Get rich quick? Yeah, probably not…

Do you know anything about… [Insert name of latest get rich quick opportunity]?

I get this a LOT.

Recently it’s been friends and family members asking me about various foreign exchange and bitcoin schemes that promise to double or triple their money in short order. One distant relative is on the brink of investing £300,000 into something that will ‘make them a millionaire’ this time next year.

There’s an old saying that ‘if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.’ Well, that isn’t quite the case where investments are concerned. With investments the statement needs to be qualified.

If an investment opportunity seems too good to be true…it’s too good to be true.

There are some very smart minds working in financial services. People who spend their lives honing their skills and looking after their clients’ money. If doubling your money was as simple as giving it to Keith down the pub, there’s a pretty good chance they’d have been all over it.

‘Ah’, you say, ‘but my friend Big Dave invested £10,000 and his investment is already worth £26,000. He’s going to put in another £100,000. I don’t want to miss out’.

Let’s break that one down, shall we? Has Big Dave had any money OUT of the scheme? It’s easy to tell you your investment has massively increased in value, if no-one needs to send you any cash. I can print you a shiny statement right now showing you’re a billionaire if it’ll make you happy.

But then again, perhaps Dave has had some cash out. Perhaps we then need to consider the possibility that this might be both a way to get Dave to part with his £100,000 AND a way to draw in the unsuspecting friends Big Dave tells? Surely Keith wouldn’t do that, would he?!

These schemes rely on the Big Dave’s of this world to tell all and sundry about the ‘little touch’ they’ve had with their investment. That’s what keeps the money following through the door. The trouble is, only those at the top of the (what shall we call it? I know… pyramid) make money. The rest, well they get their pants pulled down.

The truth is that Big Dave is heading for a debagging at a rate of knots, and you really don’t want to be there when it happens. You certainly don’t want to be joining him.

So, there you have it. If it looks like it’s too good to be true, always assume it is until you’ve spoken to a properly qualified, authorised and regulated financial adviser. They’ll help you find the best way to invest that nest-egg without the risk of Keith scarpering with it.