Hi Jasmine

I've had a look at the moneymagpie website and am hooked!  I'll certainly be back there to pick up some ideas.  I grow my own veggies and have elder, plum and apple tress, so love the idea of finding food for free in the countryside.  That page is definitely book marked.

But my question is about savings.  With the interest rates being so low, and prices of some things being rock bottom, I can't help thinking its a great time to buy.  For those willing to take a punt, what would you suggest? I've heard we should buy gold rather than save in the building society what do you think?  How do you do that?I've no experience in antiques and would just as likely end up with a piece of junk (!), but I have some savings which I'd love to convert to something a bit more ambitious. 

Luv Maid

Hi Maid!

So glad you like Moneymagpie - I'll make sure that we update the 'Food for Free' article very soon...just for you!

I know what you mean about savings - it's very depressing to look at the rates at the moment. However, it's still a good idea to keep saving, at least some of your money, just make sure you do a mixture of things with your money so that it's safe and you can take advantage of some products that go up in price.

My advice always is to 'spread your bets' when it comes to investing. It's important to have some money in savings (i.e. building societies or banks) that is pretty solid and you can access it easily at any time, but then for long-term investing your money needs to be in much better-performing products.

Gold is certainly one thing you could invest in - certainly I expect it to do well in the next 12 months as our economic situation continues to look rocky. Do have a look at a post I wrote in my Moneymagpie blog here about that http://www.moneymagpie.com/blog/7144/invest-in-gold/. There are various ways you can do it and buying actual gold bars or gold jewellery are just two of them.

Also, for long-term investing I personally favour the Stock Market, particularly now while it's still cheap. I like to invest in Tracker Funds (see our article on that here http://www.moneymagpie.com/article/122/index-tracking-funds/, or Exchange-Traded Funds (http://www.moneymagpie.com/article/843/sfdsf/) because they're cheap and easy and they do well over time.

Right now is also a good time to start thinking about investing in property too. It's much cheaper than it was - I think it will continue to be for most of this year as well. If you have enough for a deposit then think about buy-to-let as an option.

I also like Zopa if you're willing to tie up your money for at least a year. As you can see from our article on it here http://www.moneymagpie.com/article/2964/get-91-on-your-savings-with-zopa/, Zopa is an online lending and borrowing exchange. You put your money in and it's lent out to other individuals who want to borrow. That's how you make your money. I have money in it and the rates are really rather good at the moment. Check it out!

Hope that helps - keep coming back to Moneymagpie and do sign up to the weekly newsletter - it's free and it's really good! Jasmine

Hi Maid, could you email me your address so we can send you a copy of Jasmine's new book 'The Money Magpie'.

CS