The importance of fees have already been explained, so I’d reiterate: do you really want the bulk of your investment to be suffering amongst the worst fees out there?
You have lots of options, some of them completely free. Even if you’re only investing small amounts at this stage (or especially because of this, since the fees will be a higher percentage of your gains), consider if you really want to be giving a company your money for doing you an active disservice.
This is a fine approach, but only really practical at higher levels of investments. Shares in individual companies have certain prices. Buying a single share in a desired company every month alongside your ETF could leave you with a portfolio weighting of, say, 50%+ picked company, which is quite a bad idea for the health of your portfolio.
If you can arrange things so that your personal picks only comprise 5 to 10% of your portfolio, that’s when it becomes easier to justify.
Thanks for all your advice. I think I will reevaluate my account with Nutmeg towards the end of the tax year where I have the opportunity to invest in a different ISA.
I have found that American stocks are practically off the table at my level of investment, so am sticking to ETFs and British companies for now.
Me too - as soon as they allow fractional stocks I will be very happy to put more money into my account as I can diversify more into US stocks that are currently too expensive for me.
I would suggest you either increase your existing monthly contributions or find another way to invest in broad-based equity funds.
Generally speaking, most people shouldn’t invest in individual companies. Those who do are often much better off just putting it into index funds. The question is why don’t they? Because it’s a hobby and they enjoy it. So if you think it’ll be a hobby you enjoy, then go for it, but if not, just keep it simple (you’ll almost certainly have better returns!).