Invest in gold or invest in a buy to let property which is the best option ?

[Midasfrog]

What is the best investment option to invest a 100K lump sum into , would it be best to invest in Gold or purchase a buy to let property ? Has the covid 19 Pandemic affected either option .

[mr-dead]

considering a possible property price crash it may be good time to buy but unemployment is likely to rise so an increased risk your tennants may default on rent payments leading to a loss of income/legal expenses to remove them.

[Goldmansacks]

Being a landlord is a bit of  a pain,be prepared to deal with whatever goes wrong in your investment property as they will be on to you in a flash if they need anything.If you have the head for that kind of situation it could be a runner.

 

I'm new here and I believe Gold is looked at as a  long term investment and seen by a lot of people as wealth retention.

[Coolsmp]

If you don't want the hassle of a tenant then alternatively invest in a REIT.

[Martlet]

Increasingly think that land or possibly commercial rent is way forward, BTL comes with alot of baggage. 

[Goldmansacks]

I had an apartment BTL and managed another one for a  business colleague at the same time and I'd never do it again,the amount of stuff that goes on behind your back particularly sub letting (which you only hear about when something goes wrong) that I would never do it again and was delighted to get out of it- even at a loss.

[Midasfrog]

Bullionby post have a section on Gold Vs Buy-to-let on the website which is quite an interesting read . They give a lot of pros and cons for each side but there is a lot of pictures of Gold bars and coins which look very tempting 😃

[freefall]

For starters I don't like the illiquidity of property. For your average property there is maybe 10 or 20 people on earth who would consider buying it at its market value at any given time.

Then there's the fees, time, taxes and hassle of buying and selling. Not to mention the risk of having a large proportion of your assets tied up in one specific building. Also, by its nature you are physically tied to its location so it has an effect on other decisions in your life such as job opportunities, relationships or any other plans that require you to  move around.

The market is deliberately inflated too. Only 2 years after the financial crisis (caused by overinflated property prices through reckless lending) the government brought in help to buy. In effect helping people to get in more debt than they can afford to reflate the bubble. Like many other markets, artificially low interest rates and government subsidies have dislocated property values from what I perceive to be fair value.

Can the wealth effect go on for ever? Maybe. But my gut tells me something has to give. If printing money and inflating asset values creates wealth and prosperity there would be no poor countries. Why did we bother with recessions in the past when we could have just dropped interest rates to zero, turned on the presses and had a party. It feels like the last hurrah to me.

I've owned property before but currently I'm out for the foreseeable. Don't get me wrong, if an inflationary environment develops then having your money in property would be a decent bet. But out of what I consider the 3 hard assets (land, property and precious metals) the PM's have the least risk and greatest reward. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Midasfrog said:

What is the best investment option to invest a 100K lump sum into , would it be best to invest in Gold or purchase a buy to let property ? Has the covid 19 Pandemic affected either option .

I’d be quite happy for you to invest the 100k to me... 😏😉😂

In all serious, I think BTL is more hassle than its worth - and as pointed out in previous posts, with the rise in unemployment due to COVID-19, you may run into issues further down the line and everyone wants an easy life... at least I do anyway.

Personally, I would split the money up; invest some into gold, and/or platinum and/or silver - further down the line you could sell a portion and potentially make money back, depending on the spot price at the time of selling. Save some into an NS&I savings account (I know interest rates are low and will probably go lower, but they are backed by the Government and are more secure in my opinion), and invest some into a low risk shares option.

Either way, I wouldn’t invest all of it into one basket...

[AuricGoldfinger]

It really depends. If £100k is all you have in the world I would consider spreading it about. I try to have a stake in some of the main asset classes.

- property 

-gold

-equities

-bonds

-cash

As much as I enjoy investing in the above i also enjoy some other alternative investments which include watches and whisky amongst other things.

As for how you should “invest” 100k I would start by saying gold is more of a preservation of wealth than an investment. Gold is still hovering around all time highs at the moment but doesn’t mean it won’t go higher (£1450 an oz was highest recently) - £1330 an oz looks a good buy at the moment but £950 an oz looked a much better buy not too long ago.

Consider using your Sipp allowance or at least your ISA allowance for this year? There are some bargains on the stock market still, I’m yet to see any major bargains in the property market yet but no doubt there will be. 

With such a good amount my advice would be to do as much research as you possibly can, if your relying on a simple answer to your question then your not ready to dive in and invest in anything. Property and gold has worked well for me but I really did a lot of research and made sure i had a profound understanding of exactly what i was getting into. Both can be and have been disastrous for others. I hope this helps and i wish you the best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[vand]

Baseball cards.

[AuricGoldfinger]

£100k is more than enough to cover a 25% deposit and stamp duty on a BTL property in the uk...

[AuricGoldfinger]

If you can show me an asset class woth no potential to lose money then I’m all in! 🤑

[Prophecy]

@Midasfrog I assume you have other investments that are diversified and this is but a fraction of your net worth?

[Melon]

6 hours ago, freefall said:

For starters I don't like the illiquidity of property. For your average property there is maybe 10 or 20 people on earth who would consider buying it at its market value at any given time.

Guess that depends where you are. In London pre-Covid you had to be willing to offer on first day of a house being opened for viewings or it was usually gone by day 2! 

[5huggy]

MAINTENANCE!!!

Property  Pro's - - Cannot "print" land! potentially growth of "Value asset"

Property Con's - - insurance , maintenance, depreciation, taxes (taxes HIGHLY likely to rise going forward)

Pm/Gold Pros - -Cannot "Print Gold" - -  safe store of current "FIAT VALUE",  - Extremely UNLIKELY to EVER lose its total value - £100K worth is relatively easy to store away in several storage places (thereby diversifying risk to the WHOLE)

Pm/Gold Cons - Requires vigilance on maintaining secrecy ! - -

So IMHO ESPECIALLY as of these troubled times I would "Go for Gold"! 👍😉

and when land/property is for sale (in the NOT TOO distant future - a lot cheaper  IMHO) - THEN SWAP PM for PROPERTY! 😉👍

[Midasfrog]

9 hours ago, Golddigger69 said:

Leaving aside those tenant nightmare stories.

I don't want to be the bad (or i say honest) guy again but with 100K you will get maximum an air built castle.

Please look for other assets.

 

 

There are still houses for sale in the UK that can be picked up for as little as £150K  or less that are good solid well built places that need some degree of tidying up painting and decorating. It helps if you live in an area like this and know the local market. Putting cash into bricks has been a safe haven for many years now 😃 you can rest assured that when you count the bricks at a latter date there will still be the same number there even though its been in full view to everyone the same cant be said for gold .

[Nick1368]

Of course everyone here would tell you to invest in gold because here is the  precious Metal forum 🤣

 

[sovereignsteve]

It depends on your individual circumstances.

Is this 100k a windfall and you have no other meaningful assets? Is it small change in your total net worth? What purpose do you need this new investment to provide? What is your timeframe to allow the new asset to work for you? How liquid do you need it to be? What risk are you willing to take? Do you need income?

You need to take all these questions into account and more, before you can come close to being able to make a rational decision.

[vand]

Personally I don't think you should do either.

I think you should go and do some a lot of research, learn about investing, formulate your own opinions, and then come back and ask some better questions.

[freefall]

8 hours ago, Melon said:

Guess that depends where you are. In London pre-Covid you had to be willing to offer on first day of a house being opened for viewings or it was usually gone by day 2! 

London and some areas in the south are obvious exceptions. If 3 million Hong Kongers take the option of residency here you could see some ridiculous action. 

[Robda1986]

Given the amount of time most people are having to spend with their partners watch the divorce rate shoot the moon and flood the market with propertys add on top of that the increased death toll adding more propertys to the market and mass unemployment meaning very hit and miss on tenants potentially bringing the prices down .I won't touch the housing market. But on the flip side gold is in its own little bubble at the moment I might be massively wrong but that's how I'm seeing it 

[sovereignsteve]

31 minutes ago, vand said:

I think you should go and do some a lot of research, learn about investing, formulate your own opinions, and then come back and ask some better questions.

maybe he already has😉

[AuricGoldfinger]

23 minutes ago, Robda1986 said:

Given the amount of time most people are having to spend with their partners watch the divorce rate shoot the moon and flood the market with propertys add on top of that the increased death toll adding more propertys to the market and mass unemployment meaning very hit and miss on tenants potentially bringing the prices down .I won't touch the housing market. But on the flip side gold is in its own little bubble at the moment I might be massively wrong but that's how I'm seeing it 

These couples who live in one house and then split, where do they go and live? Two seperate houses. Quite often renting. A recession can see house prices drop but the rental market increase/hold strong due to people putting off buying, splitting up, staying put etc. The property market and people who need to live in the properties will always exist. It’s either a buyer’s or seller’s market.

[Midasfrog]

1 hour ago, vand said:

Personally I don't think you should do either.

I think you should go and do some a lot of research, learn about investing, formulate your own opinions, and then come back and ask some better questions.

I have a fairly good background in investing and looking after the ££££ thank you 🤣