“I can’t think of a better investment”
A pensioner has revealed how he is comfortable relying on peer-to-peer lending to fund his retirement needs.
David Symonds (pictured), 81, had a varied career running electrical shops and household furnishing businesses as well as a property development partnership and was looking for somewhere to invest with decent interest rates a few years ago.
He keeps money aside – along with his state pension – that he and his wife can use but has invested £450,000 through P2P lending platforms including ArchOver and Kuflink.
Read more: How to address inflation in your P2P portfolio
“I used to have shares and made good profits but I was looking for better interest,” he said. “Interest rates were very poor six or seven years ago so I went online to look at various P2P lending companies.
“The stock market has no security.
“A platform like Kuflink ticks all the boxes as you have decent interest rates, an underlying security and a secondary market if you want to sell your loans, plus the customer service is pretty good.
“It is less risky as it is investing in property and is a tangible asset that you don’t get with stocks and shares.”
Symonds said he is aware of the risks of P2P lending and has narrowed his preferred platforms down over the years, having invested small amounts in others including Crowdstacker and now-closed platforms Lending Works and RateSetter. He added that he has made some losses from other platforms but has begun diverting funds to Kuflink.
Symonds has earned returns of six to 6.8 per cent and plans to use the money for his old age, for example if he and his wife need to go into care homes.
“I do my homework and look at the surveyor’s report and try to get as low a loan-to-value as possible,” he said. “It is also useful that Kuflink puts money into the loans itself.
Read more: How to read P2P platform data
“If there is a market crash, which is possible, I always look at the lending criteria to make sure it is suitable.
“I can’t think of a better investment as the security is there, while with stocks and shares you can’t do much if everything goes south.”
Read more: Should P2P investors worry about Bank of England base rate rises?