Fees are small. If you play the lottery the way most people do—a few quid a week—you spend maybe £200 a year on it. You could invest this in the markets and do well.
I know, because I did this myself. I invested £500 in the stock market on 2003, and 9 months ago I withdrew £850.
That seems to be far above the average expected return over 9 months for any random stock. Research accounts for the difference between your success and a random selection? You may be giving overly optimistic advice by generalizing from a single experience.
Correct. Actually more like an 11.1% annual return, but yes. This is 2% above the expected long-term rate of return for stocks of about 9%.
I should add, though, that when I invested, I could have invested anywhere between £0 and £10,000. I chose £500 because I was young and frightened of the “risks” of the market.
Had I invested all £10k, I would now be the proud owner of about £18,000.
Depends on what you bought. More than a few stocks had the last few years of growth wiped off them last year, and that includes many well hedged managed funds. Your youthful assessment of the risks was perhaps better than you give it credit for.
What would the original investment be worth right now had you not cashed it in?
Fees are small. If you play the lottery the way most people do—a few quid a week—you spend maybe £200 a year on it. You could invest this in the markets and do well.
I know, because I did this myself. I invested £500 in the stock market on 2003, and 9 months ago I withdrew £850.
That seems to be far above the average expected return over 9 months for any random stock. Research accounts for the difference between your success and a random selection? You may be giving overly optimistic advice by generalizing from a single experience.
Edit: Pardon. I misread.
Wouldn’t that be 2003-2008, i.e., five years?
That’s about 11.2% annual return, if I’m mathing correctly this early in the morning.
Correct. Actually more like an 11.1% annual return, but yes. This is 2% above the expected long-term rate of return for stocks of about 9%.
I should add, though, that when I invested, I could have invested anywhere between £0 and £10,000. I chose £500 because I was young and frightened of the “risks” of the market.
Had I invested all £10k, I would now be the proud owner of about £18,000.
Depends on what you bought. More than a few stocks had the last few years of growth wiped off them last year, and that includes many well hedged managed funds. Your youthful assessment of the risks was perhaps better than you give it credit for.
What would the original investment be worth right now had you not cashed it in?