[actionreplay]

I've recently managed to convince the Other Half to cash in his FTSE-tracker ISA and use the resulting cash as a mortgage pre-payment (one pound paid off now = 2 saved as far as this is concerned). We managed this a few days before the recent precipitious drop in said index - I was convinced the action re Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, plus the new bankruptcy legislation, would not help, and I was right.

My investments (they are not large, but I do save every month) now go into on the one hand paying off the mortgage early (half-way through after 4 years), also saving up a "rainy day cushion" in an instantly accessible savings account, but am also thinking of investing in an ISA (US folks - this is effectively a tax-free investment scheme here where you invest in some sort of fund and don't pay tax on the returns - the sums are very small by industrial standards but large for Joe Public (ie me, or should that be Josie Public in my case).

I've noted there appear to be numerous funds that invest in oil and gas exploration companies. I am not keen on these as I think the exploration companies are not going to have much luck - especially as they will have paid up front for the drilling rights. There are also mining/natural resources funds that invest in equities with a mining/gold focus - some more concentrated on gold, some less.

I don't see many energy funds - I want a fund that trades in GBP not USD as I want to avoid the dollar as I am worried about its future stability - that invest in Big Oil - ie the companies that get to sell the reserves, not the exploration companies. Any reason for this?

I don't have huge amounts to invest so it'll be 1 fund for the moment. The other reason I don't want to get too correllated with the equity markets is that since I work for a large investment bank a tanking equity market = me not having a job, so I'd ideally like an investment that isn't correlated with my job either! Any ideas?

Actually buying physical commodities isn't really possible as I don't want to specialize exclusively in gold/silver, and my flat is a bit small for 10k barrels of Brent Crude

[bobbyboy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('actionreplay', 'I') don't see many energy funds - I want a fund that trades in GBP not USD as I want to avoid the dollar as I am worried about its future stability - that invest in Big Oil - ie the companies that get to sell the reserves, not the exploration companies. Any reason for this?

I don't have huge amounts to invest so it'll be 1 fund for the moment. The other reason I don't want to get too correllated with the equity markets is that since I work for a large investment bank a tanking equity market = me not having a job, so I'd ideally like an investment that isn't correlated with my job either! Any ideas?

[actionreplay]

Thanks that looks interesting. I am expecting energy funds to be volatile in the short run - but ultimately, the price of oil will keep going up and up. I' think I'll start regular contributions into something like this within a month or two (want to get the initial outlay together). This is one investment, cash in bank + mortgage payments make up the most of my (small) "portfolio" so not looking for short term gain but maybe medium term (5-10 years).