When do you intend to retire?

[lukemg]

I know you've been investing in ISAs and funds for years now and no doubt you are in a healthy financial position, but personally the funds route wasn't for me. I continuously found myself on the wrong end of the investment cycles and hence always waiting for my account to barely make my money back rather than actually making profits. And then what with all the financial woes of the past 10 years, the *ankers (where * = b or w) taking us for a ride, governments skewing the stock markets etc, I have completely lost faith in the financial markets. Wasted 15 years of my life trying to invest there.

I would much rather recommend property, which I find does take more effort but if played well allows you to build up a formidable income over time. Yes, certainly properties prices can go down too (rare though that is these days!) but over time and with the help of reasonable leveraging you end up with assets that throw off decent income every month, without eroding the asset base itself. And personally I find that it's a far more stable game than stocks/funds, for example you can have property let out to organisations on a 3 or 5 year contracts, where they pay guaranteed rent whether the property is occupied or not.

Still don't see myself 'retiring' for at least another 10 years though - too many upcoming expenses with the kids growing up. Though I may well choose to slow down if I get the option!

That's a fair shout and a leveraged property investment can work a treat for lots of people but it's too much like hard work for me and that's before some of the horror stories that have happened to people I know (not just the usual urban myths, real pacific heights stuff).
In a rising market property works well due to leverage AND because it is illiquid (it's hard to sell a bit of it so people are used to holding it for a long time).
If you apply the same discipline to shares it works as well.
SO - Forget getting rich quick, some tip off a mate etc etc you don't stand a chance.
BUT if you can stay the course keep dripping into a low cost index, I am certain you will do ok, I have been through dotcom, credit crunch, the odd war or 3 and not sold and the overall trend has been upwards and with a bit of compounding it works a treat.
They did a study on a brilliant performing fund in the US, it had done something like 15% a year for 20 years. The average individual investor in it had got 3% !! Entirely due to buying it too high and selling when it dipped big. They can't help themselves, if you can't help yourself, don't invest.
They have done this with kids - you can have a sweet now or 3 in half an hour, its to test delayed gratification. Most kids naturally dive straight in, a small percentage wait - these people make good investors.

[DimPrawn]

Me 'ouse is me pension 'innit?

Sell it for a few million in a few years time*


*Based on it tripling in value every week.

Bricks 'n' mortar. Luverly Jubbly.