The trend for online reviews of products and services continues to grow. The latest thing we’ve seen is Picky, an app available for smartphones that enables users to record and upload their own 60 second reviews for other users to view. I mention this for two reasons:

1. There are sure to be commercial opportunities for people who attract plenty of viewers to their reviews, as there are for  contributors to Youtube, Instagram and the like

2. The app could be a good source of unbiased information about products and services you are considering buying.

More information can be had from www.picky.co

I’m not a fan of camping – give me some solid walls and a roof every time – but I know many people are. And with the ever increasing cost of  hotels, it’s not really surprising. But where do you camp? Well in the United States, it’s all a lot easier thanks to Hipcamp.com.

Hipcamp connects would-be campers and land owners. Go to the site and you can either list your land for rent (if you’re a landowner) or search for camping land in the area you want to visit. Users can check price, location  and availability directly on the site. The site owners are currently offering landowners $500 to register on the site –  a sure sign that there’s money to be made.

Perhaps something  like this would work here in the UK. Plenty of people own enough land for a small campsite and camping is more popular than ever. This sort of service works here for holiday flats and apartments (See Airnb.com) so why not  campsites?

News stories are starting to emerge about what’s being called the interest-only mortgage time bomb. Almost a million people have interest-only mortgages with no plan in place to repay the capital at the end of the term. I was alerted to this by reader Tony Cater who thinks he’s spotted an opportunity. And he could be right.

Tony points out that there is a  buy-to-let style opportunity as one of the range of solutions to this problem. The crux of the idea is that when the capital falls due for repayment, the house is sold to a buy-to-let landlord who rents the property back to the current ‘owners’.  Perhaps there is a business model that combines security for the occupants and an income stream for the new landlord.

This has hallmarks of equity release schemes, which tend to get a bad press, but I think that’s more to do with the implementation (and the people offering it) rather than something intrinsically wrong with the idea. If you can come up with a mutually beneficial arrangement, this could be an excellent opportunity with almost unlimited potential.

As I’m sure you’re aware, there are substantial financial benefits (if not aesthetic ones) to installing solar panels through a combination of cheaper power and an additional feed-in tariff  payment guaranteed by the government.

Although the details have yet to be finalised, it looks almost certain that the tariff (which is guaranteed for 20 years) will be slashed by over 60% in January.

I won’t bore you with the nuts and bolts here, (if you’re interested it’s easy enough to find them online)  but the important thing is this – if you’re considering installing solar panels, you need to get it done and signed off before January. That way your feed in tariff will be guaranteed for 20 years. Leave it any longer and it probably won’t be worth it.

While equities are  widely regarded as one of the better ways  to invest your money, over the past 15 years, investors would have made three times as much cash if they’d bought Lego sets instead! Shares brought in an average 4.1% return for their owners, whereas the most prized Lego toy sets have leapt a staggering 12% in value. To demonstrate – The ‘Cafe Corner’ Lego set originally retailed for £89.99 when it was first launched in 2000, but would bring in a cool £2,096 today.

I recently touched upon the profits to be made with alternative investments like this in  an article about Disney’s ‘secret vault’. It’s worth keeping  an eye out for any bargain collectables whose market price are set to rise. Classics from companies like  Disney and Lego will always hold their value, and show that there are many ways to invest outside of the conventional path.