Investor dumps adviser for ‘less emotionally draining’ P2P
An investor has revealed how he ditched his financial adviser and switched to “less emotionally draining” peer-to-peer lending after becoming unhappy with the level of returns and service from traditional finance.
Simon Myers, 57, a teacher from Brighton, said he has been investing in P2P loans for 10 years after deciding to take control of his money and financial fortunes.
“Initially I had a financial adviser who was supposedly helping me with what to do with my savings,” he said.
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“That led me to realising I only got to see him once a year, the products weren’t always the best thing for me and that made me wonder if I can do this on my own.”
Myers said he went on a couple of courses on stock market investing and spread betting in 2008 and made money by purchasing banking stocks at a cheap price after they crashed.
He begun seeking a more certain return so began investing with then-P2P platform RateSetter around a decade ago, which he said was “transparent and had a good reputation.”
Myers said this was successful until RateSetter was sold to Metro Bank in 2020.
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He began looking elsewhere and used P2P analysis and ratings website 4th Way to find the best place for his P2P investments.
“Kuflink came out well and they had a good cashback deal,” he added. “I also have money with HNW Lending.”
Myers has invested more than £300,000, helped by an inheritance from his mother, in P2P loans. He invests using both manual and auto-invest products and holds a number of Innovative Finance ISAs to enjoy tax-free returns.
This is alongside his own teacher’s pension, stocks and shares ISAs and investments in art.
“P2P lending offers less work on my part and it is less random; with stocks and shares you have to maintain an eye on your portfolio and have to make decisions about when to pull in and out,” he said.
“Stock market investing is emotionally draining as you have to be as neutral as you can but that is not easy when dealing with money.”
He recognises that there are risks with P2P lending but said that as long as an investor is diversified across different loans then it is unlikely that everything would go bust.
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