kimchi

Great ideas. Buying land, getting planning permission then selling the land can make fantastic money for little effort but something I'm not yet confident enough to do as the risk of failed PP and my lack of knowledge in that area. But if I got pally with a local planning officer I'd be all over that shizzle!
I do high quality refurbs to attract high quality tenants and I insist a home owner guarantor (that kind of guarantor isn't going to leave the country!) This way I am much less likely to have defaults (never happened yet - touch wood) but there are two downfalls:
1) Good tenants with good jobs soon move out as they save for a house/can afford it easier
2) It's harder finding these tenants so can result in an extra week or two of an empty property (but I think it's worth it as it's less stress long term)
I'm taking time off buying atm because I need to put health before wealth (the stress gets to me at times. I'm a worry wart and many times I worked on sevral properties at once - while still running my retail business - which gets overwhelming). So I'll buy again in the middle of the impending slump when prices are low and I've had a nice break from it.
A great tip is that you could set up a property Co, then lend your money to the propery Co and charge it interest. That way property Co is paying you instead of the banks and your money is going to work (interest needs to be BOE base rate +3% minimum to be considered "arms length" in HMRC eyes). I do the same as an intercompany loan (my retail Co lends my property Co) for some of my properties. Effectively this means I'm my own lender and money isn't sat in the bank making pittance interest. This enabled my property business (which started with nothing) to thrive. And intercompany loans avoids you taking money out yourself - hence no 40% tax.
Which brings me here to silver and gold. It requires no work. It sits there looking pretty (well, I say that, but I store it externally so I don't really get to drool over it). But I'm really happy with precious metals at the moment (they don't eat up my time). I also have an Amazon store and the Christmas rush is coming so it's perfect timing for my "other" investing to be focused on PMs. I reckon by the new year I'll get itchy feet and like @GoldDiggerDave I'll be wondering what my next investment focus should be on.
I am getting more interested in Bitcoin the more I hear about it but I just don't have the balls (literally 😜) when it comes to intangible assets. But I'm really tempted.
I'd love to know what the rest of you guys are doing investing-wise? I'm always looking for inspiration for my never switched off mind.

Good morning TSF.
I thought I would put a general post up first before I post the auction later today or tomorrow morning.
I will be running a "go fund me auction" for a page I set up in memory of my late brother (I will link all info below for more reference).
As many know I post sales of coin slides that I sell for CCT, he has generously said to me he will donate a slide and a 1 oz silver coin to the winner and all postage cost's covered by him.
A bit about the cause, my youngest brother passed away 2 weeks ago at the age of 33 with multi organ failure caused by heart failure, he found out about his condition in his mid 20's but got progressively worse over the last 3 years. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heart-failure/ this nhs link will give you more information on this horrible condition.
One of the main issues with this condition is fluid build up and you are very limited on the fluid you are aloud to have, he spent a lot of time on a ward for heart failure and the one thing he was aloud a lot of was ice (to help satisfy the thirst) but was an issue to try and get some, so he did start proceedings to get a ice machine on the ward for all the heart failure patients but sadly passed before he could do much more.
So in his memory I've been in constant contact with the ward and have set up a go fund me page to make his dream a reality. The link to the page is below.
https://gofund.me/5cf9ca12
Thank you all for taking the time to read and hopefully take part in the auction when it goes live.
Both auctions are linked below for you to take a look at.
@ChrisSilver might it be possible to have a banner on the home page? If not that's okay.
 
 
 

Thank you very much, I am very humbled to be part of this amazing forum.

Sorry for your loss. I have donated mate! Hope you hit the target. 

Auction out of my reach chap but have donated a worthy cause and I'm sorry for your loss

Thank you very much, its all going to help so much with my brother's wishes 

Seeing the bullion design for the Yale only confirms my decision not to collect this series in bullion. 
I was on the fence before - I quite like the Lion - but I don't particularly like the Panther and I definitely don't like the Yale.
The Queen's Beasts series designs are way better in my opinion.
But treating them as gold bullion, I would be happy to own them as part of a stack or collection if I didn't already have a stack or collection.

Okay what the actual f*ck?
The price of the silver proofs have all been reduced.
And I’ve already been charged original high price for my orders. 😠😡

The 1oz said coin 3 this morning, now it is 
Receive a complimentary coin case, which you can use to safely store your ten-coin set. This will be delivered later in the series. Becoming a joke now 
https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/ranges/the-royal-tudor-beasts/one-ounce-silver-proof-ten-coin-series

Same here, got the first one as I like reverse proof coins, missed the second, but managed to pick a set up from the Forum, so decided to carry on with the 2 coin sets, and got my Yales this morning 😊 - not collected a full series before either 👍
Buying these because I like the reverse Proof versions, and if they make a few quid in the future, that's a bonus - not the main reason for buying them.

....aaaaand someone at the Royal Mint can't spell... anyone else spotted it? 🤔

image spotted on bookyface

Still not struck. Will wait it out for the Dragon coins. The Seymour Panther may end up being the best coin in the set at this rate🤗😜

Looks like the Yale of Beaufort is the next beast being released in this series.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/4016560
Denominations:
- Gold proof: 2 kg, 1 kg, 10 oz piedfort, 5 oz, 2 oz, 1 oz, 1/4 oz 
- Gold bullion: 1 oz, 1/4 oz
- Silver proof: 2 kg, 1 kg, 10 oz piedfort, 5 oz, 2 oz, 1 oz
- Silver bullion: 10 oz, 2 oz
- Platinum bullion: 1 oz 

I assume that that mark underneath the Queen's neck is not actually on the coin?
If so, the Obverse looks OK to me.
The Reverse also looks OK to me, apart from that single spot.
So it depends how much that spot annoys you.  It's a really tough call and probably depends on how much you might regret not owning an example of this coin, especially if being its first custodian is important to you.
Otherwise perhaps return it and pick one up on the secondary market at some point in the future if you still want one.

The crazy thing is...it could still grade as a 70 with NGC (no post-production imperfections, as per many previous Mattes with similar issues) or it might not...but 'buy the coin and not the grade/holder' still remains true imvho, so myself it's not something I'd like to have nagging at the back of my mind (an imperfect coin even with a good/great grade)

It is SUCH a shame.
I feel 'lucky' regarding my own coin, whereas I should just be feeling 'normal' when spending £2635 on something beautiful.

Come on people shouldn't expect a good coin for £2635,they can't even be ****ed to check the lower mintage coins for defects.

Tricky, isn't it.  Some people might find it OK to live with those small flaws, I don't feel that they detract from the overall coin too much.  You're well within your rights to return it though anyway.

Another return to the RM. 

5 Sovereign arrived yesterday but only managed to have a good look today (under a loupe and good light) spurred on by the posts here, really could not believe what I found, on the reverse 2 very noticeable "dings" and at least 12 flecks on the frosting, the obverse was not much better, at least 10 spots of missing? frosting. I have only been involved with gold coins for a few months and this was my first major purchase from RM, not impressed and very disappointed.
The coin is going back, as james32 said "once seen it can't be unseen" a major learning curve and all thanks to you guys!
Cheers

It doesn't work that way alas because of the 'no post-Mint imperfections' criteria. Vintage coins are different, they have a long history. New coins if you submit quickly when all the others are going in they will see they all have the same issues, so it must be the Mint. If you send in a year or two later then they may err on the side of caution, and if the three graders are not particularly knowledgeable or compare to previous examples on their own database (they don't imo - by their own admission they only look at a coin for a few minutes each - it's a production line) then you are less likely to get the same grade as the same coin submitted earlier.
To be fair, how do they know that missing frosting is not due to handler error/damage if you don't submit asap?

The crazy thing is...it could still grade as a 70 with NGC (no post-production imperfections, as per many previous Mattes with similar issues) or it might not...but 'buy the coin and not the grade/holder' still remains true imvho, so myself it's not something I'd like to have nagging at the back of my mind (an imperfect coin even with a good/great grade)

Cheers for that, @kimchi. 
All the more reason to be very sceptical regarding the grading number given to any coin, in my opinion.  I don't have any graded coin - they just aren't for me, for that and many other reasons.  I can see the appeal to others though, and I do enjoy seeing pictures of graded coins in their holders that TSF members post up on the site.
 

It doesn't work that way alas because of the 'no post-Mint imperfections' criteria. Vintage coins are different, they have a long history. New coins if you submit quickly when all the others are going in they will see they all have the same issues, so it must be the Mint. If you send in a year or two later then they may err on the side of caution, and if the three graders are not particularly knowledgeable or compare to previous examples on their own database (they don't imo - by their own admission they only look at a coin for a few minutes each - it's a production line) then you are less likely to get the same grade as the same coin submitted earlier.
To be fair, how do they know that missing frosting is not due to handler error/damage if you don't submit asap?