To ask what investments gave you the best return

[totallycluelessmama]

Not really AIBU but just very interested to know which ISA/stocks or other investments have been returning well for you? Feel like most people IRL aren’t openly chatting about it!

hands down my premium bonds

but luck of the draw!

It's a how long is a piece of string question.

How long do you want your money tied up? Do you want regular income or just appreciation? Do you have any ethical concerns? What's your attitude to risk? Etc etc

Long term tracker funds tend to do ok but if you've a lot to invest it would make sense to be investing in a good FA first.

@NewYearOldMe2024

op asked for investment experiences
so not really “how long is a piece of string”

For me personally and several very wealthy / millionaires I k ow it’s been property that’s returned the highest ROI

Bitcoin and Ethereum for me but only because I bought early and got lucky, I wouldn't recommend it now.
After that, big oil

Why are you asking? There's a massive difference between "let's chat about how clever we all are at investing" and "tell me what I should invest in" (tip: don't take investment advice from anonymous strangers...)

Definitely premium bonds. I have the full amount and win a few hundred each month x

It's completely relevant. I might be over the moon because my investment in stock X paid off over 10 years. Investing in same stock for six months might be a completely different kettle of fish.

This thread is like the ones that ask how much people spend on their food shopping. It's pretty pointless. A helpful answer is not possible because it depends on circumstances that vary from person to person.

OP wants to chew the fat 🤷‍♀️

Premium Bonds

My pension. Mainly because I avoid paying tax on my deposits though.
2 years ago (COVID) was bad though, lost money that year.

Premium bonds are doing ok, comparable to a cash ISA but more fun. No tax on winnings makes for an easy self assessment.

Cash ISA rates lagging inflation so not a great investment really. Tax free returns so no agro on tax return. Might swap to stocks and shares ISA.

Early repayments on the mortgage are good for me, glad I did before the last renewal due to the rate rises. I'm about 13 years to go so compound interest still adds up.

Solar panels are on track for a 10 year payback, then will make money. But loft insulation doesn't seem to have made any noticeable difference.

If we knew the answer, we'd all be millionaires!

The best idea is to spread out your money so you're not overly invested in any one sector. Premium bonds don't have a great return rate, but they're safe and offer the chance to win big.

Equity funds are more risky but may well make you more money in the long run. But no one can reliably tell you which to invest in. A spread of equities and bonds, over various markets, is generally seen as a wise option.

So you might put some money in premium bonds, some in (say) a stocks & shares ISA tracking the FTSE 500, and a little bit into any other sector you like the look of - e.g. renewable energy, property, or the less risky government gilts.

Thank you for all your replies and questions. For clarity on my position and the reason for my question I’m not looking necessarily for advice on where to invest as I appreciate that it would not be smart to expect financial advice on a forum.

I just don’t think I’m capitalising or knowledgeable enough in understanding how to make investments really work for me. I’m kind of just putting in money into my ISA, LISA and a Jnr ISA for my 4 year old monthly and this is managed by one investment company only and is pretty low risk.

I put about approximately £1000 into the above pots (split up) and I’ve started to think that for someone in my position to be able to put that money aside a month, hopefully there are others who are in a similar position, but has some nuggets of information, advice and experience that has returned well for them, perhaps more diversification of their investments?

I’m open to hearing and understanding about peoples experiences with short-term and long-term as I think others reading this thread will find it interesting. For me personally, I’m happy to lock the investments away for a long time for a better return.

Hopefully that clears anything up and can help steer any further responses :)

Thank you for reading✨

As others have said it really is how long is a piece of string, based on:
The sums involved
The time involved
Your personal appetite for risk

I really value Scott Galloway's advice on wealth building and his advice is - don't try to look for the needle in the haystack, just buy the haystack.

That is, don't get sucked into trying to pick a stock or sector that you think is going to outperform - simply invest in basic tracker funds. These just track the average movement of the whole market. Over a decent period, they will deliver for you. There will always be outliers that do better than that average, but it's really little more than gambling to try to predict what those will be.

This is the best investment advice, I think. It isn't sexy or complicated but it's very sound.

The US economy is in a very good state at the moment, so I am putting my s&s ISA investments in US tracker funds.

There are also good rates on cash ISAs at the moment for the first time in ages, so I've got money in one of those fixed at 5.8% for a year.

My s&s ISA is currently only returning about 3.8%, but what's counterintuitive is that that isn't necessary a bad thing given I'm currently buying stocks and shares (rather than having an investment whose income I'm trying to live on). It's GOOD that they're cheap at the moment, because it means I'm not paying a lot for the stocks/shares that I invest in, but their value will grow. I'm seeing those investments as a 20 year thing.

LISAs are also a good way to get free money if you meet the criteria and don't mind eg not being able to access money until you're 60.

We have a 2-year monthly savings plan with the bank which we can pause at any time. It has consistently given 6% pa on the total amount (eg. 100 a month for 2 years = 2400 invested, final amount 2688). We’ve been doing that for 8 years now.
Much better than (some) other index linked lump sums.
But property is the best investment IMO.

Oh and property is a good investment if you are capital rich. But at the moment, getting into debt to invest in property is not the silver bullet it used to be, due to changes in tax regulations, and higher interest rates. BTL properties for example are much less attractive than they used to be, if you have to borrow to get one.

For someone not very big into investing, I would echo @laclochette in saying look at tracker funds. Then you just pick a region you think will do ok and put money into it every month. I have monthly investments into global and UK. But I have previous money into Europe, Asia Pacific, US etc. I’m not very active and haven’t looked at whether I should move my old funds.

As to which tracker to pick when you get down to UK FTSE100. The platform you use should have recommendations.

The general idea is to have a diverse portfolio so if one thing bombs another should do well. Split between bonds and equities and obviously max your ISA. Many funds can be invested in ISAs, it not just the generic and typically low returns that the banks advertise.

I am not an expert but my DB is and has helped me self invest. Currently the American equities are performing well but they might well have peaked. Even the experts get it wrong. That’s why diversification is a good idea,

Unless we have time machines how does knowing how well or poorly an investment did in the past help?

OP I suggest you buy a book called Girls that invest by Simran Kaur. It's really helped me understand so much more about how it all works. I wish this was taught at school instead of alegbra. Whilst I do enjoy a good algebraic challenge I'd be in a far better position in life if I'd been taught all this stuff in my teens.

How did you get in early with cryptocurrency? Possibly a stupid question - why big oil? Is the value going to go up due to what’s happening in the Middle East?

A bond has been the best for me.

Tied money up for a year and received monthly interest.

I’m not great at saving money but what paid off for me was putting regular small sums away into savings plans/bonds which were tied up for years.

The best were from NS&I, originally paying RPI plus 1.35% but in later years this was reduced to CPI plus something like .01%. No longer available as a new investment though. I’m allowed to reinvest the bonds I already had - one year I had 11.68% return.

Renewable energy, community share offers. Energy 4 All, Abundance and the like. 7% and no problems whatsoever.

Thanks for your replies everyone!

For those who mentioned property, is it usually when you can afford to buy the BTL properties for full price? And is it often still lucrative if you can put down bigger deposits, and still have a mortgage on the BTL?