Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#31

Post by fucking_tragedy » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 7:22 PM UTC

randomacct3847 wrote: post #15

I’m not going to give you financial advisor like advice, so be warned. 1k each in: 1. Teladoc $TDOC (telemedicine) 2. Canopy Growth $CGC (weed) 3. Nvidia $NVDA (gaming, crypto) 4. Bitcoin $BTC 5. Adyen (payments) Macrodrivers: growth in telemedicine/direct to consumer healthcare, eventual worldwide legalization of weed, gaming, mainstream crypto use, ecommerce payments....

Buying Bitcoin as an "investment" is like buying baseball cards or Beanie Babies as an "investment".

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#32

Post by pedrocr » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

IshKebab wrote: post #27

cabraca wrote: post #11

Do you have debt? Yes? Pay it off! Do you have an emergency fund? No? make that your investment! Do you have 3-6 times your monthly expenses set aside? No? make that your investment! Still money left? invest in MSCI World oder S&P 500 ETFs and let it sit for a decade or two ... that should net you your 10x growth Edit: removed the MSCI EM ETF recommendation ... S&P 500 performs better.

I have debt - a mortgage. But it's only 2%. Surely it makes more sense to invest in the stock market (~7% over a long period) than pay that off.

Long-term stock market returns are 9-10%. 7% is after inflation but that's acting on your mortgage as well. Mortgages are indeed cheap leverage for your savings portfolio as you're basically using as collateral a probably somewhat oversized asset, since most people could easily live in a smaller/simpler house if an unforeseen event happens. It's still a higher risk investment of course.

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#33

Post by pedrocr » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 7:29 PM UTC

lesss365 wrote: post #16

If you're considering following the suggestions of investing in the stock market, hold off until a possible Brexit market reaction passes in March. Also, wait to see if the S&P can get up and hold steady above $2750. If it can't hold above that mark for a month or so, expect significant drop. Read up on simple moving averages (sma), relative strength index (rsi), and stochastic rsi indicators. Then read up on golden…

Instead of doing this focus on making more money at the actual career you've chosen and being disciplined at avoiding hedonic treadmills and at investing consistently over time. Start doing this as soon as possible, ideally from day 1 of your earning career. If you do that variations in market timing are nothing to worry about. The worst possible timer in the world comes out well ahead of >90% of the population:

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market...

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#34

Post by 21 » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 7:37 PM UTC

fucking_tragedy wrote: post #31

randomacct3847 wrote: post #15

I’m not going to give you financial advisor like advice, so be warned. 1k each in: 1. Teladoc $TDOC (telemedicine) 2. Canopy Growth $CGC (weed) 3. Nvidia $NVDA (gaming, crypto) 4. Bitcoin $BTC 5. Adyen (payments) Macrodrivers: growth in telemedicine/direct to consumer healthcare, eventual worldwide legalization of weed, gaming, mainstream crypto use, ecommerce payments....

Buying Bitcoin as an "investment" is like buying baseball cards or Beanie Babies as an "investment".

10 years later, millions of percents higher, still waiting for the final collapse to zero.

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#35

Post by cabraca » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 7:41 PM UTC

randomacct3847 wrote: post #20

cabraca wrote: post #11

Do you have debt? Yes? Pay it off! Do you have an emergency fund? No? make that your investment! Do you have 3-6 times your monthly expenses set aside? No? make that your investment! Still money left? invest in MSCI World oder S&P 500 ETFs and let it sit for a decade or two ... that should net you your 10x growth Edit: removed the MSCI EM ETF recommendation ... S&P 500 performs better.

Emerging markets have substantially underperformed US stock market for last few years...in a global recession those markets would be the first to go.

well you're right. fixed that in my post.

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#36

Post by tomohawk » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 7:43 PM UTC

IshKebab wrote: post #27

cabraca wrote: post #11

Do you have debt? Yes? Pay it off! Do you have an emergency fund? No? make that your investment! Do you have 3-6 times your monthly expenses set aside? No? make that your investment! Still money left? invest in MSCI World oder S&P 500 ETFs and let it sit for a decade or two ... that should net you your 10x growth Edit: removed the MSCI EM ETF recommendation ... S&P 500 performs better.

I have debt - a mortgage. But it's only 2%. Surely it makes more sense to invest in the stock market (~7% over a long period) than pay that off.

Paying off all of your debts is life changing. Lose your job with a mortgage or rent? How long is your emergency fund runway? Lose your job with a paid off dwelling? Runway is a lot longer.

Want to take some time off and do something different? With a lot of debt hanging over your head this may not be possible. Everything paid off? No big deal.

You have to look at risk as well as rewards. You also have to look at flexibility and opportunity.

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#37

Post by fucking_tragedy » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 7:46 PM UTC

21 wrote: post #34

fucking_tragedy wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying Bitcoin as an "investment" is like buying baseball cards or Beanie Babies as an "investment".

10 years later, millions of percents higher, still waiting for the final collapse to zero.

The utility of a Bitcoin approaches zero for nearly all of its purported uses. Unlike financial instruments, the underlying asset represented by Bitcoin has no intrinsic value.

Bitcoins are more like tulips, baseball cards or Beanie Babies than actual vehicles for investment.

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#38

Post by garmaine » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 7:50 PM UTC

IshKebab wrote: post #27

cabraca wrote: post #11

Do you have debt? Yes? Pay it off! Do you have an emergency fund? No? make that your investment! Do you have 3-6 times your monthly expenses set aside? No? make that your investment! Still money left? invest in MSCI World oder S&P 500 ETFs and let it sit for a decade or two ... that should net you your 10x growth Edit: removed the MSCI EM ETF recommendation ... S&P 500 performs better.

I have debt - a mortgage. But it's only 2%. Surely it makes more sense to invest in the stock market (~7% over a long period) than pay that off.

The cutoff is between 3.5% and 4%, depending on your risk threshold. Anything less than that, keep it on the books and make minimum payments. Anything more than that and you'd be better off paying it down now.

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#39

Post by brokensegue » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 8:04 PM UTC

cimmanom wrote: post #21

lesss365 wrote: post #16

If you're considering following the suggestions of investing in the stock market, hold off until a possible Brexit market reaction passes in March. Also, wait to see if the S&P can get up and hold steady above $2750. If it can't hold above that mark for a month or so, expect significant drop. Read up on simple moving averages (sma), relative strength index (rsi), and stochastic rsi indicators. Then read up on golden…

Thank you for this, especially the Golden Cross / Death Cross links. I learned something today.

You didn't. Technical indicators like that are nonsense

Re: Ask HN: Which 5 investments of £1k each should I make?

#40

Post by tonyedgecombe » Sat, Feb 09, 2019, 8:09 PM UTC

IshKebab wrote: post #27

cabraca wrote: post #11

Do you have debt? Yes? Pay it off! Do you have an emergency fund? No? make that your investment! Do you have 3-6 times your monthly expenses set aside? No? make that your investment! Still money left? invest in MSCI World oder S&P 500 ETFs and let it sit for a decade or two ... that should net you your 10x growth Edit: removed the MSCI EM ETF recommendation ... S&P 500 performs better.

I have debt - a mortgage. But it's only 2%. Surely it makes more sense to invest in the stock market (~7% over a long period) than pay that off.

That often quoted 7% figure is based on US investments, I wouldn’t expect as high a return in the UK. It’s also historical, there is no guarantee it will continue. It also includes an element of risk, whereas paying down your mortgage eliminates risk.