Investments.

Short and sweet.

Any ideas on the best way to invest £2000?

Replies from Africa with people who are already holding funds for me aren't required, you already email me enough so we're good.

Short and sweet.

Any ideas on the best way to invest £2000?

Replies from Africa with people who are already holding funds for me aren't required, you already email me enough so we're good.

Strangely enough Ian you can't go far wrong with Premium Bonds, they won't go up in value but they won't lose value either.

My Mum has around £5ks worth and she regularly wins around £150-£200 per year from them which is far more than she'd get from a normal "investment" in terms of return and the winnings are tax free!

I too have a large amount of premium bonds and they pay very well indeed, or you could look into bonds, I've had quite good returns in the past on them, look through the internet for the best deals.
Also it depends how long you want to invest the money for.
Good luck hun.

Gold.

Any spare cash I've got is going into Gold.

Short and sweet.

Any ideas on the best way to invest £2000?

Replies from Africa with people who are already holding funds for me aren't required, you already email me enough so we're good.

I'd look at Africa by the way look for land investment because of the food shortage around the world, get yourself a little farm & grow produce on...

Buy something and then sell it for more. Sadly £2000 may be a largish sum to you and me, but a stockbroker won't look at anything less than £50k and I am going back a long time with that figure.

Unit trusts are crap... trust me.

Maybe spend it on a great weekend out with the wife. That may pay dividends    

Sorry mate wish I could help   

Interest rates are F***ing ridiculous Ian, not worth a carrot in banks, building societies, unit trusts, long term savings or any other institution with links to the markets, the interest is overtaken by inflation every time.
2k is relatively small stakes for the alternatives - property, gold or antiques etc, even these more secure holdings can and do fluctuate.

As s@int suggests blow it mate, memories are priceless.

I've nothing more than a layman's understanding but I have read water is possibly the most underrated commodity around.

Not sure how you actually go about it, or if £2k is a sum that's worth investing, but it may be worth looking into.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/06/water.asp

http://commodityhq.com/commodity/agriculture/water/

Thanks folks, I know it's small fry in terms of what people invest but at the moment (for moment, see: years) me and Sam have been fluctuating terrifyingly around a financial precipice but my mum's just given us this and we desperately want to buy the council house we're in which we can have for 46k but we need to scrabble 5k together for the deposit so as much as I'd like to stay true to form and have shits and giggles with Sam and the girls my modicum of responsibility won't let me, this time.

So thanks again and I'll look into your suggestions.

YNWA

Ian without being too intrusive, what's the true value of the house?  If it's a fair bit more than what you can buy it for, which I'm guessing it is knowing where you live, then borrow the other £3k to make up the difference.  Even if it's on a high interest credit card type loan you can later add it to the mortgage at much lower rates once you've bought.

There really isn't any better investment than your own house, especially one you can buy at a fraction of it's true value.  In those circumstances if I had a spare £3k, I'd loan it you mate, that's how confident I'd be of getting it back 

Ian without being too intrusive, what's the true value of the house?  If it's a fair bit more than what you can buy it for, which I'm guessing it is knowing where you live, then borrow the other £3k to make up the difference.  Even if it's on a high interest credit card type loan you can later add it to the mortgage at much lower rates once you've bought.

There really isn't any better investment than your own house, especially one you can buy at a fraction of it's true value.  In those circumstances if I had a spare £3k, I'd loan it you mate, that's how confident I'd be of getting it back 

What Debbs said, solid & sound advice that.

What Debbs said, solid & sound advice that.

Yeah I'd echo that as well, for £3k I'd go for it, you should be able to get a loan at a bank for that amount. There quite simply is no better investment than property in terms of security and growth plus mortgage rates are ridiculously good at the moment.

Ian without being too intrusive, what's the true value of the house?  If it's a fair bit more than what you can buy it for, which I'm guessing it is knowing where you live, then borrow the other £3k to make up the difference.  Even if it's on a high interest credit card type loan you can later add it to the mortgage at much lower rates once you've bought.

There really isn't any better investment than your own house, especially one you can buy at a fraction of it's true value.  In those circumstances if I had a spare £3k, I'd loan it you mate, that's how confident I'd be of getting it back 

Sound advice that Debs, wasn't aware there was property involved but buying a council house is as safe as the proverbial. even if the location was inferior to Ian's which you reckon is fairly decent, ex-council are a sure bet.
Best of luck Ian.

What Debbs said, solid & sound advice that.

Yeah I'd echo that as well, for £3k I'd go for it, you should be able to get a loan at a bank for that amount. There quite simply is no better investment than property in terms of security and growth plus mortgage rates are ridiculously good at the moment.

Sound advice that Debs, wasn't aware there was property involved but buying a council house is as safe as the proverbial. even if the location was inferior to Ian's which you reckon is fairly decent, ex-council are a sure bet.
Best of luck Ian.

It's a no brainer for me lads but I also know that not everyones financial circumstances will allow them to take advantage of these golden opportunities. 

To some £3k is such a trivial amount, they'd use an existing credit card or extend an overdraft, for others it may as well be millions but I do feel in these circumstances it's worth the risk of whatever loan, high interest or otherwise as it's not really a risk.

Hope you can find a willing lender mate, I'd even go as far as asking the boss (not JD ) if the banks or other institutions aren't willing.  Another option would be a Credit Union, my daughter was able to use them for lots of large purchases in an emergency.

Bulk buy some wholesale lots, sell them individually.

I bought 200 re-manufactured washing machines at £30 a unit, sold 100 to a mate who deals in white goods at £50 a unit, 75 to an associate of his at £60 a unit and 25 on facebook groups for £100 each.

2 weeks to shift the lot and and made a cracking return on them.

Out of daftness.

As an example.

We play United next week.

http://www.cataloguebargains.co.uk/product/50-liverpool-football-snapback-caps-3-styles/ £37.50

http://www.cataloguebargains.co.uk/product/50-manchester-united-football-snapback-caps-3-styles/ £37.50

100 caps £5'er a piece for an outlay of £75

£425 profit.

Just don't get caught outside anfield by the Rozzers

Wang it in a brass house and invest in a year's supplies of blowies.

Stick it on us to be united. Guaranteed win.

£2,000 is nothing these days to banks sadly for us lot.

If you can afford to sit on it for a while then buy a load of shares in a bank like Barclays/Lloyds/HSBC.

I made a few grand and fu**ed off travelling on buying and sellng Barclays shares a few years ago when they plummeted and they're pretty low at the minute (£1.71) just last year they were £2.88 at their highest.

Buy them now and if you can hold on for £3.40 then you've doubled your money.

You just have to be patient.

I bought mine at 65p a share, happy days!

I'm afraid I am of very little help Exiled, my main investment in in Bloodstock (thoroughbred horses), it is far from a safe investment and the fluctuations depend on so many factors! However I am far from swimming in cash so getting into bloodstock looked near impossible for such a long time... but I have slowly made ground by taking legs (shares) in horses with friends instead of trying to make it on my own. I started by using my savings account to take 12.5% in a broodmare that as a group we bought for £8,000, we put her in foal to a commercial stallion and sold her 11 months later for £27,000. Obviously there were ongoing expenses for those 11 months but I was able to reinvest my profit for a larger share in our next venture.  We've had good and bad years but I've never left myself at risk of falling into debt, I've only ever risked what I could afford and (please god) it is going well to date.

I'm not trying to rope you into our next investment by any means , but it is just an example that while £2,000 may not mean much to banks etc. if you can get a few friends together, who's to say between you that you can't have a decent war chest to invest!? As with most suggestions here, it will need to build year on year, but stick to what you know (like me with bloodstock) and you won't go far wrong.

Best of luck mate.

Put your money into gold, never fails.

I'm also looking into the prospects of investing into water. Will keep you posted as soon as I find out more.

Gold, whiskey or premium bonds.

Water.