Should I start investing my money?

We spoke to three people who’ve started investing their money – about why they’ve opted to invest and how it’s going so far

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Yes!
Investing consistently and early on is very important for financial health.
It doesn’t need to be anything sophisticated, just track the market. Set and forget.

Highly recommend this talk @ google:

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Good blog post, investing doesn’t have enough recognition as a good way to grow your savings in my opinion. It’s higher risk of course but if you’re willing to lock up your savings for long enough & you approach it in the right way then it can be very powerful.

“You need to be aware of fees associated with investing and consider how these can eat into your returns,” advises Emma. “When you only invest a small amount, you could find that your fees outweigh any gains – so always check your fees very carefully.”

There’s other options that let you invest for free like the company that I work for Freetrade.io, for people who’re comfortable picking stocks or simply investing in bundles of stocks, which is what the robo-advisors like Nutmeg also offer.

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Why pay fees? Do it yourself for nothing and put your money in ETFs instead of funds. Doesn’t take much time and effort to create a diverse portfolio

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(A lot of) ETFs aren’t free, they have a built-in charge. Look at the Key Facts documents.

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Struggling to think of an ETF that doesn’t have a fee. I was talking about a management fee on top of the ETF fee. Investing in individual stocks avoid this but do have stamp duty as well as the fact stock picking rarely work long term

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The article is wrong you should have 10% of your tangible assets in cash excluding housing etc.
I really dislike this article it reads more like a sales pitch. There really should a discussion about the negatives of investing(And there are a couple)

I work for an investment platform and bloody hell if I could turn the clock back 10 years and start investing then.

Stocks and Shares, if it’s in OEIC’s, ETF’s, Investment Trusts or good old Equities are probably the best place to put money in for the Medium to Long Term.

Of course you have people that think Stocks and Shares are all about short term trading and high risks, but stats are they out perform the return on cash over the long term by leaps and bounds. While yes they carry more risks, such as the situation with Woodford at the moment. But a diverse portfolio will help mitigate them so much.

Stocks and Shares should always form part of someone’s long term savings plan.

Personally I always invest 10% of my income into my stocks and Shares ISA, another 10% goes into easy access cash (like my Monzo pots) and then I keep the rest for bills and general spending. Over the last two years that’s amounted to quite a lot.

Only if you pick the right ones, and that’s really hard to do as Woodford has shown

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I currently use Moneybox there’s no chance I could save £20,000 but can manage £100 a month in not a little more, is it worth me doing this? (In anyones opinion)

I second this, Freetrade is great for investing. Highly recommend it! :raised_hands:t2:

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I’ve got £0 savings, a few things on finance and the wife and I are expecting in August. Do you think it’s worth putting £1 in to start investing, then adding more over time?

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Not yet.

Debts first.

Then nest egg - 6 months expenses at least.

Then invest.

Use this time to get yourself a book and read it. I recommend Tim Hales Smarter Investing.

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Yes, it’s all about compounding. The earlier you start, the more it adds up

Echo what Emma said, but with Moneybox, you’re pissing sway your returns in fees. You’d get pretty much the same return, with significantly lower fees with Freetrade or Vanguard, if you could put a touch more effort in.

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Woodford’s fund is just one OEIC out of thousands. Also there are some very big questions about he managed his fund.

Either way, if you invested into poorly performing one, for 9 out of the last 10 years they would have outdone any returns you got at the bank.

I do a lot of short term trading. I also invest in the long term with Vanguard. By far I make more in the long term with Vanguard than picking my own stocks. Passive tend to be better than active over the long term also.

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Not always correct some debt is good.

I choose not to overpay my mortgage the cost of finance at the moment is cheap and the impact of compounding over the long term at a higher average return will outperform the early pay down of debt.

I understand the risk of underperformance but think the upside is worth it.

You’ve got to start somewhere. With £1 a month you will probably struggle to buy a single share in an etf but you could for example buy 1 or 2 shares a month in someone like Lloyds Banking group - which probably isn’t a super sexy buy but they have a simple business model and pay a good dividend (I have Lloyds in my portfolio).

Freetrade has been mentioned, and for good reason, do a basic order and every penny of your £1 a month will be yours, no fees.

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Loads of people misunderstood investing when Monzo had their crowdfunding round. Just look at all the comments on here.

Surprised that this is being brought up again, especially since the article reads as very one sided only skimming the potential risks. :astonished:

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