Hello All,I have GBP 1000. I want to know how to invest.bank it and the quickest way to maximise the returns in 3 -5 months period in UK (and I already know the photocopier trick to double the money , so dont bother with silly answers).Suggestions are invited.

you silly old man, with photocopier you can not only double the money but multiply it as many times as you want/ as much paper you have!!You suck! if you have beautiful wife let me know

Mr. Nice,How risk averse are you? I ask because this will more or less determine what kind of return you're likely to get. If this is surplus cash that you don't mind risking, then go stock picking or do something equally risky. On the other hand, if you have to have all of your cash back at the end, then put it in the bank.Given the timeframe that we're talking about, the markets that you're likely to have access to and probable transaction costs, you're unlikely not to make more than a few quid.EC

1K isn't big enough to get you a worthwhile absolute return on any investment given likely ROI rates and the impact of transaction costs. You can probably afford to risk the sum - so just go gamble / spread bet with it.

geeza makes a good point on spread betting, I should've included it in my post. Be wary as spread betting can cost you more than your original stake if you don't set stop losses.EC

So many people "know someone who knows someone that made a fortune via spread betting".However, ask yourself this - do YOU directly know anyone that has made a fortune via spread betting.I'm talking about consistent results, rather than some guy that gambled £500 and happened to win on a few occasions and now has £10,000 in the bank.As far as I can tell, it's not much better than playing the fruit machines. Yeah, the potential for good returns is there, but talk about risky.If you do go down the spread betting route, I would like to place a bet that you will lose at least 50% of your money. I bet I will be right.

would you be allowed to place a large spread bet with one firm that you would lose 50% of your stake on spread betting activities with another firm? that would be a profitable model ;)

Have you heard about day trading (Forex, Commodity, Stock)? This could be very good learning and experience for you. 1K is not big to loose sleep on it but you will learn lot. Offcourse you will need to read and research a bit as this is not Euromillion but your chances are much better.

Geeza, I don't think they let you bet on a "sure thing" ;-) LOL

Mr Nice,As said above:- if you can't risk loosing any of it, at best you'll make enough for a round at the pub.- if you're ready to risk some of it, an alternative would be: research a small listed oil exploration company that's exploring unchartered territories, and a few months away from completition of their work. The downside is that part of the success of the exploration will already be priced into the stock (say you'll be left with £700-£800 or less), after everyone takes flight. The upside could on the other hand be massive. Preferably get it through a S&S isa...Yes, it's risky, but certainly a lot more interesting and fun to research and get interested in.The same could be applied to sectors other than oil exploration, like start ups (think AIM, bottom end of ftse) but the time span should be more than 5 months.Hope that helps!

Thanks for the response Ned / Angel Investor / EC / Dave / Geeza.I would say 'spread betting' is not my cup of tea as its a hard earned cash and I dont believe in gambling. If I were so lucky, someone would have purchased the winning combination of Euromillions, and its would be the last roll over of Euro millions ever, and this guy would have gifted me this ticket based on some Random selection criteria suggested by Darwin himself ! Not to mention home delivered.Meanwhile, stock/forex/commodities takes time and the margins (after tax) are small. Anyone any other ideas ? (eg, become a loan shark, etc etc, the ideas should be countless guys ! ! ) Meanwhile, I would consider myself to be a risk taker in sports/jobs/attitude but with money I seem to be moderate risk taker.

My mother tells me that someone on 'Flog It' recently bought a 'plastic' jewellery box for £1. It turned out to be Chinese ivory and worth £500-700. All you need to do is repeat the feat 1000 times...Alternatively, find out which oil firms are not involved in Libya & Bahrain and put it there.

As has already been said, if you aren't willing to take a risk, you aren't going to make a large return in that timeframe.That said, here's another idea for you.Zopa.com is a sort of peer-to-peer online lending platform. I know someone who has made a bit from that, and you can choose to restrict yourself to people with good credit ratings if you want.

"I would say 'spread betting' is not my cup of tea as its a hard earned cash and I dont believe in gambling."Mr. Nice,All investment is gambling, the only thing that changes are the odds.The fact of the matter is that investment of any sort is very hard to make money from (or at least, to consistently outperform the market is very hard.) Most managed funds which operate in deep and liquid markets only ever outperform through luck, and most of the more exotic investments are simply not available to most people (e.g. hedge funds) or not practical (e.g. distressed debt.)Furthermore, most people don't really get how markets work. Take "The Duke"'s example above, the risk from Libya and Bahrain will already be priced into markets, so there will be no arbitrage opportunities. A contrarian view would be that investing in companies which are heavily exposed to Libya and Bahrain might be a better option as the news is unlikely to get any worse!Go read up on the efficient markets hypothesis. While it's wrong under many circumstances, it's a very useful model to consider.EC