Money to invest.

FX Meister

I have about €30,000 that I want to invest. At the moment it is just sitting in a standard deposit account so I'm gaininf very little interest. I was thinking about opening an online savings account with either Rabobank or Northern Rock. At the moment I am working two jobs and don't have a lot of time to source options of how to invest this sum. Does anyone here have any ideas?

Carpenter

FX Meister wrote:

I have about €30,000 that I want to invest. At the moment it is just sitting in a standard deposit account so I'm gaininf very little interest. I was thinking about opening an online savings account with either Rabobank or Northern Rock. At the moment I am working two jobs and don't have a lot of time to source options of how to invest this sum. Does anyone here have any ideas?

Yes buy a gaf in Turkey and make some nice money in a few years?

FX Meister

Nah, can't really do that as I don't have the time to put in the effort. Investing it in a savings account it the only option really.

BuffyBot

Rabodirect seem to be good. My mother is in the process of setting up an account them, and they've been pretty on the ball. The rate they are offering for a no-strings attached deposit account is pretty good.

mike65

paddypower.ie? Just think you could have got 100-1 on Liverpool winning the Champions League final at half-time!

Mike.

FX Meister

It's not all my money though so no flutters at the bookies.
Buffbot, has she looked into Rabo much? Are the government sponsored?

BuffyBot

FX - Rabo are one of the biggest banks in mainland Europe, and have also owned the ACC since the Government sold it to them in 2002. Fairly trustworthy

KTRIC

Give it to me and I'll "mind" it for you

cormie

Aha.. I say we go on a business venture. Split the profits. I've got some good ideas. Not just tv shows, other stuff too.

Esel

cormie wrote:

Aha.. I say we go on a business venture. Split the profits. I've got some good ideas. Not just tv shows, other stuff too.

Do any of these ideas include a 40-foot container?

cormie

Hehehe.. surprisingly not but I'm sure I could come up with something

ButtermilkJack

Have you thought about property at all?

I know you said no to Turkey but what about an apartment in Dublin. Spend €30k on the deposit, get enough rent to cover the mortgage, then in 2 years sell it and get your €30k back, plus whatever the gain is, probably around €20k. Don't think Rabo or Northern are going to give you €20k in 2 years!

Just an idea.

Merrion

To give a proper answer we would need to know:-

• What length of time are you wanting to invest the money for
• What sort of access do you need to the money
• What degree of risk are you prepared for

For example if you are looking at a long term investment with no need for immediate access to the capital something like the Forestry Plans or property would be an idea.

If you need immediate access then publically traded stocks and shares are an idea

If you need security then deposit account is probably worth looking at.

It might also be worth looking at savings/prize bonds - €30,000 stands a decent chance of winning some

full forward

I see that Northern Rock have responed to Rabobank and have increased their rate to 3.05. That will give you €15 extra a year on your 30k before dirt.

RainyDay

ButtermilkJack wrote:

I know you said no to Turkey but what about an apartment in Dublin. Spend €30k on the deposit, get enough rent to cover the mortgage, then in 2 years sell it and get your €30k back, plus whatever the gain is, probably around €20k. Don't think Rabo or Northern are going to give you €20k in 2 years!

Some possible flaws here - property may not continue to rise in value - rent will almost certainly not cover the mortgage - property will be vacant 2 months of the year on average - Very heavy transaction costs (legal fees, estate agent fees, survey fees, stamp duty) associated with property transactions will make it difficult to recover your investment in a short period - you'll need to invest time in managing a property - you'll need to furnish the property.

Merrion wrote:

It might also be worth looking at savings/prize bonds - €30,000 stands a decent chance of winning some

Steer well clear of prize bonds. 'Average' returns of about 2.7% are heavily skewed towards the very small number of huge prizes.

ButtermilkJack

RainyDay wrote:

Some possible flaws here - property may not continue to rise in value - rent will almost certainly not cover the mortgage - property will be vacant 2 months of the year on average - Very heavy transaction costs (legal fees, estate agent fees, survey fees, stamp duty) associated with property transactions will make it difficult to recover your investment in a short period - you'll need to invest time in managing a property - you'll need to furnish the property.

Steer well clear of prize bonds. 'Average' returns of about 2.7% are heavily skewed towards the very small number of huge prizes.

Ok I admit it's not as straight forward as it sounds, but it's not as difficult or daunting as you might expect either.

€23k on deposit, €5k on furnishing, €2k on legal (+misc.). A two-bed apartment/townhouse in suburbs will cover the rent if you take a very long mortgage term 35/40yrs (why not? you're going to sell in 2 years anyway, just keeps the monthly payments as low as possible).

Sounds like he just wants a no-hassle solution anway, so maybe you're right, too much to do here.

RainyDay

ButtermilkJack wrote:

€23k on deposit, €5k on furnishing, €2k on legal (+misc.). A two-bed apartment/townhouse in suburbs will cover the rent if you take a very long mortgage term 35/40yrs (why not? you're going to sell in 2 years anyway, just keeps the monthly payments as low as possible).

Don't forget to build the 6% stamp duty into your calculations too. And to consider the tax liability from your rental income (though mortgage interest relief will reduce this considerably).

FX Meister

I already have two rental properties and they take a bit of time to manage so I don't really want the hassle of another just yet. I think I'll go for Rabo but will check Northern Rock again as they have increased their interest rate. I need something that has no risk at all so stocks are not an option and I also do not want to commit to a lonngish term like 5 years or so as I might need the money in a few years. Thanks for all the replies.

RainyDay

FX Meister wrote:

I think I'll go for Rabo but will check Northern Rock again as they have increased their interest rate. I need something that has no risk at all so stocks are not an option

Note that deposit accounts carry a very real risk - the risk that inflation will eat away at the real value of your money every day. Indeed, if you check out the Askaboutmoney.com Guide to Savings & Investments, you'll see that over the long term, stock market investments are less risky than deposit accounts. But if you do need the cash within a few years, you are dead right to keep it on deposit.

Selik

I would recommend that you split your E30k up and invest around:

15k in stocks
5k in Northern rock
10k in managed fund or bond such as one of the Mercury Wealth ones.

Or you could fly to Vegas and put it all on black!

drdre

the best thing is invest it with rabobank or nothernrock. and just kep it safe until u need it. or put it on an appartment,if u had of put it on beechpark in stillorgan dublin u would have made 50k profit within 3-4 months as it went up that much. my dad got one and my friends dad is the builder so he was telling my dad that the prices flew up like mad as demand increased.:eek:

pokermonkey

ARE YOU CRAZY???????

put it on red!

30-6shooter

Lol

HerrBob

There are huge worries about investment in property - there's a serious risk that the inflation of house prices are about to stop. It's especially dangerous for Irish people... the market price here is incredibly overstated and people here have an obsession with property. Ignoring legal and misc costs, and assuming you could cover your interest payment with rental income, if you expect to make your profit on capital gains (which, by the way, will also be heavily(?) taxed), it could be very risky.

Not that I'm an expert or a clairvoyant, but from what I've been reading, "they" (the omnipresent "experts", sorry for not digging up sources :P) think property is one of the biggest economic bubbles of all time, and is about to burst.

soma

HerrBob wrote:

There are huge worries about investment in property

Bob - I'm in the Should I/Shouldnt I boat myself, although a property purchase for me would be as a principal residence not an investment.

Anytime I try to have a level headed & logical conversation out there in the 'real world' with any irish people I am looked at as if I have three heads, pitied, and told "Ireland is different - property never goes down - the demographics & demand point to never ending growth".

A great description I saw of the Irish economy lately was "it's an economy that's booming, but is operating under the interest rates of an economy during a recession". I think that's quite accurate. People are not prepared for interest rate rises. *However* having said that I see that yesterday some MEPs sort of 'rebelled' against the ECB and are pushing for a rate cut to stimulate places like Italy where they are now predicting 0% annual growth - so lord, I dont know what to think.

I do know one thing.. when I see 3-bed semis in tallaght going for 350k it makes me very very nervous that we have lost all sense of reality and worth..

Anyways the original poster already has 2 rental properities so if he's smart he'll adopt the finger in every pie approach. Also in times of recession/trouble etc.. cash is king, so a healthy deposit account like rabbo is not a bad thing.

Also, I think now is a good time to start getting back into equities and some dependables like silver/gold.

soma

HerrBob wrote:

Not that I'm an expert or a clairvoyant, but from what I've been reading, "they" (the omnipresent "experts", sorry for not digging up sources :P) think property is one of the biggest economic bubbles of all time, and is about to burst.

Oh and you are probably referring to the recent article in the economist magazine which declared that the current worldwide property market was possibly the greatest bubble (of any asset) in history.

FYI - the Irish Independent ran a column a few days later (in response to the economist article) basically saying "Ireland is different - it doesnt apply to us - no bubble here" and hey, they could be right.

GreeBo

people gotta live somewhere...

TheLedge

Can I ask a question here.

Whenever people ask about investing money on this forum, somebody always pipes up with the NR/Rabo accounts. OK, it's low risk, but the return isn't even worth talking about! for a 30k investment, are you actually seriously considering 3% a good return? 900 quid, minus inflation minus DIRT?

Am I missing something out here or what?
somebody even mentioned about getting an extra 15quid over a year. I mean, what the hell is 15 quid in terms of a 30 grand investment. chump change.



split your investment between stocks, IMO.

soma

TheLedge wrote:

Can I ask a question here.

Whenever people ask about investing money on this forum, somebody always pipes up with the NR/Rabo accounts. OK, it's low risk, but the return isn't even worth talking about! for a 30k investment, are you actually seriously considering 3% a good return? 900 quid, minus inflation minus DIRT?

If you're referring to me by this - I was talking about *some* cash in a healthy deposit account that is not going to get ravaged by fees. The rest - equities, I think its a great time to get back into them, Id also be tempted to throw a few K at gold.

TheLedge

I wasn't aiming it at any individual as such.

I'd have no problem with reccommending the online deposit accounts if someone asked, "who gives the best rate on deposit?", but as an investment it's a bit ridiculous.

RainyDay

soma wrote:

Bob - I'm in the Should I/Shouldnt I boat myself, although a property purchase for me would be as a principal residence not an investment.

Anytime I try to have a level headed & logical conversation out there in the 'real world' with any irish people I am looked at as if I have three heads, pitied, and told "Ireland is different - property never goes down - the demographics & demand point to never ending growth".

Buying a house to live in is not an investment - it's about buying a home. If you can afford the home, buy it. The risk of negative equity needs to be balanced against the risk of being priced out of the market.