Low Risk Investment Strategies

Not a very obvious suggestion, you might think, and especially not at a time when the returns from deposit accounts are shrinking in every country except maybe Japan (where they’re too low to be much consolation anyway). But if you get your currency mix right you can reap a sizeable profit from a favourable currency movement. Your usual financial adviser can tell you which of the many foreign-currency accounts or currency funds will be best suited for your needs: it’s likely to depend on which base currency you’re already working from.

As an offshore investor you should be able to make full use of the very considerable tax advantages attached to these cash-based products.

Low Risk Investment Strategies - Cash

For most people, of course, cash is suitable only as an interim stage when you’re moving between other types of investments. It’s a useful refuge, sure, but it doesn’t bring you much in the way of interest, and it’s vulnerable to the pressures of inflation. Right now, it’s doubtful whether you could make a convincing case for cash as a medium-term proposition: with most major equity markets already at fairly modest prices in relation to earnings, there doesn’t seem to be the kind of reckless overvaluation that normally precedes a massive Tokyo-style slump. But keep all your senses peeled this year, because things could still change very quickly.