Investment & Investing

Charter Savings Bank are offering 1.79% on 1yr bonds at the moment.

That looks to have already dropped! Now 1.66%.

Pretty unimpressive rate though, unless I'm missing something?

unless I'm missing something

The implied 6m risk free rate is 0.28% - 1.66% is more than this, but you need to factor in the associated risks of putting your money into a bond that is back by an issuer with a meh credit rating.

I don't think you're missing anything. Interest rates are near a historical low at the moment. Not a great time to be a saver.

All rates are unimpressive, on larger amounts. But if you've got a partner you can open three 1-2-3 accounts (yours, his/hers, and joint) and get 3% on a total of 60k.

his/hers, and joint

Did not know this - genius.

Works with the TSB accounts too. Amounts are smaller (2k) but 5% of instant access is always useful!

I'm finding Nutmeg decent so far; stocks and shares ISA returning better than a cash ISA (think it's about 3.8% at the moment).

I don't have the time or knowledge to micro-manage investments so I'm judging it by ease of use as well as just returns.

This...
Nutmeg is doing about 7.5% growth for me, so I am throwing everything spare I have in there.

Maybe I've read too much zerohedge recently but I wouldn't touch bank bonds with a barge-pole. You'll be fine as long as the ECB / BoE continues spending money buying the junk bonds, but the moment that game stops, expect to be bailed in on all that bad debt

I am super-keen on starting an ISA with Nutmeg, just 100 a month on a high-risk plan, leaving it for 30 years whilst gradually throttling down the risk until I retire.

Also looking at etfs exchange traded funds to spread risk. But it's still stocks.
So hard to get a decent return on your investment. But I have a funny feeling that traditional summer sell off is now immenant could be a good idea to buy. I'm gonna move the cash isa into a s&s isa and leave it as cash with my finger hovering over the buy button. Let's hope this works out. I'm not decided to specifics shares but you gotta be in it to win it. Time to shake of my risk aversion.
Wish me luck.

Any body done any peer to peer leading or crowd funding?
Funding circle seems to have a good track record too. The risks seems reasonable and cautious approach. Perhaps another avenue to explore?

That is awesome

I guess. But I have got my risk appetite score way up there and it is my chosen vehicle for long term (20yr) investment, so expecting to have to weather some storm.

I have the risk at medium and shorter investment period so probably a bit more of a realistic return for what you're looking at.

ETFs are a different kettle of fish - although you are buying a single name stock, the performance of that stock is linked to a basket of underlying securities so you get the diversification you would not have by just buying the two stocks you mentioned - which is a good thing.

Good luck whatever you do; try and find a way to manage the risk that works for you

Heh, yeah I just opened an ISA with them doing just this. Although I'm only putting in 100 a month until I feel more comfortable with it (and also because I am hopefully buying a house next year).

So what to do? Rates are cap.
Buy premium bonds and cross fingers?

Soon to be 2%

I'm waiting at the moment. But I'm looking at a buying a soon to arrive dip and run the Santa rally till early January 2017. Tempted by a leveraged etf of the ftse100 index, ticker luk2. Hopefully it works out very close to gambling so fingers crossed. The only pit fall is UK government pulling the trigger on article 50 before new year.

Best of luck, you seem to have a plan.

My only other advice is to read the terms of the ETF closely. There have been a number of cases where the performance implied by the name of the ETF does not match the performance of the underlying derivative contract

I'm a little worry about decay costs, as the etf depreciates due to the cost of leverage also the counter party risk but as a relatively short term holding think it's worth a punt.
Like any true gambler I'll be back to gloat about my winnings, but if I lose I'll quietly retreat to park bench with a pack of tenants super.

Well in my first month... it's gone up a tenner, down a tenner, then down another quid. Let's see what September brings.

insert FCA 'capital at risk' warning here

I find the only drawback with Nutmeg is the temptation to check it daily, and the itchy trigger finger that comes with it.
This month I was up over 10% growth, which then dipped back down to 6ish% a week later.
As I say, Nutmeg suits me and my high(ish) appetite for risk as I will be making regular contributions (so any dip in market also = more units for my money) and I don't intend to touch it for minimum 18 years. Also FWIW, I was also super impressed by their preparation for, communication throughout and performance with the whole Brexit pigbath.

Doesn't stop me logging in every day and going "oooooh" or "oh." though.