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Fidelity
by apexdvc For the record, I feel like pretty much every financial management company is a total ripoff. 90% of them couldn't pick stocks or bonds better than the average person and then they charge you a premium whether you make money or not. I've been forced to be with Fidelity for about 10 years through a retirement plan with my ... employer and I have earned a return of about 2% per year over that time. Perhaps some of you might think this is good considering the economic times, but for me that is a terrible return on my money. Even though my employer stopped contributing to this fund roughly 8 years ago and I have not put anything in the fund ever, they refuse to close my account until I quit my job so they basically have my money held prisoner to poor returns for the foreseeable future. One thing that is nice about Fidelity though is that you have the choice of switching plans on your own accord. The problem though is that none of their funds have good returns over any significant period of time so it's pretty much a crap shoot if you make money with them or not. Fidelity is basically a savings account for my money and should not be considered for anyone looking for a meaningful return on their money. If you want a safe place to store your money for a long period of time though then perhaps this is the place for you. Read the complete review |
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Zopa
by Rostow I first started lending money on Zopa in May 2010 and was initially apprehensive because I had never heard of Zopa never mind the concept of 'social lending' or 'peer to peer lending'. However, it has been actually pretty rewarding overall as my bank pays little interest on my regular savings whereas Zopa has offered a pretty good rate ... of return on what was quite a small investment. I have earned about 7.2% on my investment which actually makes me cheaper to borrow from than a bank - so the borrower wins and is much better for me because I make a much larger interest rate on my savings. The site itself is very easy to use and is easily navigable. There is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section that covers probably everything you would want to know either as a borrower or as a lender. If you cannot find a suitable answer to your query which has never happened to me, but you never know, then you can contact Zopa via many other mediums. They have an office in New Street London - the address can be found on the website under Contact Us - and they say you can just pop in there. Also, they can be contacted by: a contact form on the computer, phone, Facebook and even Twitter. As I said I personally have never had to contact them so I do not know how responsive they are but it is reassuring to know that there are so many ways in which to get in contact with them. The site explains in more detail than I can remember about all the security and safety measures it has in place which is what reassured my initial apprehensions. They are mention how they themselves are regulated and how your money is held separately so that it is safe. I am glad to say that so far none of my debtors (can't think of a nicer name) have defaulted yet and I have absolutely no reason to think that they will. Every time you log in you need to enter your username, password and finally memorable detail which changes (there are 3 to remember). This again is very reassuring especially to a new user. The site also makes it very easy to transfer money in and out. I use a bank transfer and it takes three days to pay money in and the same to transfer money out. This is very convenient and means that all money that has been paid back to you from your debtors can either be saved up and feed back into your account as a lump sum or you can feed it back in monthly or even as and when you need it which is what I do. One significant consideration to bare in mind is that you only have two choices as it stands of loan length and these are 36 months and 60 months. You must therefore have the ability to be able to invest money for this amount of time and not need it because once you have lent it out you only get back a small amount from each borrower at a time. How it works (roughly) You put money in You set your preferred interest rates and groups you are willing to lend to Zopa matches borrowers to best lenders Borrower receives the money Borrower pays back capital borrowed and interest monthly Importantly you select who you will lend to from a range of risk. There are A8 borrowers who presumably have impeccable credit ratings but there interest rates are lower. The groups go through from A* to A, B, C and Y for young. Risk can be lessened because you can pay in multiples of 10 (I think) a maximum amount to anyone person. For example if you lent out £100 then you could lend £10 to different people. They then each pay you back at the agreed interest rate. The risk is therefore less because you aren't as reliant on one person to pay back. If you type Zopa into Youtube you will find an advert which can also help you better understand what Zopa is all about. AVERAGES Average Lending Rate = 7.6% A* 36 months = 6.4 % A 36 months = 7.1% B 36 months = 8.5% C 36 months = 10.4% Y 36 months = 9.8% I personally am only interested in the 3 year returns because who knows how the economy might look in five years time. ISA's may be returning 8%. An additional award of £50 is credited to your account if you can refer someone to the site who then goes on to lend £2000 or more. Oh, I nearly forgot, silly me, Zopa makes its money from charging the lender a fee however this is fairly minimal and I can assure you does not eat noticeably at all into your interest accruement. I think so far my Zopa fee stands at below 1%. Lastly then as I nearly forgot this as well Zopa invite you to their birthday parties....I know how random and also they send you a weekly and monthly newsletter by email which I always delete so I am afraid I can't help you much with that. From memory though I'm sure it tells you something like that weeks rates and such like. LITTLE BIT OF FUN Average borrower is called David who is 38 years old and is from Birmingham. He is borrowing £4,847 for a car. Average lender is also weirdly enough called David and he is 44 years old. He is from South West London and has lent out £2,213. Zopa lenders are loaning out as it stands £4,629,975. On the 8 March 2011 218 new borrowers joined Zopa. Looks like this bubble is most definitely not going to burst. If you want to join please write a message and i can refer you. This costs you nothing and means I get some money. Woo. Read the complete review |
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Scottish Friendly
by jo1976 Back in the year 2000, my life was very different to the one I lead now. I was single, childless, earning my first decent salary since graduating a couple of years earlier and had relatively few major outgoings each month, having successfully cleared my earlier student debts. (Those were the days!) Whilst many 23 year olds might want do ... something a little more exciting with their income, I've always been more of a saver than a spender, so I looked around for a safe place to invest some of my surplus cash. 10 years ago, I didn't have access to the internet in the way that most people do now so I picked up information on savings accounts, ISA's and investments from newspapers and magazines (which sounds very archaic nowadays!) This is how I discovered the Scottish Bond offered by Scottish Friendly which is a kind of regular savings scheme, making use of a 'friendly society tax exempt savings allowance' and subsequently took out a bond with them. We're not talking massive sums of money here at all so this isn't a way for lottery winners to invest their sudden windfalls. The minimum amount you can save is £10 per month and the maximum is £25 per month (which is the option I chose) and the bond takes 10 years to mature and reach payout. At the end of every year, a bonus is added on to the money you've invested throughout the year which is then guaranteed once the plan receives its agreed term. The bonus depends on the performance of the stock market during that year but is likely to be relatively small. Looking back through my annual statements, I received just under £50 back in 2002 but this dropped to £22 in 2003. More recent bonuses have fluctuated somewhere between £20-£25 so this isn't a fast way to loads of cash, by any means! Unlike standard savings accounts, there isn't a set 'interest rate' paid on the money as this is an endowment policy which is affected by fluctuations in the stock market. This is one of those occasions where you will see a disclaimer along the lines of 'the value of your investments can go up as well as down.' Having said that, I don't think this is a particularly risky method of investing in the stock market, as the sums of money involved are relatively small and drip-fed over a long period of time. The downside to that is that the returns are also likely to be relatively small. There is some reassurance for the risk averse investor as the bond guarantees a minimum payout which was, in my case, £2617, although this was still less than the amount I would invest in the bond over the ten year course. The bond also includes an element of life insurance for this amount so my 'estate' would receive this guaranteed amount as well as any bonuses already added. When compared to the vast sums of money involved in most life insurance policies it is a pretty minor sum though and probably wouldn't stretch much beyond the cost of a funeral so I wouldn't be swayed by the inclusion of a life insurance element in this product. It is possible to cash in the bond before the 10 years are up if need be, although you are likely to receive less cash than you have actually paid in so this should only really be considered if you are desperately in need of the money. This really needs to be viewed as a long-term investment and, if that seems restrictive, a Scottish Bond may not be the best place for your money and an instant access savings account may be more appropriate. The monthly payments are paid via direct debit and, throughout the last decade, I haven't had any issues about payments whatsoever. In fact, I've had very little cause to make contact with Scottish Friendly at all, which I tend to see as a positive. The only time I've needed to contact them has been to notify them of changes in my circumstances. (I've changed address three times and got married once in the past decade!) Notifying Scottish Friendly has also been very straightforward as each annual statement included a simple slip to complete and send back if there are any changes to these sorts of details. For the change of surname, I also had to send a copy of my Marriage Certificate which is pretty standard practice for most financial institutions. Throughout these changes, my payments continued without any hitches and I always received my annual statements which gave me details of the bonus paid each year. I am pleased to say that I've never been subjected to any intrusive marketing telephone calls by Scottish Friendly, although they do occasionally send me details of other financial products available such as their Child Trust Fund and ISA products. The bond has been the only product that I've ever invested in personally. Well, ten years, one marriage and two children later and my Bond has finally matured. Having invested the grand total of £3000 over the course of the past ten years, I have received a cheque for £3,290.04. Admittedly, it doesn't seem a great deal of money in return for squirreling cash away over such a long period of time. I'm not financially astute enough to be able to calculate the equivalent interest rate that I've effectively received on my savings, particularly as this has been a cumulative account (as I had £300 saved by the end of year one, £600 by year two etc) rather than investing £3000 as a lump sum. I would hazard a guess that I would have actually earned more money had that money been put straight into a savings account with a high interest rate over the past ten years. £290 isn't a life changing sum of money by any means (especially taking into account increases in the cost of living over the last decade.) Perhaps I should have blown that surplus cash on fast cars, expensive champagne and luxury holidays whilst I had the chance! Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long to receive my settlement cheque (well, aside from the ten year wait!) I received notification from Scottish Friendly in the middle of March this year that my bond was approaching maturity and including a form to complete and sign to confirm that I wished to cash in. Following that, my cheque was received within the space of a week which is quite reassuring. With the benefit of hindsight, I probably wouldn't have invested money in one of Scottish Friendly's bonds. My experience hasn't been a negative one, by any means, but I think there are more lucrative ways of locking away small sums of money over the long term, even bearing in mind current low interest rates. I would personally consider setting up a fixed rate high interest regular savings account rather than one of these, whenever (if ever) I have surplus cash to spend again! Given the restrictions and timescales involved in these sorts of bonds, the relatively small profits made don't really seem to be worth the commitment involved. If you are interested in this type of investment or any other financial product from Scottish Friendly, more information can be found on their website www.scottishfriendly.co.uk Read the complete review |
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