All that I have left of my savings....... I was so naive!?

A GENUINE CRY FOR HELP from a 79 year old.
A few years ago, I very stupidly I invested ALL of my SAVINGS (£3,000), in Aberdeen Technology.
However, soon after investing, the technology boom burst and my investment kept on dropping in value, until, at today's date, it is worth only £763.
I have left the £763, hoping that there would be a miracle and my investment would start to grow again....but that has not happened.
In a recent letter, from New Star, the Investment Company that took over from Aberdeen Technology, it reads "the fund has not historically paid an income and once again has declared a nill distribution for the accounting period 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2007."
I know that there are limitations on what advice can be given relative to investments, but I am hoping that someone with investment knowledge, might tell me where I should be moving my £763 to, so that I can see some growth.
Any help will be appreciated.
A genuine cry for help from a 79 year old.

This is a sad question and I am sorry that you have lost money. In 2000, following a small inheritance, I invested £3,000 in a HSBC FTSE 100 account. Over a period of about 4 years it lost half of its value and went down to £1,500. Like you, I was aghast and wondered if I should cash it in. I held my nerve and left it and now it is worth £3,700. However, the recent falls in stocks and shares has worried me once again. I think the safest investment is a mini cash ICA. However, I think you need to invest £3,000.

If I was you, I think I would move your £763 to a safer option because it seems to me that you can't possibly re-coup your loses if you leave it with Aberdeen Technology. Good luck.

I got caught out with tech funds too! On paper lost over two thirds of my investment.
My first thought when reading your question was were you advised to invest in risky tech funds by an adviser?
You may have a claim against the adviser, because they were high risk and not to be recommended to someone near retirement where a less risky investment would be best. especially if you were looking for income as well as growth.
I had a report from my investment company just today, and they seem optimistic about the fund. I am keeping mine as I think that nothing is lost until you cash them in.
Hope things improve for you. See whether you have a claim, I have heard of others who successfully made a claim for bad advice.

if i were you..
I would invest the remaining funds in an
ETF (exchange traded fund) that's tied to the price of silver.
Silver, in my opinion, will go up to at least another $10. (sorry don't know the conversion.. currently around $17).
Good luck.

Hi There, i just thought you should know that in my opinion you didn't "stupidly" invest all of your savings if anything you made a very intelligent decision of investing your money with a massive courage of taking a gamble. I admire you sir for the courage and for that reason i thought i'd tell you how i feel about it. I am no authority on the subject and for that reason i do try and read up on investment articles. I came across one on MSN i think a few weeks back and it said that to look to invest money in energy. It also suggested that the market is bad for people looking for short term profits but good for people who have the patience to see their money recover. Hope this help. Take care and God bless.

I feel your pain there! I did something similar. At around the same time I put £500 (which was quite a lot for me at that time) in Jupiter Global Technology. It's now worth less than £115, having sunk to a low of about £80.

I wouldn't mind so much, but I'm giving my money to an "expert" to handle it properly, and if I'd just bought shares in Apple or Microsoft or Intel, (ie. just one big name that's synonymous with the technology industry) I'd certainly be in profit by now! Without looking at the official statistics, I'm quite sure that neither of these funds have managed to out perform the market as a whole.

However, buying and holding is usually a good strategy. We both got caught in the wave of enthusiasm surrounding the bubble, and hence unsurprisingly lost out by buying at the very top of the market. What you should have done (which is obvious in retrospect) is put your money in something safe, like National Savings and Investments. The first rule of investing is, afterall, if you can't afford to lose the money, don't invest in equities!

But I appreciate that's not very helpful to you now, and although you started with £3,000, I'm afraid you've got to put that out of your mind and look at the reality of the situation, which is you have £763 that you want to invest.

So, since the first rule of investing is that if you can't afford to lose the money, don't invest in equities.

Can you afford to lose this £763? If not, my advice would be to pull it out of the fund. But, of course, you have to make your own decision, since if you put it in something safe, like National Savings, you might make 5%-6%pa, which is looking likely to reduce over the next year or so. The money will grow steadily, but will take a long time to reach £3,000.

If you want to make it grow quicker, you generally have to take a bigger risk. Make sure you're aware of the risks before you go into it (which maybe you weren't when you invested in technology) and then you should be able to make an educated decision whether it's worth putting your money there.

My favorite product at the moment is Zopa. It pays interest higher than a savings account by allowing you to lend money directly to individuals with good credit ratings. This is exactly what the banks do with the money they have in savings accounts, only they take a big fat profit off the top. Zopa allow you to keep all the profits, hence you make more money from it. I'm currently making 7%-11%, and am happy that Zopa handle the risk effectively so I won't lose all my money.

If you apply via this link:

http://www.zopa.com/member/The%20Hulk

Zopa will give you £30 if you lend more than £500, by way of an introductory offer.

Have a look at it, see what you think, and see whether you're happy with the level of risk. You can adjust it to your preference, and you can choose your interest rates.

Personally, I would recommend it, since an extra £30 (6% of £500, afterall, which you can immediately lend out, probably between 7%-11%pa) would be a welcome addition to your fund.

But whatever you choose to do, make sure you read all about it first, and are happy with what you're involving yourself in.

I hope this is of help.

People think that if you invest money you will gain, but no such luck. Whatever you in invest, you must be prepared to loose. You had bad advice, so never play with something you know nothing about. What can you do now? Get the remainder of your money out and cut you loses and put it in the building soc.

i think instead of discussing this here you would be better going to a financial adviser and getting proper advice. they dont normally charge for just discussing things with you and hopefully they could turn things around for you, best of luck

Sorry about your loss. I know how you feel. But now move it to an ISA account as soon as possible. There you won't loose any more. And it's one of the highest interset rates you can get at the moment with no risk.

I am deffinitely NOT a financial advisor but I would say, get your money out now while there is some left, put it in the bank then contact a financial advisor on whether it is worth investing or putting into an ISA. We have an excellent Financial advisor near us and he doesn't charge, he gets his money from the bank etc., I'm sure there will be someone similar near you.
All the very best.

with a sum that small I am afraid you would be limited to fixed investment plans that your local bank may offer. So sorry that you had to learn the dangers of investing everything in one pot in such a harsh way and at your time of life...

Rusty Old Thing?
The old man in his mid-eighties struggles to get up from the couch then starts putting on his coat. His wife, seeing the unexpected behavior, asks, "Where are you going?" He replies, "I'm going to the doctor." She says, "Why, are you sick?" He says, "Nope, I'm going to get me some of that Viagra stuff."

Immediately the wife starts working and positioning herself to get out of her rocker and begins to put on her coat. He says, "Where the hell are you going"? She answers, "I'm going to the doctor, too." He says, "Why, what do you need?" She says, "If you're going to start using that rusty old thing, I'm getting a tetanus shot."

R~

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