£100 a month to invest - Best options

fivepound

Hi, My first ever endowment has just finished and I would like to continue to invest a small amount on a monthly basis. Im looking at the mid term say 10 years and have approx £100 pr month to invest. Im a complete novice when thinking about buying shares etc but did see the halifax sharebuilder which looks simple. does anyone have any ideas?

Thx

xrjtg

Monthly contributions to a selection of Unit Trusts could be worth considering, especially if you're happy to pick the funds yourself. Buy through a discount broker such as Hargreaves Lansdown to get most initial fees rebated.

Primrose

If you want to buy shares/unit trusts over a ten year period, and especially if you're a taxpayer, it would be sensible to use your annual stock & shares ISA allowance and do this through one of the funds providers, as xrjtg has suggested where you have a choice of funds. You can either have each monthly contribution shared amongst different funds/type of funds to share your risk, or opt to invest in a different fund every year. I'm not sure how other fund providers operate, but if you make your investment through Hargreaves Lansdown, you will get a loyalty bonus on your investments. You get statements every six months and can check the value of your investments online as well. If you feel uncertain about making your own decisions, you can also invest in their own selection for which they make the choices. More info at: www.h-l.co.uk

fivepound

Thx for advice, i did talk to H&L on the phone and they tell me that for such a small amount pr month they dont offer any advice on which fund to choose or have their own selection but should read up on the reviews on the website and choose myself.

xrjtg

That's likely to be true for most IFAs: their time will be too expensive for the value they could add to £100 a month.

blinko

Primrose wrote: »

If you want to buy shares/unit trusts over a ten year period, and especially if you're a taxpayer, it would be sensible to use your annual stock & shares ISA allowance and do this through one of the funds providers, as xrjtg has suggested where you have a choice of funds. You can either have each monthly contribution shared amongst different funds/type of funds to share your risk, or opt to invest in a different fund every year. I'm not sure how other fund providers operate, but if you make your investment through Hargreaves Lansdown, you will get a loyalty bonus on your investments. You get statements every six months and can check the value of your investments online as well. If you feel uncertain about making your own decisions, you can also invest in their own selection for which they make the choices. More info at: www.h-l.co.uk

AGREED WITH THE ABOVE, 10 YEARS is a good timeframe so a stock market and use up your ISA allowances

silverjunky999

fivepound wrote: »

Hi, My first ever endowment has just finished and I would like to continue to invest a small amount on a monthly basis. Im looking at the mid term say 10 years and have approx £100 pr month to invest. Im a complete novice when thinking about buying shares etc but did see the halifax sharebuilder which looks simple. does anyone have any ideas?

Thx

Why not buy silver bullion every month then you are not plankton that the big fish feed off.

Research the supply demand fundamentals of silver for yourself.

LongTermLurker

fivepound wrote: »

Thx for advice, i did talk to H&L on the phone and they tell me that for such a small amount pr month they dont offer any advice on which fund to choose or have their own selection but should read up on the reviews on the website and choose myself.

That's right, it's execution only, so you need to do your own research - to be fair, there's a lot of information on their website to help you choose.

The ISA idea is the best suggestion.

Your biggest gotcha is that most of their funds have a £50/month minimum regular investment, so you have 2 options: choose 2 Multi Manager / Fund of Funds or change your investment options after 6 months to diversify - you can change the funds you invest in online.

Primrose

I realise it's very confusing for a beginning deciding which funds to invest in but I think many IFAs often recommend kicking off with a sound UK Equity Income Fund, and Invesco Perpetual High Income seems to have been one of the most popular as Neil Woodford, the Fund Manager has been highly regarded for years. This isn't advice as there are other good performing equity income funds as well. You must make up your own mind but if you checked around you'd probably find that this is one fund that is included in many people's portfolio. If you're invested for the long term, make sure you arrange to have income reinvested.