Reply to: Plan B Suggestions

[threaded]

Itinerant musician, Gran Canaria

[jenever]

Investment wise I've been watching precious metals as they have doubled or trebled over the last few years - could be TNBT if shares tank on the back of a housing bust. Or not.

[lukemg]

Do you think Japanese fund will fare well now since it seems to be on the rebound or china , india funds ? Do hargreaves provide some advice also and how impartial their advice is ?

They are brokers and to a certain extent impartial (they get money no matter which fund you choose !) don't provide direct advice although they can prob put you in touch with someone. Personally I wouldn't trust anyone else, I make the decision and live with it. That's why a tracker/general fund is a good start - spreads the risk around. If you have got 50k of safe funds then hell yes - chuck 7k at the aggresive emerging markets fund for a gamble.
It is all gambling in the end it's just that you get to decide when the race finishes (which is why it HAS to be spare cash) and which race you want to enter - plodders, where they will all finish ok or nutters, where some will do great and others will keel over dead !
I don't try and guess the market too much and have no idea which area will do well next year and I guarantee no-one does even if they sound certain !!

[andy]

Do you think Japanese fund will fare well now since it seems to be on the rebound or china , india funds ? Do hargreaves provide some advice also and how impartial their advice is ?

[lukemg]

Good advice Luke
Could you suggest some unit trust names as it looks like there are millions of them. Thanks

Yeah, the choice is quite daunting when you first have a look ! I have tended to chose different areas each time I have invested with 60% being uk, 25% euro and the rest Asia, US and global funds. Most recent was Skandia Best UK ideas ISA - They have taken 10 good fund managers from various companies and tasked them to pick 10 shares each, in other words it is tapping into a wide variety of knowledge/ignorance. With no restrictions on type of share e.g. small co's, FTSE100, tech etc.
Other ones that have done well for me are Fidelity Europe and Special Situations (now split into Global + special situations) These have averaged 20%+ annual return since 97 !! Jupiter income, europe and uk growth have also done well.
NOTE - There is no guarantee these funds will be great next year, I bought Gartmore Euro selected special opps because they had 2 great years - have averaged 2% since I got them. I could churn them into something else but sometimes last years dog fund becomes a star - I will hang on.
My advice (wwypfi) is to get in touch with Hargreaves Lansdowne and buy the cheapest charging tracker you can through them (ftse or all-share) this will get you in the game. They will send you a newsletter every month or so - YES this does have a positive slant and encourages you to invest but it also gives you some info about the funds and managers.
The following year maybe look at a UK general fund e.g. the Scandia best ideas. Following year consider European, US funds have been stung by the exchange rate but if that drops back down you will get a double bonus. Stick to the big fund companies.
KEY IS - invest cash you won't need for a few years and leave it in, yes they can go up and down over time but historically over a longer period you should do well.
This will not be spectacular returns promised by the latest bubble - tech shares/BTL and I have considered I have missed out on certain investments but now I am happy I didn't chase these markets and try to guess the top - my dad used to say - unfortunately no-one rings a bell at the peak !
You get a real buzz when the statements come through with increases on.(yes I know they can go down too)
HTH
Anyone is free to PM me if they have any questions.

[lukemg]

I'll give you an idea for free.

It's called 'Rent a Pet'

People choose a pet from a website and the period of rental, pay in advance along with a deposit.

The chosen pet is delivered by man in a van along with all sundry items (bedding, leads, etc etc).

At the end of the rental period, bloke with van returns to pick up said pet, checks for damage etc.

Good chance of rentals rolling on when the kids fall in love with the pet.

I thought the slogan could be:

'A dog is not for life, it's just for Christmas!'

Whadya think?

I like it !! Would be happy to borrow a smallish dog for the weekend, my lad would love it, off for walks etc. Want the same dog each time though...
Do it !

[Diestl]

Or Rent a Kid, for famlies thinking about having children? Would need to vet potential clients though.

[Paddy]

I'll give you an idea for free.

It's called 'Rent a Pet'

People choose a pet from a website and the period of rental, pay in advance along with a deposit.

The chosen pet is delivered by man in a van along with all sundry items (bedding, leads, etc etc).

At the end of the rental period, bloke with van returns to pick up said pet, checks for damage etc.

Good chance of rentals rolling on when the kids fall in love with the pet.

I thought the slogan could be:

'A dog is not for life, it's just for Christmas!'

Whadya think?

I would like to rent a sheep for the week end. Hu, ahu, ahu slurp slurp.But there is this...

[Bear]

I'll give you an idea for free.

It's called 'Rent a Pet'

People choose a pet from a website and the period of rental, pay in advance along with a deposit.

The chosen pet is delivered by man in a van along with all sundry items (bedding, leads, etc etc).

At the end of the rental period, bloke with van returns to pick up said pet, checks for damage etc.

Good chance of rentals rolling on when the kids fall in love with the pet.

I thought the slogan could be:

'A dog is not for life, it's just for Christmas!'

Whadya think?

[VectraMan]

If it's not stating the obvious, the way to make money on these things is find something that people a) want, and b) can't easily get via some other means. The problem with e-bay is that there's almost certainly other people doing the same thing as you, and it's very easy for potential customers to compare suppliers.

[Euro-commuter]

Good advice, luke. My addition: find something that you enjoy doing, then find a way of getting paid for doing it. Plan B is so much easier if you would choose to do it even if you didn't have to. Mate of mine built up quite a nice little sideline in freelance photography that way - key was that he loved it to begin with, so he was getting paid to have fun.

I thought about that. I decided that, because I love photography so much, I didn't want to turn it into a job.

I said this to my daughter and she said she had made the same decision about sex. I suppose I should be pleased.

[Euro-commuter]

Start a moneylending franchise.

http://www.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/

[Euro-commuter]

I've got 'collectable tat' in my garage where the book price is 20 quid per item. Yet when I look for same on ebay, I see a dozen other people selling with bids of 1.99. It ain't easy at all.

No. Trouble with eBay is that it doesn't generate any more real collectors, just 12 times as many people who are bargain hunters. They don't really want your 20 quid collectable, but they'll take it for a 90% discount. So the large number of auctions and buyers on eBay is just noise.

Instead of looking on eBay to see if your item ever sold at your price, log on and keep an eye on completed auctions, checking out the proportion that didn't sell (and was that 0-bid or didn't-make-reserve?) and the full range of prices they did sell for. It's a revelation. I see a lot of stuff with say 1 at 20.00, 3 at 4.99, 6 at 1.99, 5 no bids and a couple of didn't make reserve. That's what happens to 20.00 items on eBay.

I'm thinking instead of selling 99p items for 50p plus 5.00 p&p.

[NoddY]

Start a moneylending franchise.

[tim123]

I've thought about selling tat on fleebay... how hard can it be?

Yes, How hard can it be?

I suspect that you've underestimated just how hard it really is. A niche where you can make 30 quid per transaction and sell 20 per week is going to be quite hard to find.

I've got 'collectable tat' in my garage where the book price is 20 quid per item. Yet when I look for same on ebay, I see a dozen other people selling with bids of 1.99. It ain't easy at all.

Selling for a fiver and making 50p per transaction is easy but you're not going to get rich on that.

tim