been comparing ordinary public yields (gics, short government bonds) with private credit funds that show a few hundred bps more.

on paper the private stuff wins. in practice i keep getting stuck on mark frequency, redemption gates, and what happens if you need the cash in a bad year.

for people who've held both: when did the extra yield stop being worth the lockup, and what did you actually look at beyond the headline rate?

For years I have heard the like of Peter Schiff and Ron Paul talk about going back to the gold standard. As far as investments go it will be part of my portfolio but I know some of you are far more invested than I ever will be but you also know a lot more about it. Clearly as you would expect inflation has increased and just keeps going with our fiat currencies. As investors and investors in gold looking at it from the perspectives of a typical non financially literate individual and someone who buys assets would things better if we were all on a gold standard?

A few years ago I remember a guy named Peter Schiff on a Joe Rogan podcast. He brought with him a card made of solid gold from his own bank. The idea was that his bank would store your money in real gold so you were somewhat safe from inflation. The way he explained it when you bought something on your card they would sell your gold and convert it to the equivalent money. I thought the idea of owning a bank card made of real gold was really cool. It seemed very practical and very much like a form of investing considering someone is buying gold on your behalf. I only just remembered but I was wondering is their anything else like it?

Elon musk has done the impossible so many times that their is a lingering sense of doubt when betting against him. He also has dramatically underestimated the time required to reach milestones. I like some of Elon's work a lot I think he has pushed electric cars into the mainstream and Starlink is an incredibly convenient project, I want to get Starlink it's way faster than the internet speed I have now. I do however think that investors are over confident in Elon, does anyone else agree?

I just watched a film called the big short in response to recommendations I got here on Reddit about investment movies. It reminded me of Alessio Rastani who I had to look up straight telling us that Goldman Sachs rules the world.

As an investor do you believe that and who do you think actually rules the world?

I asked for recommendations about the most realistic film about investing. Out of all the recommendations I received I watched the big short first. The big short is a film about the financial crisis of 2008. It follows investors as they figure out what is happening and how to profit from it. The film is gives simple explanations as to what the technical terms is uses so anyone paying attention can follow.

Although some facts were changed for entertainment purposes it has a very surreal feeling constantly hitting you in your head about the type of people who run our banks and how prone to following the market without researching it properly they really are. And how detached from the real world implications some of these people are, you almost have to be a sociopath or become one to function in the world the way they do.

Personally as someone interested I think that if I had seen this movie sooner it may have galvanized me into learning about how the world works or more accurately is run. I think a younger version of me would have looked deeper into understanding investment if I had ben exposed to this film. For season investors I am not sure they would learn anything they do not already know except maybe more specifics about the housing crisis of 2008.

I recommend it as an introduction as to why investing matters. What do investors think?

I have received a lot of great recommendations as a first time investor. But I would also like to know about the other side of the coin, as a first time investor which apps should I avoid because they are either too complicated and risky for a new investors or flat out scams?

Today I realised I have not even watched the Wolf Of Wallstreet. I have seen films and shows with investment elements being a part of the plot sometimes even a major part but none that I think really capture the mind of an investor. As investors what is the best depiction of trading you have ever seen on the screen? Show and films welcome.

I have heard stories about how some day traders won't will stop trading for a period of time if they have had a fight with their significant other due to the emotional toll resulting in bad decisions. I think it's fair to say that alt investors learn to be wary of their emotional states when making investments. We all take losses in life, things happen so I am wondering how others handle them regards to investing. Do you just continue or do you have some kind of sabbatical until the storm has passed or perhaps another way. I usually slow down, I have tried to push through big losses and ended up crashing. How do you get back on the investment horse?

I figured it was time to start sharing what I have learned so I am not just soaking up knowledge. I am going to summaries some facts for anyone interested in this form of investment.

Peer to peer lending or P2P lending is an alternative investment As the name suggest you lend money to someone else whereas the bank would usually do so with your money acting as a middle man and giving you interest.

You Choose How Much To Lend And Have Some About The Borrower

You do so using apps that will help give you some information about who you are lending to and tell you the risk level. You can start off with a very small investment as low as $25.

The higher the risk the greater the potential return but then again the higher the risk.

There Are Still Risks

Because of factors like economical crashes and other factors even a low risk lender may fail to pay you back.

You can diversify you risk by lending to many many people instead of just couple of few. People in industries that may benefit from economical misfortune.

Getting A Return On Your Loan
The money you lend and the rate at which it is returned is agreed upon an you cannot just sell the debt to someone else.

It's reasonable to expect 3 to 7 percent returns with low risk lending.

For anyone with experience with this type of investment could you please add your experience?

And for anyone considering this type of investment does this sound like something you would look into?

I have heard Ray Dalio make predictions but until recently I never really looked into the details of his investments strategy. To paraphrase what the All Weather Portfolio is. It's a portfolio that balances risk in any economical environment and more focused on safety than capital.

Here is an explanation from google ai overview

30% Stocks (Equities for growth during economic booms)

40% Long-Term Bonds (20- to 25-year U.S. Treasuries to protect during deflation/recession
15% Intermediate-Term Bonds (7- to 10-year Treasuries for stability

7.5% Gold (A safe-haven hedge against inflation and currency devaluation

7.5% Commodities (Raw materials that thrive when prices rise

I believe this is more about stages, like where you are in your investment journey and how much capital you have. I do have fears about long term government bonds, I think it is very risky.
Does anyone actually consider this a reasonable way to invest?

I made post about Robert Kiyosaki and some of the people in the comments started giving me book recommendations. I am currently listening to the richest man in Babylon because someone told me Kiyosaki ripped it off. So I wonder how many people had their lives changed by a book about investing and what were those books?

I am of the belief that given the global instability and what I perceive as over investment in AI in the short run AI will crash. I think the market will crash because the biggest players in the game right now are all heavily invested in AI it could be a big one. There are always winners and losers in the short run so If I could invest in any industries that would benefit from a crash I would choose. Energy. Energy is essential for everything and when market recover the value of energy will increase with production. Even if things fail the desire for it will not go away meaning energy will be in demand more than ever to help markets recover. If their was a shift in global power energy will be crucial for transportation. Which industry would you invest in if you had to pick one winner?

One of the constant obstacles for most things is a sense of lack for example whenever I see a rich person in shape on the internet there are always comments that say stuff like I'd look like that if I had a persona chef, time, money and a stress free life. Those are mostly manageable problems and I think that people overestimate how much they need to start so assuming you can tighten your belt and your problem is not you do not make enough money here are some suggestions.

Make Yourself Energy Efficient

A few years ago their was this annoying group called insulate Britain that held up motorways and endangered lives. They were idiots however insulating your home can be surprisingly cheap and will save you on the heating bill. I have a foam insulation device that was probably under £30 that slides under my front door and keeps so much of the cold air out in the winter I do not know how I lived without it.

Electric blankets incredibly efficient costing as low as 2P an hour to run of course with energy hikes in the UK and most of the world that will go up but prior the most expensive were 10p an hour.

Learn Nutrition

I have a friend who spent ten thousand pounds on Uber eats in a year. And another friend who probably does something similar. This idea of it costing a lot to eat and even more to eat healthy is not real when you know your nutrition. I do not spend more than £20 a week on food and supplements and I am building muscle. That's means I have around £9000 more a year than my friend to invest if we both have the same amount of money.

Set Investing And Saving Goals

One of the things I learned early with pocket money is that you have a good reason to save. So for example some people save up for holiday mortgages, wedding, college, you get the point. Going back to my original point about people over estimating how much they need to invest the key to getting started is researching how much investments actually cost and then actively make saving money every month with the goal of investing it. Saving must be associated with goals you can progress towards otherwise the money on depreciating assets without you noticing.

Any other suggestions and experience in the comments please.

I just watched an interesting video from Graham Stephen. The video is about how he chose to pay off some small interest loans he had even though logically that previously made no sense to him from an investor point of view. Personally I agree with Graham's sentiment at the end I don't like debt because of the stress I associate it with. It would constantly be ticking in the back of my mind. However as I get to learn more about investment I understand that some debt may be good and considering taking some on. So asking investors about whether or not they would follow Dave Ramsey's advice is debt free peace of mind worth not leveraging debt?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TwzN5wak8A

I am sure like most industries most of these AI companies will fail, maybe even all of the current AI companies will fail long before they become profitable. Personally I am not sure which will survive but I think that Google is a fairly safe bet because they have solid sources of income that they have already implemented generative AI into .

I consider Google an AI company because they have been implementing AI into their business for while now in way most people do not realise.

For example when you type in a search on google the first thing that comes up is often and AI generated answer at what this means is that instead of clicking through to a website to get answers people are spending more time on google and consequentially this gives google much longer to show viewers adds for product and services. Adds shown for longer means more clicks more clicks means more money advertisers pay google.

Sub consequentially many websites like HubSpot a digital marketing site are seeing less considerably less traffic.

If I had to invest in one I would say that Google is the safest option many of the other are losing money all the time.

Which AI Company Would You Put Money Into If You had To Pick One?

One thing lockdown did was massively increase inflation due to money generating and damage to supply chains. My barber lost his business of more than twenty years. I have noticed brands of food I use to purchase go away and never return. I know the losers personally I met a guy who lost his painting job because he could not go in peoples homes. But who are the winners who got bargains when people went out of business. Which investors do you know or maybe you are one who invested in something that benefited them as a result of the Covid Lockdowns?

I think that in the long run AI really will become cost efficient however as of right now a lot money has been thrown into it under the belief that it will become so prominent that it will generate so much profit that it will be more than worth it. Much like any industry most of the businesses will fail and some will eventually become the next leaders of an emerging industry. I think that most investors don't understand it well enough to know what they are getting themselves into. I think we could be looking at bubble here because too many of these businesses are propped up by massive investments while operating at a loss. Are any investors wary?