Investing as a beginner can seem quite intimidating, and is often portrayed in films and television as something for men in suits who have a huge net worth. However, this is simply not the case- if you are financially ready, you can start to invest your money right now.
BUT before you even begin to think about investing your money, you need to ask yourself a few questions, these include:
-Am I debt free and covering my bills every month?
-Do I have an emergency fund/and or a healthy pot of savings?
-Can I comfortably invest this money, and not touch it for at least 5 years?
-Am I prepared to risk losing the money I invest?
If your answers to all of the above are YES, read on to find out more about how to start investing in a few different ways, even if you don’t have a big salary, or much money left over at the end of the month.
Start your own business
You can start your own business with a very small amount of money, and the business I have in mind here is blogging. For as little as around £45 a year, you can purchase your domain name and hosting, and you could be making money as early as 3 months into your blogging journey. I run a blogging mentorship program called #MyBlogMyBusiness where I help people to turn their blogs into profitable businesses, one of the bloggers I worked with recently managed to make £300 in her third month of blogging- and you could do the same too! If you were to consistently make £300 a month from blogging after month 3, over the course of a year you could be making a £2,700 return on your investment of £45. That’s not to say that running a blog is without its challenges, you will have to put in the groundwork to see your small investment flourish into a profitable blog.
Pension Contribution
If you have a pension scheme at work, it is a really great idea to sign up and make a contribution to the scheme, even if you can only spare 3% of your salary. Recently the minimum pension contributions increased, and now the employer minimum contribution is 2%, and employee minimum contribution is 3%. You can of course increase your contribution, and if you are lucky, your workplace may have a scheme where they will make a much larger percentage contribution. From April 2019 onwards, the contributions will increase again, employer minimum contribution will be 3% and employee minimum contribution will be 5%. Having a workplace pension in place means that you are putting away a small amount of money each month for your future- when you are in your sixties, you will thank yourself for this. It is worth noting that the employer contribution is put into investments by the pension provider which means that the value of your pension pot can fluctuate depending on how the investments perform.
Stocks and Shares ISA
You can invest your money in a stocks and shares ISA with a minimum contribution of £100 a month with a company such as Vanguard. If you are not familiar with Vanguard, you can begin by researching the best Vanguard ETFs that the company offers. For many, it may not be an option to commit to investing this amount of money every month without knowing for definite whether you will get your money back. It’s a good idea to invest in a stocks and shares ISA for a minimum of 5 years, but preferably longer- it’s a big commitment to make but there is of course the chance that you could make a good return on your investment in the future. Stock market can be tricky though so you have to do careful analysis before making your investments. To identify investment opportunities across a broader range of asset classes and sectors, investors may use quantamental models.
You also have the option to invest in your money into property. This can turn out to be very lucrative if you do your research and invest in an area where the property value will skyrocket. You can invest in property anywhere and in any type of property, from newbuild homes to timeshares in your hometown location to as far away as new condos in Etobicoke.
Invest your money with a wealth management company
If you have a larger sum of money to play with, it is worth working with a wealth management company like Moneyfarm. Working with experts means that you have access to so much advice, guidance and knowledge that you would not have ordinarily. Since Moneyfarm is a digital wealth manager, you can even use a dedicated app to review your portfolio, track performance and even withdraw money whenever you want at no extra cost. Moneyfarm perfectly describes their service on their website:
The right assets. The right advice. The right tools. All at the right time. Our investment strategy is tailored to your profile and laser-focused on giving you a simpler, smarter investing experience.
Not only does Moneyfarm give you a fantastic investing experience, they also offer their professional advice and products at a ‘family-friendly’ cost, head to their website to find out more about their transparent pricing, with no hidden fees. Moneyfarm will make an informed selection for your portfolio that aims to minimise risk and maximise growth by picking a diverse range of asset classes, locations and currencies. You can be safe in the knowledge that your portfolio will be monitored at all times, with Moneyfarm staying abreast of market trends and planning for the future which gives you one less thing to worry about.
Get your free 1% at a time printable
This simple trick helped us to clear £15,000 worth of credit card debt. Simply take your savings goal and divide it by 100 to get your 1% at a time. Once you have saved or earned 1%, cross it off. Download this free printable to keep you on track.
Collaboration
