MARIANNA HUNT MILLENNIAL INVESTOR

Being confined within your four walls is even harder when you don’t own them. The pandemic has only made me more determined to get myself out of my poky rented flat and into my own home as soon as possible. But that might take longer than I thought.

Overall, the money I had invested to pay for my house deposit, which at one point had risen in value by 20pc, is now down by about 2pc. The full economic impact of coronavirus is yet to be determined, but leading analysts have said a recession is coming and it could well be worse than the 2008 financial crisis.

I’ve been searching for a “safe haven”, something that could protect me from further downturns by spreading risk.

The classic safe haven is gold. The problem is the gold price jumps up and down like a bucking bronco and is currently very high, so I wouldn’t get good value if I buy in.

Another thing people used to consider a safe bet was bonds: you lend a country or company your money and they pay it back after a certain amount of time with interest. However, the amounts paid back on bonds are now at historic lows. In Germany, investors actually have to pay the government for it to borrow your money. It also doesn’t seem that

Investor newsletter

Get our best investing tips and ideas straight to your inbox every week

telegraph.co.uk/ investornewsletter in this case they have helped investors to spread risk. Since the pandemic started stocks, bonds and gold have all taken a hit.

While doing this research, I’ve been bombarded by dodgy-looking emails from investment firms. Some send me photos of people who have “bounced back from bankruptcy” by investing in things such as cryptocurrencies. A few look fairly legitimate but a quick internet search reveals a number of articles suggesting they are scams. I’m not sure how these companies got my personal email address – I don’t give it out lightly – and hate to imagine how many other people have been receiving messages like this, particularly when many are losing their jobs and desperate to find a way of making some money.

Previously, cryptocurrencies could only be bought via specialist brokers, but in the past few years a number of more mainstream trading platforms, including broker eToro and digital bank Revolut, have started offering them. The danger of these currencies “going mainstream” is that people start thinking they are as safe as any other investment. Crypto fanatics insist they’re safer than traditional investments as they aren’t affected by the decisions of central banks.

Cryptocurrencies first came about turning to cryptocurrencies

Some are

in reaction to the last financial crisis, and some investors are now jumping on board in the hope that they will help them through the next one. According to eToro, the amount of money its users put into Bitcoin more than doubled between January and March this year.

What you have to remember, though, is that when buying cryptocurrencies, you have none of the protections you would when investing in a fund, for example. If a firm managing one of my funds went bust, I would be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and could get up to £85,000 back. Whereas if a crypto firm collapsed, you would most likely get nothing.

You also have almost zero chance of getting your money back if hackers steal your digital “coins”. Up to $10bn (£8bn) in cryptocurrencies has been swiped by online criminals, according to analytics company Coinfirm. Both Revolut and eToro told me they communicate to investors the risks of buying and selling cryptocurrency and work hard to prevent crime, but some other platforms do not.

I’m starting to realise that the only real safe haven is cold, hard cash. Yes, its value will be eroded by inflation – but that risk is minimal compared with others I could be facing.

When I started investing, I made sure to put aside six months’ worth of spending as an emergency safety net. Now I’m shopping around to get myself the best interest rate possible. I’ve opened a savings account with the bank Marcus, which offers one of the best rates on the market at 1.3pc, and moved my funds there. It still doesn’t beat inflation, but it’s a hell of a lot better than what I was getting before.

As a major recession looks likely, there aren’t many safe havens any more – and I’m hugely sceptical about cryptocurrencies

Did I make the right decision? Let me know by emailing marianna. hunt@telegraph.co.uk