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Friday 30 October 2015

Traditional Savings Options with next to no interest or UK Peer to Peer Lending with Realistic Returns?


Are you a just a ‘Sun Lounger Saver’ ? – or is Peer to Peer Lending and 'mixing in with the locals' your holiday habit?

Sun Lounger for Traditional Savers?


You probably wonder what on Earth I'm on about but please hear me out.  We recently took a holiday in Barbados and I noticed that most people in the hotel made a bee-line for the sun loungers and only ever left them to grab food or a drink (leaving the obligatory, illegal towel behind to reserve their space in the sun).  You’d find few guests ever venturing into the lovely pools and even less risking the delightfully warm ocean or exploring the idyllic, tropical beach.

Traditional Savers


Traditional savers have the same fixed ideas, such as investing in cash ISAs, but never think to explore the ‘loans’ beach yet alone the whole ‘lending’ island.  The peer to peer market in the UK is teeming with a rich variety of platforms offering lots of different angles on the Peer to Peer model.

Peer to Peer Lending  


You can play pretty safe and get interest rates of around 6% but you can also lend against a whole smorgasbord of assets and get interest rates of between 7% to 14% secured against land, property, words of art, cars planes, industrial plants or shipping containers.  Assessing the risks involved is all part of the fun.

Monkeying Around!


I’m a massive fan of UK Peer to Peer Lending and currently invest with around 10 platforms.  This is reflected in the fact that in Barbados my wife and I spend much of our time wandering along the beaches and boardwalks or catching local ‘reggae’ buses ($3 (60p) to anywhere on the Island).

Green Monkeys in Welchman Hall Gulley, Barbados

We saw lots of wildlife including loads of green monkeys and a recently hatched baby turtle heading for the ocean and successfully swimming out to sea against the crashing waves.  For me that beats lying on a lounger, getting drunk in the hotel bar or investing in a cash ISA!  

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