A topic to discuss all things investments, including crypto and stocks (save me derailing the Trading 212 thread)!
Iām only just setting out to build knowledge in investments, currently dabbling with Trading 212, but also have Revolut and Freetrade.
Potentially swayed to Barclays Smart Investor to have everything in app, although I know most of the time itās a set and forget.
Iāve very small amounts of crypto held in Revolut which I spent Ā£1 on a few different ones. Some gone up 336% but that doesnāt gain me much, crypto will be the next knowledge gap to fill but Iāll start easy.
Crypto industry is risky in my opinion. I personally have never directly invested into Crypto. I have owned Microstrategy Stock in the past but thats my only crypto exposure.
Some cryptoās do incredibly well and are in the thousands of percentages in growth but also the majority of them have fallen into the price with several zeros with a decimal point at the front.
But it can give out some amazing returns. Some people in my office are very big into crypto and we compare portfolios. They do the crypto market and I do the stock market and we see which grew more that week / month.
This is precisely why I wouldnāt want my investments visible in my banking app. Far too prominent on my financial radar for something Iām supposed to leave alone for years.
I do use the Apple Stocks widget to watch a few key symbols from my portfolio, but they are only tracking share price not my investment, so wouldnāt cause (as much) anxiety if the prices dropped suddenly.
So I have a mix, stocks and investments. The thing, for me at least, with both Crypto and CFDs is while Iām sure some make big bucks, most just get fā¦. Itās essentially gambling in my eyes and one to avoid.
I use IG for stocks. My main strategy is buy across industries, and leave long term so that over time compounding takes effect and reinvestment means a nice return.
I use HSBC for set and forget mainly because Iām lazy and like to have that with my bank. Itās pretty decent and easy enough to use, set and forget an amount and watch the pennies grow.
Key I think to all of this is understanding that anyone, normally on TikTok or similar, who says theyāre getting rapid returns is full of . Itās a long game and the only real way to win is put money you can afford to lose away and watch it, hopefully, grow.
I would love to come into this and say I use ETFs and very safe investments but my portfolio is nothing but safe.
I have a large holdings in EQGB (Nasdaq 100) and TQQQ (Triple Leveraged QQQ). My emergency fund is held in WEEK (US Treasury Bonds ETF).
I do a fair bit of leverage and investing into high risk stocks and funds. I understand thats its not the best idea to invest into them but using them I have managed to return 100%+ for 2024 and 2025.
I do like high risk investments that have very high dividend yields and normal british stocks leveraged into insane amounts of holdings sometimes 3 times or 5 times there normal value.
I do have a safe portfolio which i hold in Barclays which is made up of FTSE British Stocks and Safe Funds. I use that account for safe holdings and I check on it like once a day or so.
All of my high risk investments are held in IBKR as that allows me to do leverage and other crazy stuff
Stocks and shares are likely to do better in the long run. You are buying a share of a business. That business is actively working to increase its value by delivering products and services to its customers. Therefore, your shares are likely to go up in the long run. These business will also have assets (property, inventory, cash in the bank, etc).
Silver, gold, etc may go up, they may go down. If you own some, itāll sit there doing nothing, because lumps of metal donāt do anything. Hopefully someone will want to buy it from you for a higher price in future, but they may not. At least these precious metals look nice.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are electronic tokens. They have no intrinsic value. Crypto fans will tell you itās the future, and everyone will want some. Crypto doomsayers will tell you itās an example of greater fool theory. There is a non-zero chance that crypto investments become totally worthless.
TL;dr if youāre a new, young investor, stocks and shares are your best bet. Specifically, a global index tracker is likely to be a decent bet.
Huh I wonder what got it flagged Who knows in this community anyways
Using one of the ready made portfolios or picking your own stuff? I was tempted to use HSBC as my primary but went for Hargreaves Lansdown instead. I think my Global Investment Centre account is still open
People who start investing off the back of Tiktok expect to buy Ā£10 of Apple Stock and then be a Millionaire by the next morning. Sadly investing is not like that all.
Also alot of TikTok Investors see the price of a stock go red and instantly think āI need to sell!!!ā.
Which is the worst mindset to have. If a stock falls like 40% in one day (Bear Stearns in 2008) then I can understand but when a stock drops 0.4% and you bought 2 days ago like it really doesnt matter. If its a big company it will statically go back up eventually.
I have short positions in IBRK that have been in the red for around 2 years but slowly they are climbing back to green!
I had a play around with crypto around COVID time I think it was? Managed to turn Ā£1000 into Ā£2000 in about 3 months and then promptly lost the lot during the LUNA crash.
A bunch of people essentially found a way to āinfinite money glitchā the token, which ultimately dropped its value to a number so low it may as well have been zero.
Iāve been investing for a little while now, Iāve tried some of the banks; NatWest and HSBC, Iāve also tried Vanguard, HL and AJ Bell. Iāve settled for now on T212 and invest engine.
I liked the ready-made portfolios with HSBC but found the time it takes for investments to be brought and sold jarring. You could argue that has a benefit, as it reduces the temptation of change your holdings or impulse reactions.
InvestEngine I use for my SiPP and my T212 account for my ISA. I have 3 pies setup, one for long term investment, one with individual shares and a model one from vanguard. I wanted to see how the model one performed.
I prefer to have my investments away from my main bank apps. If the market goes down, I donāt want to be confronted with that. Iām in it for the longer term, but psychology plays a part in investing. You want to avoid the temptation to sell when stocks are down, actually it can be a good time to buy.
This is the same with the Monzo one, it takes days and days to sell off investments.
Lost me about Ā£900 during the transfer of my S&S ISA from Monzo to T212 as the market dropped a fair bit during the period it took for the holdings to be sold prior to the transfer.
I started out with Monzo for my S&S ISA but tbh I found the lack of choice etc in funds annoying and decided to go with Chip as they gave a bit more flexibility while also giving a bit of guidance.
I have three ETFs an L&G Large to Mid Cap UK companies one that has performed really well. Vanguard S&P500 which is okay, and Gold. Also thinking of getting some silver tooā¦
I am thinking of moving to a platform that allows me to invest in individual companies too, maybe T212?
but that doesnāt gain me much, crypto will be the next knowledge gap to fill but Iāll start easy.
but do a full review quarterly and rebalance my portfolio if needed
Who knows in this community anyways 