The best investment I ever made

Back in 1993 I made my first visit to the Isle of Man. To be honest the main reason I flew over was to accompany my Dad who wanted to see some of the Manx Electric Railway centenary. He's always been interested in trams and you don't get that many 100 year old systems around here. I knew of the island of course but the steam engines all looked the same and I'm not really that into narrow gauge.

Needless to say, once I got there, I was fascinated. Every so often some Manx modelling turns up on this blog and I do now aspire to a layout or two based on the prototype.

Not long after returning from the island, I was made redundant with a reasonable payout. Most people would trot down to see the bank manager for advice on investing the cash for the future. I didn't as I knew the capitalist pig would laugh at my pot of money - junior civil servants don't earn much - and anyway, I'm a bit rubbish at this sort of thing. What I did do was buy a life membership of the Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters Association. Currently this costs £180 or 12 years of normal adult membership. So if you reckon you are going to make 13 more birthdays then it's a bargain.

For this I get 4 top quality magazines a year and free rides on the Groudle Glen Railway. Or you do if you remember your membership card. And don't want to pay so you get a ticket to keep as a souvenir.

Anyway, that's my top investment advice. Ignore stocks and shares and look for life memberships in railway based groups then buy, Buy, BUY !

I'm in profit and that makes me a better money manager than most of the City of London. Told you they should have listened to me...