Short term returns

Andrew, if you had $200,000 in a bank account, and wanted the best return on it over a period of say 3 years, what would you do with it? The money would not be touched over that period.

Crystal ball type possible return figures would be interesting too!

Cheers mate,

Thom

ETA: prefer low risk dabblings, rather than high return higher risk.

Hello Thom

Perhaps a bit more information would be useful.

In 3 years time what would the money be used for?

Also will it be remaining in Australian Dollars?

Thanks, Andy

Ok, it would be remaining in $Au in the interim, and would be used for ongoing retirement funding in the UK, as and when needed.

Cheers Andy!

This topic is of interest to me, I was thinking of putting mine (well the max annual limit) in to my super and as I am over 60 I could then draw it out as a lump sum anytime later. though this sounds too simplistic so I would need to investigate further as not sure of all if any tax implications.

Over to you Andrew!

Ok thanks Thom.

So effectively the money does have the ability to be invested for more than 3 years albeit with some withdrawals occurring?

However to answer your question from an Australian Financial Adviser point of view, if a client came to me and wanted advice on investing a sum of money over a timeframe of 2/3 years and was looking to take a small amount of risk then they would likely fall into our Defensive or Conservative profiles.

For this example I will continue with the assumption that following further discussions it was agreed the client is a Conservative Investor then we would recommend building a diversified portfolio that contained the following exposures:

[TABLE=width: 267]

[TR]

[TD]Asset classes[/TD]

[TD]Conservative[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Cash[/TD]

[TD]28%[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Fixed Interest – Australian[/TD]

[TD]24%[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Fixed Interest – International[/TD]

[TD]15%[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Australian Shares[/TD]

[TD]9%[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]International Shares*[/TD]

[TD]10%[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Property / Infrastructure – Australian[/TD]

[TD]5%[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Property / Infrastructure – International**[/TD]

[TD]3%[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Total Defensive Assets[/TD]

[TD]70%[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Total Growth Assets[/TD]

[TD]30%[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

* International share allocation can be a combination of hedged and unhedged strategies; a ratio of 50% / 50% is recommended. International Shares may also include an allocation to emerging markets depending upon client’s circumstances.

I would then go about making specific recommendations around structures for example managed funds, exchange traded funds, listed invested investment companies, direct shares, managed accounts and term deposits. Then within these structures I would recommend specific fund managers and or companies following my research.

However given your circumstances ie the money is intended to be a UK income top up and possibly be converted to GBP the above would not perhaps serve as the best solution.

Firstly I would say that there has to be merit in considering converting dollars to GBP sooner rather than later given the current weakness of sterling and then look at investing in sterling, perhaps similar exposures to the above.

It could well be the case that sterling gets even weaker but clearly it could well be the case it picks up again, you may or may not have a view on this. Failing converting all of the funds then consideration should be given to hedging and converting a portion, say half.

Of course this will depend on your intentions around how long you will be in the UK and whether or not you will be returning to Australia.

Hope this helps.

Regards Andy

Wow, yet again, advice above and beyond the call of duty mate, thanks!!

I totally agree about the weakness of the £sterling at present, but cannot get my hands on the cash for another 18 months, so I'm a bit hamstrung on that.

I'm planning ahead mate!