I have 60K

Hi Guys,

I am new here and to P2P so firstly let me say hello.  

Like all newbies I need to tread with care to ensure that I know what I am doing. I have a Zopa plus account with 1k invested since September 16 and Zopa classic account with £650 invested since December 16, I have just opened a BM account and have shipped 1k to it. I first heard about P2P from MSE and since then i am working through this site for more info and hence this post.

My back ground. I am 57 so retire in 10 years, I am mortgage free have 60K spread across 3 x Santander account which as you know where earning 3%; I have disposable income of £500-£1300 a month. I am currently drawing 2 pensions, an Army one and a small teaching one and I work.

So I need to get my 60k and my disposable income working for me and it seems logical to aim for a 10 year plan to retirement with the idea of drawing down from this pot to supplement my pension income if needed . If I throw some basic numbers into a calculator, I figure if I can turn my 60k to 150 K by retirement this would give me at 3% interest an income of 4.5k subject to tax of course.

So I am really looking at suggestions of how to get my 60k working for me. Also for you guys to point out any obvious glaring errors a newbie like me could make.
I am by nature willing to take some risk but balanced with some security too. Looking at how much of ones worth people invest it appears to be between 10-30%, I was perhaps thinking of 50% in P2P (30K) and 50% (30K) in secure banks , i.e. 2k here, 3k there, chasing 3/5% for a period and moving around as needed. Is that generally viewed as too much of my pot at risk?

I would find it difficult to have 30K say earning 1.5% in Santander whist 30K is earning well on various P2P platforms say earning 6/7/8+ %.
With my 30K in P2P would I be better with 10 accounts with 3k or 6 accounts with 5K or any other combination, looking at maximum risk spread.
Whist I accept that P2P comes with risks, how risky as a business is it? I understand Z has been going 10 years plus so that should indicate that this is not a fad and therefore reasonable safe?

 
If one platform went bust could we be confident that this would be in isolation and not have a domino effect on all other platforms which result in all money lost?
I would welcome ant thoughts on any of the above.

Many thanks

Steve