I’ve settled on a clear path for the podcast now. With it being a solo venture I want to keep each recording short. Every week I will have one recommendation for you.
In this episode I discuss Abundance Investment and whether I recommend them. They are a company that give you the opportunity to invest in sustainable projects. It’s a great way to get a financial return but also feel like you are contributing to something good. The topic is what I covered in this recent review of the company.
Episode 3 – Podcast Transcription
I wasn’t sure exactly how to move it along over time, but I have settled on something that I really like and so the way it’s gonna work now is one week the episode and for each week I will have one suggestion, nice and simple actually.
[0:32] The reason I thought that would be a cool format would be its main reason is because this is going to be a solo podcast.
[0:42] This is not about doing interviews and, having long-winded, hour-long podcasts that’s not really the things. they’re not the podcasts that I like listening to, so I thought it would make sense to stick with what I know. And to create something that sort of suits what I’m trying to achieve so, with that being said.
[1:08] My recommendation for this week is to consider a company called Abundance Investment. If you want quite a balanced investment portfolio. I did a blog post on it this week, so I thought I would also share my thoughts here and my experience with Abundance Investment.
So first off, in terms of this being a recommendation, I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re searching for fast, high returns, obviously, with that you get higher risk, if you’re looking for high-risk things then this isn’t one.
So this is not a recommendation if that’s you it’s more for people that are looking for an overall balanced portfolio and longer-term returns.
[1:59] Perhaps could even be part of a whole pension makeup, and Abundance Investment, actually do an ISA.
I don’t have any experience the ISA so I can’t talk about that here. But I first joined Abundance. The website for your reference is Abundance Investment dot com. And so I first joined them in 2013 and what they allow you to do is invest in eco-friendly projects. It’s things like solar panel projects and wind farms. And it’s a good way to get returns but also be doing something good that will improve our beautiful planet. You know, we need to improve the air quality and sustainability.
[2:46] And this is your way to play a little part. So, it’s a nice win-win.
When I joined in 2013 I deposited just fifty pounds and it was just simply, quite frankly, a test. It wasn’t meant to be a long-term thing, but I did it as a test with a view to how I could trust it and how I felt with and what the actual returns were on. Maybe it could be a long term thing for me.
[3:13] So I invested in one project and I would get returns twice a year for twenty years. There were no problems. It happened in 2014, got both returns. And then in 2015 got both returns.
There was about ten pound already in the account, which I thought was a lot more than i expected given I’d only invested fifty quid, and it was twenty year project. I then invested a bit more. You can reinvest the amount in your account rather than withdrawing.
So I had money in another project and that was the two projects, and then got all those payments as well.
In the end of last year, so 2016, I decided to sell those holdings just because for one, I was reducing my assets and just trying to get cash in and, the long term for my finance situation.
The long term, again, a few quid per year on a small debentures, just not worth it.
I’m better off having the cash now, so it made total sense to sell them on. They did. They sold straight away and the process, was easy. Let me just find my final figures.
[4:24] So I can tell you the exact percentage. I deposited obviously fifty pound, that was it in total in 2013,
and in the end, once i’d sold the 2 debentures, the withdrawal was fifty seven pounds seventy pence so obviously, that sounds like nothing but because the raw numbers are tiny, but that actually means a fifteen point four percent return after the three years, which is a hell of a lot better than you can get if it was just in savings and it’s worth noting that I got slightly smaller return because when you’re trading the debentures when I bought the second debenture, it wasn’t in the project brand new I bought them off someone else, so you don’t get as good a price.
[5:13] But most of the projects pay, I think it’s from six percent up to nine percent per year, so there is more risk than a savings account because the projects can…
[5:28] They can have problems, you know, they’re dealing with things that wind farms and problems can occur with those things, so they’re not guaranteed returns. There are some fixed percentages, some are estimates, so there is that small risk, but that’s why you got a hell of a lot more than you would get in a savings account, but at the same time, there’s an awful lot less risk than the stock market hence why, if it goes well in the stock market, obviously get much higher returns. This sits nicely in between, sticking it in savings account and getting virtually nothing, or going for, and shares. This sort of sits in between, bit of risk.
[6:08] Some worthwhile returns as well. Seven percent per year’s pretty decent to be honest, if that’s the ball park figure you’ll be looking at. That runs through my 3 year experience with them, and I would certainly use them again with my finance situation the moment I’m looking to invest in much more shorter terms, getting money back a lot quicker. That’s the aim.
So this isn’t something for me, which is why I sold the holdings after 3 years, but if you are looking, if you already have savings, if you want to mix up an investment part, I would definitely recommend Abundance Investment.
I did double check what other people were saying.
Because I’m always wary just because I’ve had a great experience obviously it doesn’t mean everyone does, but they’re trust, they have a listing on TrustPilot dot com. One of the most popular review websites. Overall, it’s very, very positive. Some people gave 3 stars, but they weren’t because they’ve had problems with their investment they were to do with using the website.
In terms of reviews, if you’re going to read some of average reviews you don’t want it to be because somebody’s money went wrong. You want it to be because they’ve had problems navigating the menu, that sort of thing, to be honest.
[7:24] So, yeah, it’s, not just me, that says good things, if you want to do more research than go ahead, I’m pretty sure you’ll find of a good stuff as well. And so, Abundance Investment is their name. Nice and easy to remember. Check them out if that’s the sort of thing that interests you. So I hope that helps.
Next week, i’ll be back with another recommendation, so if you like the podcast then please subscribe. That’d be awesome. Cheers.
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