Where to invest these days??

Scruff

I've been thinking of investing a bit of money but the problem is i dont know where :rolleyes:

I dont really want to put it into property cause then there is the whole hassle of having a mortgage to get rid of. I suppose i've one question about that...Say you were to buy a house\apt off the plans for x amount and got a mortgage etc and then sold it on when it was built, could you pay off your mortgage straigt away or are you tied into paying it off for said amount of years??

What about stocks and shares? anyone dabble in those? i used to follow the markets very closely but have lost touch in the last year or so. How does online share trading work?

Ideally looking for an investment which has a decent return(opviously with stocks, tracker bonds return cant be gaurenteed) but the capital insnt locked in for x years.
Any advice?

RainyDay

The Askaboutmoney.com Guide to Savings & Investments would be a good starting point. Max out your SSIA contributions (if you have one) and clear any loans first.

antoinolachtnai

The big problem with selling a house immediately when you take posession is that the prospective purchaser will have to pay stamp duty on it. This means that he or she will be willing to pay only a lower price for the property than if they got it stamp-duty-free (as you did, if you bought it to live in). There has to be a big uplift in property values between now and completion to cover this. Of course if you pay stamp duty yourself on it, you need an even bigger uplift to cover the costs.

Ros Man

In the current market property investments are long term investments (in my opinion). Say 10 years+.
All the experts are saying that property will only increase in single % figures over the next few years. This added to the probable rise (1-2%) in interest rates makes property a bad short-term investment. If you want to make money fast and are willing to risk it, then have a go on the stock markets. Short term trading can yield big returns, but you can easily get burned. It really depends on what type of person you are.
For online trading go to goodbody or davy as examples of Irish websites. These guys are tied to the big Irish banks and are supposed to be independend; however, there is a question mark over their independence. In other words, when they make a recommendation it could be an attempt to help a weak stock instead of helping you make a good decision.
Have a read of some books; you can get good recommendations on amazon.

midget lord

If you are looking at shares my big tip, as a short to medium term investment is american plc's who trade in mobile phones. May i suggest a company called Brightpoint international. They are mobile phone wholesalers in a relatively untapped market. I reckon their shares will steadily increase in capital value over the next couple of years. Another point to note on shares is that you should look toward capital appreciation to make your money as you are charged to cgt on that, whereas dividends are charged to income, hence income tax rates.

Victor

Shotguns and balaclavas? Oh, and a map of Munster or Connaught and a phone book that lists which bank branches have ATMs. The Leinster market is very competitive at the moment.

RainyDay

midget lord wrote:

If you are looking at shares my big tip, as a short to medium term investment is american plc's who trade in mobile phones. May i suggest a company called Brightpoint international. They are mobile phone wholesalers in a relatively untapped market. I reckon their shares will steadily increase in capital value over the next couple of years.

I really don't think it is appropriate to tip particular stocks here. Without casting any aspertions on your intentions, the web has been plagued with 'pump & dump' operators, those who buy shares at a low price and then pump rumours & hype round the web. When these have the desired effect of raising the price, these guys sell out, leaving the suckers who believed their posts carrying the loss.

It is very difficult for the average poster to assess your recommendation for a fairly obscure US firm operating in a different currency in a fairly risky commodity market, particularly when you provide no detail to back up your view that "their shares will steadily increase in capital value over the next couple of years". My concerns were particularly raised on seeing that Brightpoint have been involved in some fairly dodgy practices in the past, resulting in SEC investigation.

Investment in Brightpoint would (at best) be a high-risk strategy and is not for the faint-hearted.

midget lord

RainyDay wrote:

I really don't think it is appropriate to tip particular stocks here. Without casting any aspertions on your intentions, the web has been plagued with 'pump & dump' operators, those who buy shares at a low price and then pump rumours & hype round the web. When these have the desired effect of raising the price, these guys sell out, leaving the suckers who believed their posts carrying the loss.

LOL.

Get over it man.

Do you think im here to tell people to buy this stock so i can sell it on at a profit once the price increases? Im sure this has happened in the past, it makes sense, but to even mention this when someone merely suggests a stock is paranoid nonsense.

It is very difficult for the average poster to assess your recommendation for a fairly obscure US firm operating in a different currency in a fairly risky commodity market, particularly when you provide no detail to back up your view that "their shares will steadily increase in capital value over the next couple of years". My concerns were particularly raised on seeing that Brightpoint have been involved in some fairly dodgy practices in the past, resulting in SEC investigation.

Investment in Brightpoint would (at best) be a high-risk strategy and is not for the faint-hearted.

Not difficult. You are a 'regular poster' and didnt seem to have any problems sourcing some 'fairly dodgy practices'. I was fully aware of those practices and this is why i have mentioned it. Their stock is relatively low priced at the moment and IMO will increse in the future. My reason for believing this? The american mobile phone market is completely undervalued. Once the bigger cities get used to them. and they will, brightpoint are strategically placed to take advantage of this. Their business is mobile phone and accessory distribution so, of course, when the mobile market takes off they will be there to distrubute the wanted phones.

The stock market is much like playing poker, backing a horse or any other sort of gambling. Again, similar to gambling you can hedge your bets and reduce your risk by diversifying, but initially you need to research before you invest. Would you go playing cards with some of the sharks around here if you didnt know how to play? I hope not.

Finally i made this recommendation based on my gut feeling, like tipping a horse. If anyone is interested they should obviously research the market they are investing in and the company they are investing in and this goes for all stocks in general.

Merrion

You could look at investing in the forestry...it seems pretty stable and offers a reasonable return - plus you can turn around to your parents and say "see, money does grow on trees..."

antoinolachtnai

Go easy on the guy Victor! He's just trying to figure out what to do with his money, and it isn't easy.

I think this is a very poor time to be recommending people to break into armed robbery. Cash handling procedures have improved a lot and a lot of the traditional targets targets for start-up and small-time operators just don't hold much money. I heard about three guys who got done for sticking up a petrol station and stealing EUR 200. What's all that about? You get a better return on the dole, and with a lot less hassle and risk.

There are better returns from ATM machines and vans, but I think this is now a game better left to established players.

midget lord

antoinolachtnai wrote:

You get a better return on the dole, and with a lot less hassle and risk.

depends on the dole office

Scruff

hmmm, i dunno about that bank robbing lark. Its a big risk and takes alot of organisation. firstly i'd need a jcb and a get away vehicle, that means i'd have to bring in at least 2 others into the invesment scheme and my return would be diluted.

Had a quick read of that Aboutmone.com web site and aside from bumbing up your ssia it just says buy shares. Really must get myself organised, since i wrote the origianl post i've done nothing :rolleyes:
Maybe leaving it in a deposit a\c might be the best thing for me. Inflation would cancel out the mesaly interest rates but at least it wouldnt depreciate the original investment!
must pull the finger out and look around..

ur mentor

come on get the finger out. how much do you have; how much do you need to grow it into and in how much time. if you dont need it and cant answer those questions give it to charity and go and earn some more. the best way to get money imo is to give it away.

RainyDay

Hi ML - No offence intended. I do think your post was lacking balance (no mention of their dubious past (including being on the wrong end of a High Court action in Ireland in relation to software piracy, no mention of the currency risk involved in investing in a US firm, no rationale for a possible improvement in share price). It is important that such issues are pointed out for the benefit of the original poster and anyone else reading it.

I'm still unclear as to why you reckon Brightpoint may be undervalued. Do you seriously reckon that the professional analysts and fund-managers who have nothing better to do all day except analyse companies have 'missed' Brightpoint and left it at a low price? What have Brightpoint got that their 5 nearest competitors havein'g got? Distribution is generally a low margin business. Brightpoint's operating margins are 1.5%. Their directors have been selling shares over the past 6 months, so they don't seem to share your confidence in the future.

I just can't see any compelling reason why with all the shares in all the markets in the world, you'd want to invest in Brightpoint.

Merrion wrote:

You could look at investing in the forestry...it seems pretty stable and offers a reasonable return - plus you can turn around to your parents and say "see, money does grow on trees..."

RainyDay makes another friend. Tread carefully with the main forestry investment schemes on offer here. They are heavily dependant on the current grant/tax regime, and any cutbacks to that regime will make them unprofitable. Also, I'm concerned about how they directors pay their own company to maintain the forests. See here for more details.