It's 2020, what does your P2P Portfolio look like?

I'll spare you the percentages but in declining order;

FS, Abl, Col, MT, UB, W, L, AC, LW plus small balances in RS, Z, FC, K.

Not a pretty picture. 

I spent a lot of time picking the best and safest loans on the self select platforms but have been somewhat undone by a variety of circumstances. Issues with the borrowers, which I anticipated to some extent, the platforms, where I underestimated their competence and the FCA - where I never for a moment imagined that they would allow third parties the ability to amend their ( the FCA's) own website to say platforms were authorised when they were not. 

It's really only Abl and UB that I have much enthusiasm for nowadays and this is tempered with a degree of caution.

The fact that equities have been racing ahead these past five years just makes my situation worse.

I have been investing a lot longer than 4.5 years.

However, about 3–4 years ago I thought I'd dip my toe in the P2P water using, as always, strictly investible money (i.e. money I could afford to loose 100% of).

It was purely an experiment. It was money I could afford to loose. But nonetheless I was cautious, I did select both my platforms and loans carefully.

But boy did that vague smell of fish quickly evolve into a full blown olfactory onslaught of putrid, rotten flesh. 

I did my best to hold my nose and persist. Until one day an email arrived from a certain platform asking me to pay them a not insubstantial amount of money because (although their choice of words were obviously more carefully chosen) their accounting system was so dodgy balances were not being correctly kept up to date (or something like that, it was a long time ago now).

That was effectively the final straw that broke the camels back for me. From that moment onwards, I focused on pulling money out and did not put a penny back in.

Meanwhile I continued to build my equities (S&S) portfolios with an increased degree of determination and focus. They have done well and continue to do so, and so I have no doubt I did the right thing by maintaining my faith in my old friend the stockmarket. Its more interesting, its more rewarding, and there is far less opportunities for dodgy companies to hide, especially if you follow basic rules and do at least some basic research before hitting the buy button.