Investment Experience

Seems a bit like you're going from one extreme to another...not sure if you're moving ALL your savings over to p2p?! I hope not as that sounds very risky especially as there are LOADS of bank accounts paying significantly more than 0.2% with no risk and higher liquidity....so I'd really recommend getting at least one of those, even if only to store money between other deals. And please spread your money between more platforms (SS is one of my favourites but I won't put any more in there than other platforms).

Not sure if I count as new or not anymore - started in April, planning to dip a toe in 3 platforms, have ended up investing a lot more spread over 16. Knew almost nothing before I started except that I didn't want to keep all my eggs in too few baskets and definitely didn't want any more going into stocks & shares. I probably rely on this forum too much, but I'm going for the spread it thinly enough that any losses won't hurt too much approach - not least as in my view however great a plaftorm/loan may seem there will ALWAYS be a chance it could fail badly...and in fact the "better" the deal, and the lower overall probability of it happening the worse it's likely to be if the sticky stuff hits the fan. 

£100k of my cash is in fixed term savings, from 1.5 - 3 % APR up to 4 years.
i always Keep £20K in Santander current account; 3% APR.
£30k is spread across an instant access and 30 day account with Aldermore; 1-1.5 APR.
Have £10k in Zopa 5 years; 5%
Am aiming to have £10K in RS 1 year at 4% by next March.
working on £10k each for SS and MT, but struggling to get invested in these platforms.
think this gives me a spread.
Comments welcome.

Sounds like a good start - if you go back a few pages in this forum you'll find various threads about what the rest of us do p2pindependentforum.com/thread/3382/diversification-platforms-apple-pie was quite a good one and there are others about proportions of net worth invested in p2p. We all have different risk appetites and preferences in platforms.  SS & MT do take time but you'll get there.

IMHO

Best current account: Santander 1-2-3 (3% on £20,000, less monthly fees, which might be a problem for higher rate taxpayers - cashback on utility bills was covering the monthly charges, but that's probably not the case with the recent increase from £2 to £5). Alternatives - Tesco, Lloyds Club, TSB.

Best FSCS instant access account: I thought it was Virgin Money (~1.4%), but I saw a mention recently that the Post Office was paying ~1.6%. Even for non-taxpayers Premium Bonds are competitive with instant access accounts, and they are, I presume, pretty close to instant access. On £50,000 the random element is pretty much smoothed out over the medium term (unless you get a medium/high value prize). 

Best regular saver: The one I have with the Coop Bank is paying 2.25% (including 2% bonus), which might be the highest rate around; the good points are that it's not term-limited, and that there was no limit on the regular savings amount, so you could build it up quickly - unlike the term limited low payment accounts which are scarcely worth the hassle. (A legacy account with the YBS is paying 3.75%, but it's capped at £20,000, and it's a closed issue.)

www.4thway.co.uk
Is a good starting point, it gives their opinion on risk of various p2p sites

If you are sure you want to put a large amount Into p2p probably best to top load the least risky ones first, but after you have created a decent cash buffer in some or at least one of the bank accounts above. 3-5% returns.

For me personally I have about 75% of my p2p money in ratesetter, which is considered by most as one of the safest. 6-6.5% returns.

The rest earns slightly more but with more perceived risk. 7-12% returns.



I like the term pyramids of risk.
So the largest safest amount of money you hold is at the bottom in the bank accounts, as you move up in risk, the returns grow but you put slightly less in to these projects to preserve capital in case the worst happens.

Going from all in 0.2% but safe to all in 12% but with the possibility of capital loss is just swapping inflation risk for a possible worse risk. Capital risk. Diversify both in the number of platforms you invest in and within the platforms themselves.

At there moment there is no horror story over people losing all there savings but do not forget even the oldest sites are not that old, as with everything diversify you can lose money in anything that you invest in , plenty of people have lost money in stocks and shares or property. Unless you are an expert in a field invest in a wide range (of sensible options) and hope for best 

Thanks for replies so far. I think I am wanting to invest around £20k~ across many loans. As it would give me a reasonable return. Just need to keep reading and learning.