large sum of money

[tt9]

if someone had say �50.000 to invest over 1 year to 3 years maybe longer what and where is the best place to put it

all advice welcome

thanks

 

[Bottom]

Well I suppose I would buy my girlfriend anything she wanted, Then put the rest in a High Interest account,

[Miss Zippy]

Is this a hypothetical question? If not and you do have that sum of money to invest, you should seek professional advice from an independent financial adviser.  Where you should put your money depends on your own circumstances, e.g. are you a basic or higher rate taxpayer (if you are higher rate you will pay more tax on any interest or other income your money makes, which needs to be taken into account when recommending a certain investment) and other factors such as your attitude to risk.  If you are risk adverse and a higher rate tax payer, for instance, then a National Savings product might be suitable.  If you are a risk taker, then a portfolio of investments in shares and hedge funds might be suitable.

[tt9]

thankyou miss zippy ...also all users please ignore the comments from bottom as she is my other half..cheeky mare she might get a cheap watch if she is lucky...

[Westminster]

Broadly speaking, I concur with Miss Zippy. When you say 'to invest over 1 year to 3 years' do you mean that you will need the money in that space of time? If so, it's rather a short time-span for anything but a deposit account. Bear in mind that if you wander into your local bank or building society, the financial advisor there will try to sell you one of their products. Diversification (not having all your eggs in one basket) is the key to safety, and re-investing the income is the key to long-term wealth accumulation. For most people, the best thing that they can do if Grandpa leaves them �50,000 is to pay off their debts. It simply doesn't make sense to invest in the hope of producing 5 per cent a year after tax if you're paying 6.5 per cent on the mortgage and still more on the credit cards.

[stevie21]

For anything long term (10 years or more) buy shares. Anything else, I'd assume you need access to the money so speak to a professional as it's a lot of money to invest on the strength of an anonymous & untrained person's word.

Just to bore you with my fact of today : if you invest money in a bank & it goes bankrupt you're guaranteed 100% of the first �3000 that you have invested with them and then something like 90% of the next �27000 so if you're *amazingly* paranoid, invest lots of �3000 with different institutions.

Lesson over!

[Westminster]

Most 'professionals' at your bank or building society are salespeople. One way of evaluating whether they are any good is to ask them whether you should use part of the money to reduce the mortgage or to buy National Savings Certificates. These courses of action may well be sensible, but since neither generates any commission for the financial advisor they are unlikely to be recommended. If the advisor advises against paying off high-interest debt, then question why.