Thoughts on Finance, Current Affairs and General Consumer Ripoffs - Damn Lies and Statistics

This information was posted on Motley Fool website and a poster had  found one of these storage pods for sale. Store First (Group First) claimed that these storage pod investments were guaranteed and low risk - it doesn't appear to be that way. This is the lot - http://www.pugh-auctions.com/Lot/Manchester/20151203/110 the guide price of £10,000 is for 9 units!   The legal pack provided contained a copy of the original lease dated 1 June 2012. The seller bought the storage pod via his SIPP and paid £33,750 for this 'investment' in 2012. He's also previously tried to sell them in the October auction, though this time with a guide price of £20,000 - http://www.pugh-auctions.com/Lot/Manchester/20151022/065a . They've abandoned that for this month's auction, I wonder why?

Is Airport Parking Suitable for Pension Investment? Is Airport Parking Safe and Guaranteed? Airport parking spaces being offered as an investment opportunity appear to be following the same pattern as those offered previously for Storage Pods which interestingly now seem to have gone very quiet. It's really very worrying that such schemes are being so actively marketed to people with the new pension freedoms and who could end up losing their entire pension pot to these unregulated investment "opportunities". With any investment or purchase especially an unregulated one I always find it a useful consideration to assess what the seller is getting from the deal as well as what I would get. If the seller is getting a risk free return substantially above mine and my entire capital is at risk, as it is with any unregulated investment regardless of any so called guarantees offered, then it will always ring alarm bells. Two examples are storage pods and airport parking spac...

It's apparent from posts on various discussion boards that there is a big gap in understanding the differences between regulated and unregulated investments and the protection they offer. A regulated investment has to comply with strict rules from the FCA about what can and can't be said as well as having to include the standard disclaimers: "Past performance is not a guide to the future" and "Your capital is at risk" A regulated investment is also protected by FSCS so if the company selling the investment goes bust you are protected up to £50,000. This doesn't cover you if the investment performs badly. Unregulated investments aren't burdened by such requirements and can make pretty much any claim. I've seen a very useful statement saying that "marketing for unregulated investments should be considered fake unless verified by a professional". I'd add that it should be verified by a professional employed by you. It's not ...

Is Dream Lodge Group offering guaranteed investments a scam?  A question was asked on the popular Money Saving Expert (MSE) website about Dream Lodge group selling holiday cottages for a guaranteed return of 8% per year. It appears that Dream Lodge group were not happy with the comments that were made in the thread and have instructed lawyers to demand that posts are removed and that MSE users give their personal contact details in an effort to get content deleted. Some of the details here have been collated from posts about Dream Lodge Group from the thread where the posters have given permission. I understand that a number of people have been contacted by the MSE administrator and that the Dream Lodge Group are now using their lawyers in an attempt to bully people into removing posts which question the wisdom of "investing" money with the Dream Lodge Group. Whilst I am not going to purport to give formal legal advice on this thread, please be aware of the followin...