Even though I work a low-paid job (barely more than minimum wage), I have managed to save up a couple of thousand pounds of disposable income. I was considering putting aside £1,000 and starting a simple investment portfolio with some diverse low-risk stocks, and adding to it each month with about half of my disposable income (which will hopefully improve when I eventually find a better-paid job).
Is it worth it? Or should I spend this money some other way (e.g. having a better social life, saving up for a deposit on a house, etc)?
You just described the exact method 99% of stocks and investments should be made: concurrent with other stable income over time
>Is it worth it? Taking the time to make more money is almost always worth it. >Or should I spend this money some other way (e.g. having a better social life, saving up for a deposit on a house, etc)? Having a better social life doesn't cost you money, or at the very least doesn't have to. Saving up should already be done- first stop is typically an emergency fund of 6 months rent/CoL. If you're going to make more from buying/selling/owning a house than you are on stocks, then that's your better option.
Think longer term and you'll see the better choice clearer.
Parker Mitchell
Put your money in long term yolo funds and then forget about it.
Or save it for a big move / education.
Look, a low risk diverse portfolio makes about a 4-5% return a year. Sure this is nice when you have a million bucks and don't want to lose it all, but otherwise it's a waste of time.
Your 1000$ will net you around 50bucks a year, congratulations, its fucking nothing.
I would save up u til you have like 6-7k dollars and then just dump them in companies you think are gonna turn around. Examples from the past that I did were AMD at 1.60, oil stocks during the oil crash, Canadian weed stocks a few months ago etc.
Also since you make jack shit for income I would focus your money on fixing that. Pay for school or some shit.
Brandon Reyes
You have priorities backwards. You should be put saving up first before investing. If you want something, save up for it.
Investing =/= money growth.
Henry Clark
Make sure the money you invest is money that you can afford to invest. There are opportunity costs for everything.
I would suggest putting aside money to invest each month, then opening an account with Charles Stanley, they let you invest into mutual funds for free.
Read Tim Hale's Smarter Investing, learn about mutual funds, then put together a diversified basket of them with your spare £££.
I use charles stanley personally and rate them well. You may wish to get into picking stocks sometime, and I suggest you start with Jim Slater's The Zulu Principle.
Learn to read financial accounts with Michael Brett's How to Read The Financial Pages, you can buy it 2nd hand off of our UK Amazon for 1 penny. It's a great book.
Then read Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor.
Brody Cruz
on one hand you make your money work, at the cost of liquidity, on the other hand your money sits and does nothing My personal opinion is that you're not gonna have the income from this job to pay for a house until you get a better job, but when you get a better job you're better off pumping more into the gainz train until you don't have to work anymore. You dont have to live poverty tier either, budgeting for fun and a nice, mid tier apartment once you get a better job is fine if you still pump the lions share into savings/investment. That said, investment takes many shapes and forms, so can you plans, the variables, take what info you can and just figure it out for yourself after you research
Owen Ward
UK property market is terrible. I'm currently living at home after finishing university, which is why I've been able to save a few thousand pounds in the last 3-4 months. Even with my shitty current wage I can afford to rent a houseshare, but I won't be able to actually own a property until I start to earn ~£30kpa. So earning money from property isn't really going to be an option until later in life (and I don't think I'd do it anyway - boomers buying up property is what has caused house prices to skyrocket anyway).
>put your money in long term yolo funds I don't want to gamble, I want a sensible strategy that will reward me for the discipline of saving and delaying gratification. But hey, I understand I have a shitty job and haven't saved up that much in relative terms, so if it's not realistic then that's fine.
I have saved up, the £1,000 is money I can afford to lose. If I decide to invest it then I might just decide to go travelling for a couple of months or something like that.
I'll check them out, thanks.
I guess the question I should ask is whether or not the gains I get from investing the money would be worth it. Realistically, I'd be disappointed if I wasn't on a job paying ~£25k a year from now, so maybe I should just spend/save this money now and wait until I have a proper salaried position and start investing then.
Kayden Barnes
My plan op is to save up 5k gamble it on craps (all in on the 8) walk away with 10k and then dump that into a bitcoin or equivalent and then sale away on my boat
Michael Roberts
Sad thing is this plan has better odds than most people trying to beat the market and all their other dumb schemes
Nicholas Rivera
I'm in the same boat as you, except I finished uni a year before you.
>Finished uni >Moved back in with parents >got a job in the same town, though I'd stay with my parents and save for a bit
I got a payrise and I'm on £28k, since I don't pay rent or pay for much food I have been saving/investing the majority of it. I started in January.
>Invest in index funds Not only is it lower risk, but you won't pay out your ass on commission. I originally started picking stocks, and I made £800 profit, which is good but I spent so much on commission and I got lucky
>invest into a stocks and shares ISA account So long term you won't pay capital gains tax and you have a lower tax on dividends. Not so much an issue if you're just starting out since you won't make enough to be eligable for tax, however there's a limit each year you can invest in an ISA, so the earlier you start using it the better.
Pic is what I've got so far, because last year I used a regular shares account and not an ISA, I ended up selling everything and putting it into my ISA, however this meant I used a huge chunk of this years ISA allowance, and it's now maxed (I had around 2 grand in my cash ISA which I transferred, hence why I have 17k and not this years limit of 15k
Nicholas Jackson
Also, it's better to set aside x cash each month and invest then rather than save up and invest in one lump sum, yeah you might get lucky and buy low but you also risk buying at a bad time, investing monthly rides it out so you'll get a nice average (hopefully a nice gradual increase)
Leo Nguyen
Invest in yourself. University, certifications, etc.
Lucas Cruz
I have an MSc already, but it's not a very employable one. If I could go back and pick something different I would (and still might do further qualifications in a more employable field), but for the timebeing my priority is just paying off undergrad and postgrad loans, and saving/making money on the side.
Oliver James
>Your 1000$ will net you around 50bucks a year, congratulations, its fucking nothing. A £1000 deposit in the bank will earn him less than nothing. Surely investing that money now (if he's not going to spend it) is better than letting it sit in a bank depreciating against inflation?
Xavier Allen
Honestly I really have thought it out a bit. The only hinge is gambling is super risky but Ive mentally prepared for the loss already so if I loss I will be alright.
In all reality though the most I think I could possibly earn with this plan is a grand total in the range of 20k-30k and from there I would need a new plan.
Owen Evans
Yes but it only sustains your wealth you arent gaining wealth and the idea is to live the free life.
Lucas Smith
>and the idea is to live the free life. Know how I know you're always going to be poor?
Brody Fisher
Anyone has experience with Lending Club?
Telling me how it's shit is cool too
Zachary Nelson
Does anyone here have any experience with ethical funds? Would they be appropriate for my plan of a diverse and low-risk investment fund I can keep paying into and, if so, what's the best way to get started with one of them? I'm actually fairly left-wing and anti-capitalist (or, at least, anti current form of capitalism) in my economic beliefs, and a more socially responsible form of investment would be perfect for me, if possible.
Anthony Perry
Owning stock of "ethical" companies doesn't really help those companies thrive nor does it encourage other enterprises to adopt their practices. All you're doing is assuaging your own guilt at wanting to participate in the benefits of capitalist society while pretending that you're not. And you're seriously impairing your returns at the same time.
You're better off making peace with your conscious and investing like everyone else. If you want to do good in the world, feel free to devote a portion of your wealth to charitable and political causes that you support. Your dollars will be much more productive this way.
Bentley Evans
>tfw when you came up with the exact same idea and thought you were going to get rich until you did some googling and found these guys
Juan Lee
You should be saving before spending OP. You should develop an emergency fund before investing any savings, place 3k into high interest online savings account. Next you should place your money into retirement accounts because they will save you from taxes, if you can have your account be made out of stock and bond indexes which will cut your fees. You can't control the market but you can minimize risk, taxes and fees.
Asher Gutierrez
I'm reading a book about funds at the moment, and 'ethical funds' were mentioned - I think they're mutual funds, managed by a proper manager who simply chooses to invest in 'ethical' industries, and not things like arms, tobacco, etc. From a quick Google search it seemed to suggest that they typically have the same sort of return as regular funds, but I don't know too much about them.
Apart from the £1,000 I'm considering investing, I have about £2,000 saved up already, although I have student loan debts I'd like to pay back sooner rather than later (from family rather than student loans company, else I wouldn't care too much). Are high interest online savings accounts with typical banks or someone else?
Lincoln Peterson
I have 2k spread over 4 small cap biotech stocks with strong drug pipelines. Waiting on buyout or drug brought to market. Buyout from 1 means I make an extra 5k for the year. That's fine with me.
Daniel Morales
>they typically have the same sort of return as regular funds At best, the results are mixed. Plus, you're paying higher fees because these funds are actively managed. It's likely to hurt you in the long run.
And as I mentioned, don't pretend that you're doing "good" by not owning certain companies. You're not helping, promoting, or even encouraging "ethical" companies by owning an "ethical" fund. It's all a marketing tactic
Thomas Hill
That can still buy you an entire BTC, not for long tho. You know what to do.
Or you can put it in grandpa tier stocks/funds to remain in your safe(poor cuck)zone.
Thomas Wright
Pay off all of your loans before you even think about investing
Caleb Ortiz
That's sound advice in general, but I'm not at the same sort of potential liabilities as most people with this loan - like I say, it's from family, and they're charging zero interest. I'm already paying it back at a quicker rate than was expected and could even delay paying it for years, I just don't like owing money to people, so want to pay it back asap.
Christian Wilson
i use lending club. had it abit under year. you need to have atleast couple of thousand for it to be truly profitable. i have like 1k in there. over year i haave gained 40$ in interest. and lost 100+ to defaults. so a net loss :(. but i have a positive outlook. i am buying used notes with low interest 6 or 7%. gyazo.com/05584f6d3602bd75d6c6c667d379e19a.
Get 6 months living expenses saved - minimum £10k I would suggest.
Use high interest accounts. Using moneysavingexpert.com to find the highest rate accounts. Some only give high interest on a few thousand and they need a direct debit + income every month. You can just set up transfers to move the minimum amount in one day, out the next. Get one of these accounts, fill it to the max, then get the next best one. Repeat.
Next up is your ISA.
You hinted at it but il repeat to make it explicit - an ISA is a wrapper to protect yourself from capital gains tax.
Use it each year if possible and pick funds/stocks that match your risk appetite. Low commission index funds or target year funds are not bad at all.
If you are filling an ISA each year then you are doing well.
Landon Reed
>falling for the mr money mustache meme >paying off 3.5% mortgage before even buying an index fund
I would live at home until 28 and save £1,000 a month into an ISA and £100 a month into a SIPP
I use these
Vanguard total US market acc Blackrock total US market acc Vanguard Pacific excl Japan
I might buy the FTSE 250 if I have a better idea of where the UK is headed but basically I mainly buy the US market - I cannot concieve of a scenario where any other developed economy outperforms the USA over a long period
Dylan Howard
>Your 1000$ will net you around 50bucks a year, congratulations, its fucking nothing Yeah, and you should only invest in penny stocks, because you can't buy jack shit worth of real stocks or funds with that kind of money, right? No wonder so many people on this board are broke fucks.
Joshua Brooks
Are you saying investing in expensive stocks would be better if you have very little money?
Andrew James
Better than what? Throwing away money on penny stocks? Then yes. But $40-$80 per share (which encompasses many blue chips) is not considered "expensive" anyway. Funds tend to be priced even lower.
Anthony Sanders
This might be sound financial advice, but I don't think my folks would be too keen on me living rent-free at home until I'm 28 - I think it's just a short-term deal while I'm paying off the student loan I borrowed from them. Besides, I wouldn't really want to anyway - I used to be a normie and I'd like to get back to that eventually, which is difficult to do when I'm mid-20s and still living at home.
That said, I do currently make some of my income remotely (i.e. from my computer, as long as I have an internet connection) and could probably earn about £18-20k per year if I did it full-time. I've been considering moving to somewhere like Prague or Budapest and living relatively cheaply while investing the rest for a few years, but I don't know if that's such a great option seeing as it involves taking up a fairly lonely profession somewhere I don't know anyone or even speak the language. I've been fairly socially isolated the last couple of years, and like I said, I want to get back to being a normie.
Anthony Sanchez
You could buy and sell used electronics with that 1000 on local classifieds and make more money in a month. I make average $800 a month by doing this in my free time at work.
Daniel Phillips
My comment applied to market investments. Just pointing out that too many people fall for the logical fallacy of "If I can't afford a stable investment, that means an unstable one is a good idea". I bought and sold a ton of stuff too. It's probably where I gained the experience to trade.
Charles Walker
It's "worth it" because it's going to set you up psychologically, even if your returns are a pittance in the beginning.
