Eventually they made a lifestyle choice and sold up, netting 1.5m after clearing the mortgage on their home and buying a modest holiday apartment in Spain.

John and Carol went to PrimaFinance for help in finding a low-risk way of investing their money.

To replace their lost income, John took a well-paid job as a pharmacist with a large national chain of chemists.

Carol also took a part-time position as a pharmacist with a local business. This made for regular hours, less stress and meant that they did not have to live off the lump sum they got from selling the business.

Their top priority was to preserve their wealth because, by selling up, they had lost their 'cash cow'. This led them to leave the money on deposit indefinitely, earning 2.2% interest from one of the retail banks. As they did not want their lump sum to fall in value, the couple were happy with this return.

Spencer Botting, a financial adviser at PrimaFinance, explained that their caution was actually costing them money because deposit rates have failed to keep pace with inflation. He said it was realistic to structure a medium- to low-risk investment portfolio that would potentially achieve average returns of 6% a year.

That is 3.8% more than John and Carol were getting on deposit. On the 1.5m lump sum, that's an extra 57,000 in the first year or 335,000 over five years.

Presented with the evidence, the couple decided to go for a medium-risk strategy, which means taking some risk in exchange for greater growth potential. Their portfolio was structured as follows:

? 170,000 for a downpayment on a buy-to-let property costing 300,000, with 140,000 borrowed over 20 years at 4.5% interest APR. The rent of 10,500 a year will cover the mortgage repayments of 10,560 a year;

? 250,000 in an actively-managed fund;

? 250,000 in a consensus managed fund;

? 250,000 in a European equity fund;

? 250,000 in a geared commercial property syndicate;

? 330,000 in cash at 3.75% a year.

Two points should be noted when considering the above, says Spencer. "The most important is that the clients fully understand the portfolio that is being presented to them and are completely comfortable with the recommendation. The second is that the portfolio is sufficiently diversified. The old adage of 'all your eggs in one basket' explains this philosophy. Typically, when looking at investments, one sector will fall while another will rise. If the client's portfolio is diversified over a number of sectors and geographical markets, such peaks and troughs will not adversely effect the overall return.

"In conclusion, by adopting a very conservative outlook to investments the client runs the risk that, whilst the capital remains safe, its value will in real terms reduce in the medium term. At the same time the cost of assets such as property and equities will appreciate over the same time. It is imperative that the client at least achieves a situation where the value of their money maintains its purchasing power."