Well, the good thing about land is that you can grow food on it. To recommend something to do with cash I would need to know your appetite for risk and planned timeframe. At the moment I have a relatively diversified portfolio, perhaps a little bit equity-heavy and certainly biased towards inflation (all my pension and a bit more besides has been in index-linked gilts for three or so years -- currently showing a profit of 40% or so). Diversified portfolios mean that if people are losing their shirts, you will losse less than them, but if people are making fortunes, they will make more than you.

I quite like platinum at the moment, actually. Might dabble a future there. I'm not bearish on equities over the next decade either. For the safest "not lose much" option, any 5-year gilts priced at or about par will probably lose you only about 10% of your money (in real terms -- in absolute terms you make a bit).

PJ