Post by dermot on May 18, 2017 19:53:23 GMT
Thanks to Ratesetter for the hospitality last night - an interesting event and good to meet up with a few other p2p investors - including a couple from this forum. I was - ahem - quite cheerful and well fed as I wandered off to head home.
A couple of points that came up of interest, in answer to a question from one investor, RS stated they would not be "doing a Bondmason" and imposing a lower limit for investors; good news, since I think many retail investors don't want to start out with a sum as large as £5K. I can see there is a balance to be struck here, BM looked at the fixed cost per investor - large or small, RS presumably feel that allowing a lower entry point encourages new entrants. The bonus on £1K/1year entry helps to avoid very small starters anyway.
Staff is over 200 now - and I received the impression of a well run reliable business - albeit rates are lower at the moment than we'd all like.
RS are clearly aware, from discussion after the presentation, that they are likely to be awash with cash when they launch an IFISA - they will be looking to grow the loans to compensate or rates will be derisory, even allowing for the tax free status.
Oen of the slides showed the breakdown of loans by type - I was surprised to see that they only take Personal Guarantees on business loans, not a physical asset. PGs are frequently worth less than the paper on which they are written - and are costly and complex to pursue. When I raised this in the Q&A, it appears they are starting to take more tangible types of security for the growing business loans sector - I find this reassuring.
I spoke to a few other lenders - RS was the only P2P platform used by quite a number of people, which surprised me a bit - the power of direct advertising, I guess.
I asked most of the people I met what their aim was in investing with RS - quite a number use RS in the same way as me - a method of generating a reasonable steady income using the automated drawdown and dumping in larger lumps of cash as they are generated elsewhere. Assetz need to learn from this!
So, overall, I came away from my first RS drinks evening feeling more comfortable with maintaining my investment with them. I'd like rates to be higher (wouldn't we all?) - and *please* get the microphone system sorted next time for those of us whose hearing is less than stellar.
Oh yes, RS mugs, notebook and pen in a swag bag was a nice touch!
A couple of points that came up of interest, in answer to a question from one investor, RS stated they would not be "doing a Bondmason" and imposing a lower limit for investors; good news, since I think many retail investors don't want to start out with a sum as large as £5K. I can see there is a balance to be struck here, BM looked at the fixed cost per investor - large or small, RS presumably feel that allowing a lower entry point encourages new entrants. The bonus on £1K/1year entry helps to avoid very small starters anyway.
Staff is over 200 now - and I received the impression of a well run reliable business - albeit rates are lower at the moment than we'd all like.
RS are clearly aware, from discussion after the presentation, that they are likely to be awash with cash when they launch an IFISA - they will be looking to grow the loans to compensate or rates will be derisory, even allowing for the tax free status.
Oen of the slides showed the breakdown of loans by type - I was surprised to see that they only take Personal Guarantees on business loans, not a physical asset. PGs are frequently worth less than the paper on which they are written - and are costly and complex to pursue. When I raised this in the Q&A, it appears they are starting to take more tangible types of security for the growing business loans sector - I find this reassuring.
I spoke to a few other lenders - RS was the only P2P platform used by quite a number of people, which surprised me a bit - the power of direct advertising, I guess.
I asked most of the people I met what their aim was in investing with RS - quite a number use RS in the same way as me - a method of generating a reasonable steady income using the automated drawdown and dumping in larger lumps of cash as they are generated elsewhere. Assetz need to learn from this!
So, overall, I came away from my first RS drinks evening feeling more comfortable with maintaining my investment with them. I'd like rates to be higher (wouldn't we all?) - and *please* get the microphone system sorted next time for those of us whose hearing is less than stellar.
Oh yes, RS mugs, notebook and pen in a swag bag was a nice touch!
