Some time in 1999 I found a great site.  It listed just about every
kind of financial instrument/investment available to the private
investor in the UK and explained them and commented on them.  It also
gave the taxation implications which, I think, was the reason for the
site, but wasn't the part I was most interested in.  The reason I
liked it was that it wasn't trying to sell anything (except maybe tax
planning? I forget) and the commentary was therefore more robust than
on the 9 million sites that sort of do this.

The nearest I've found is Investopedia.com which is US-only so not so
useful (eg on insurance products).  The site I'm after was short on
design but long on info.

Anyhow, I won't accept as an answer anyone who is selling financial
product (eg funds, insuracne product, brokerage) except maybe tax
advice.  And if the site says that investment-linked insurance product
is a waste of space, it's probably on the right lines.

I will tip if you can get the exact same site I'm after.

This is definitely a wood-for-trees web problem, and a challenge to
you professionals in designing search terms.

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Request for Question Clarification by answerfinder-ga on 31 Aug 2005 07:37 PDT

Dear jago8-ga,

After six years it is possible that the site may be changed beyond
recognition, bowed to commercial pressures and selling products, or no
longer existing. Therefore, I offer you this site which has advice on
financial instruments but is not selling them in any way: the
Financial Services Authority web site.

Try these links and tell me if they are detailed enough for you.

Saving & Investments
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/11_Learn/financial_products/Saving/intro1.html
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer//08_INVESTMENTS/types_intro.html

answerfinder-ga

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Clarification of Question by jago8-ga on 01 Sep 2005 05:02 PDT

Thanks, answerfinder-ga, quite close but no cigar I'm afraid.  The
FSA, being the main regulator, is indeed not selling, but has other
reasons for being mealy-mouthed - ie it is tax-financed and therefore
can't go around opining that whole product sectors are a consumer
rip-off - I don't think you could describe its commentary as "robust".

Also, the site I was after is much more extensive in coverage, for
instance including fx, hedge funds and various retail ways of doing
real estate, just to mention some entire sectors the FSA doesn't cover
(because it can't be seen to be suggesting that these are suitable
investments for private individuals).

However, the independent gloves-off view is mainly what I'm after, not
the breadth of coverage.