over the next 6+ months. U.S due to raise rates, Europe is still pumping free cash into the economy and the Greece situation still won't go away. Never that easy though and it will be a bumpy ride!

[PongRiddims]

Tend to play the Foreign Exchange market quite a bit.

Risky as hell and can be very stressful. Would not recommend it to a novice. 90% of the people, lose 90% of their money within a year by all accounts.

You need to be comfortable enough to carry on trading even on a losing streak, which is why i'd never do it for a living.

I do alright though I suppose and get some free beer money every month.

Pimping is way easier

What kind of outlay would you start off with? Are there signs of where to invest? I've not heard of anyone doing this before, quite interested

You can open an online trading account (I use GFT) with 250 pounds I think. In return you can leverage that to 100x it's value.

So for 250, you can place trades for 25,000. Your chance of profit is greatly increased, but so is the chance of you blowing the 250 quid.

You can open a demo account to get used to the way it works, but it's an entirely different kettle of fish when there's money on the table!

Reading about basic trading techniques (stop losses, take profits) and technical charting (resistance and supports levels, trend lines and RSI) is a good place to start. Then you need to be tuned into to economic data releases and central bank decisions (The trading platforms have all this on their apps) as these can dramatically effect the prices.

It all depends on what sort of time frames you're looking at too, many people day trade and do multiple trades per day for or you can take a longer term view.

Best advice I can give you. "Have a plan and stick to it"

You can lose more than your initial deposit too, this is so important and many people don't realise this. Check out the EUR/CHF on the day the swiss bank removed the cap of 1.20. Heard stories of people owning 10,000s for only having 400 in their account. Stop losses aren't guaranteed when that happens.

Personally I think buying USD and selling EUR is a good medium term bet over the next 6+ months. U.S due to raise rates, Europe is still pumping free cash into the economy and the Greece situation still won't go away. Never that easy though and it will be a bumpy ride!

Mate I wanna get involved here but you've just blown my mind! Thanks for info, I'll have a Google when I'm online proper, like the sound of it. Have you recorded your profit/loss?

[Xela]

I don't save as much as i should as i do waste money - have breakfast and lunch out most days, and dinner a couple of times of week.

 

Save via company shares and try and put some other bits and bobs away. If I can save £10k per year I'm generally content, although I know I should be saving more.

 

Long term aim is to invest into property and hopefully be in a position to buy another property in 3-4 years. Want to keep investing into shares as well as the dividends are decent and also trying to maximise my pension (c20% contribution combined)

 

Don't want to be working until I'm 65! Ideally by mid 50's I'll have a number of properties to live off and top it up via my pension and dividends.

 

Best laid plans however...

[lloydxmas]

Great move to reinvest dividends into more stock, especially if you don't have to pay a trading fee. No point leaving the cash on an account earning 0.50% ! After 15 years it really will pay off.

I resent having to pay a fund manager 2% fee just for basically 'tracking the market'. Ishares and vanguard index trackers are a cheaper and more flexible way to invest. You can always get out if the market crashes, not so easy if you're tied into a pension until you 50+.

Again don't do this unless you're well researched!

And ditto, I'm crap at saving. I like nice food and holidays, won't enjoy it half as much when I'm 65 so screw it. The government can house me ha

Edited June 17, 2015 by simont123

[zak]

 

 

Chuck it in an ISA or buy property.

IMO alot safer and easier to make money than playing with the market.

You dont need to buy a House, there are Property investment funds that crowd fund and so you only need sometimes as low as 5k to invest (but obviously you have little control over your investment)

One i am signed up to (although not invested) is a minimum of 20k and you are likely to have to keep your money in for 2 years but expected returns are 20% p.a

If you get involved in one of the properly investment funds is it just for a set period of time, say money locked in for two years at a time? Anywhere you would recommend looking to get more information kind sir?

 

The one i mention above is called cogress, they have a fair amount of info on their website. If you sign up, they will send you individual property investment opportunities. So you invest in one of these projects not a fund thus you wont get your funds or any profits back until the project is over. They seem to have a couple new project to invest in every month and so you can pick one that appeals to you.

 

The company i work for do a very similar thing but less frequently and for high worth investors. The reason i know of cogress is they are developing an opportunity we turned down at the last minute.

 

They do actually do referral fees if someone invests so let me know if your keen and i will be happy to split it. This is really not why i am suggesting it and i have mentioned them to family and friends.

[ender4]

i spend too much on holidays - £14k in the past 12 months.

 

They are crap holidays as well.   But they are in school holidays and the kids love them, so i guess its worth it...?  

[lapal_fan]

lol that's nearly half my salary.

 

what the **** do you do? Shoot Dodo's?

[Brumerican]

i spend too much on holidays - £14k in the past 12 months.

 

They are crap holidays as well.   But they are in school holidays and the kids love them, so i guess its worth it...?

The only post so far that seems to understand the bigger picture.

Spend money on experiences rather than things.

[leemond2008]

I remember when I was younger and I would go the pub and have 3 or 4 pints every lunch time, I couldn't understand why I was always skint come the end of the month, if I was having 3 pints at £3 a time (I think it was £3.50 but the figures are just as shocking) (sorry donnie) then that was £9 a day 5 times a week, I figured I was spending AT LEAST £180 on my lunch break alone, it was probably more than that because as I say I'm sure it was £3.50 a pint and a lot of the time I'd neck 4 pints in that lunch break.

 

at the time I was living at home so it wasn't so much of an issue but I still knocked it on the head and I don't ever go to the pub at lunch time anymore because its just a waste of money, by stopping that I found a hell of a lot of other ways to waste money and save none

[Stevo985]

Hello friends,

Couldn't see a money thread so thought I'd start one, apologies if one already exists (and Mods definitely not spamming any EZ-Money type thing I promise)

Was talking stocks and shares with a buddy the other day, I've had some decent returns in the past through employee sharesave schemes, but since moved into a different line of work that can't offer such benefits. Was wondering if anyone invested privately and how they make their decisions?

Also, how much do you reckon you spend a week at work? How do you feel about it?

Safe x

Get two ISAs.

 

A cash one for cash savings. 

And a shares one for, well, shares. You can get share ISAs that you can either manage personally if you think you can decide yourself where to invest your cash. or you can get one that is managed by a bank or building society or investment fund that decide themselves where it is invested.

There is obviously a risk. Your money can go down as well as up. But in general, as long as you do a bit of research and use a reputable one, you'll make money.

 

And invest in property.

[Genie]

With the current low interest rates not showing much sign of rising my pension prediction (still a good 30 years away) aint looking great.

 

I'm trying to convince the wife that buying a second property is a good idea...

 

 

[Stevo985]

My pension prediction is **** awful.

 

The biggest financial mistake I ever made was not signing up to the Final Salary Pension scheme when I joined JLR. What an idiot.