Nowadays Every Day is April Fool’s Day for Savers

Every year a flurry of adverts appear extolling the virtue of maximising your tax allowance on savings.  And every year I wonder if anyone falls for it.  I mean – are you really beating the tax man if you pile any spare cash into low interest accounts?  And who actually has any spare money anyway – apart from pensioners who presumably want to eke a bit more from their savings than the near zero returns that seem to be on offer

Let’s be honest – I am not an independent financial adviser (IFA) but I am sure I can think of better things to do with my money – if I had any.   For starters don’t pay into a pension would be my top piece of advice.  Yes it is tax –free – and yes you might actually need the safety net of a pension in later life.  But you never actually see all that money ever again as the financial institutions hang on to it.  And we now know they are both reckless and stupid in their use of your money.  Much better to invest it yourself – which you can now do this yourself with a self-invested pension plan.

I doubt there are many people who try lending and borrowing to fund their investment strategy any more.  Yet a couple of years ago you could make a very comfortable living backing winners in a one horse race.  The housing market was a win-win situation too.  And a licence to print money.

And what about the people who dropped us into the current mess?  No – not politicians.  The banks!  Now you and I don’t have to make the decision to switch bank account at the touch of a button.  The government have effectively done it for us.  As a tax payer we now own more banks than you can shake a stick at.I feel decidedly sick every time I think how much money has been thrown away  propping up greedy and incompetent bankers.  Remember all the fuss about supporting miners, steel workers, car workers etc.  All those businesses were enthusiastically allowed to die because they would cost money to keep going.  Yet all three put together would cost just a fraction of the money put into banking.

It makes me think the best investment strategy at the moment is to quickly find an affordable health insurance quote – and get on board with that.  After all, if your blood is boiling every time you see the financial news… your health must surely be at risk!

The world’s best investment

The Panama Canal must be one of the world’s best ever investments.  On a par with the USA purchasing Alaska from Russia perhaps.  But the thing about the Panama Canal is that it offers a short cut that effectively misses out all of South America.  Not good news for an entire continent perhaps – but pretty handy just the same.

  I noticed that when that teenager sailed single-handed around the world the other day,  he seemed to go through the Panama Canal and missed out on the dubious excitement of rounding Cape Horn.  I’m not sure how easy it is to do a spot of sailing on the Panama Canal though.  He must have cheated and used his engine.

There is something about Panama and epic journeys.  That canoeist who disappeared off the beach near Harlepool turned up in Panama.  It sounds a long way to paddle – but his rather bizarre subterfuge was just an excuse to invest in Panama real estate.  I would imagine the grieving offspring were a tad surprised to see their presumed-dead Dad gurning with a Panama real estate exec in the daily papers.

 But I don’t think you have to go to the extreme of faking your own death to invest offshore.  Most weeks my post contains at least one unmissable offer from the world of offshore financial service. 

Usually these are high street banks and building societies urging me to get a foreign currency current account.  Sometimes I get delightful brochures on picture-perfect foreign holiday homes, without which my life would apparently be incomplete. 

 But we live in an era when even a bit of spare cash invested with Ing is effectively an offshore investment.  And going offshore is surely one of the key benefits if you invest in Panama real estate.  Thanks to the Panama Canal – you can set sail for the Pacific or the Atlantic just by turning right or left when you leave the marina.

 There can’t be many places in the world which offer you such a great choice.  A wonderful climate, excellent real estate – and the opportunity to sail around the world almost at the end of your garden.