Stocks + Shares ISA

Chickabee

Hi, just wondering if anyone can give me a few hints/tips regarding opening my first ever stocks&shares isa?
I always tend to max out my cash isa and i'm looking for a long term investment plan to put approx £25-30 a month into.

In the past i had one of those Scottish Friendly 10 yr plans which i saved £25 per mth into over 10 yrs and i got back £3600 approx. Lots of people have said these plans are a complete rip-off with the fees etc.

Anyhow i'm looking for something i can commit to monthly and keep seperate from all my other accounts/ savings and almost forget about it. In saying that nothing too risky. Someone suggested a stocks/shares isa, but to be honest i know very very little about them. I don't want anything with huge risk or massive fees that wouldn't even make my £25/30 per month worthwhile.

All suggestions appreciated

jimjames

Most ISAs will have a minimum of £50 per month, not sure if that is too high for you.

With an ISA you have no commitment and can start, stop or withdraw at any point. Charges are also far more transparent and reasonable that the savings plan you have had before.

You can see some more info here https://www.hl.co.uk but they are not the cheapest for tracker funds.

psychic_teabag

I think iii might have a smaller minimum fund purchase - ISTR seeing that monevator blog uses it for model portfolio for that reason.

EDIT: http://www.iii.co.uk/investing/funds/funds-builder says minimum £20 - ignore that bit about £1.50 per trade : there was an earlier discussion on the forum somewhere, and we think that's just for shares. Bit confusing, though.

EDIT2: eg http://monevator.com/2012/01/17/how-to-invest-on-a-budget/

Chickabee

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm afraid stocks & shares investments are just a complete minefield for me but i will have a look at both of those you mentioned.
I could perhaps save £50 but to be honest i only wanted to save something small as i already max out every annual regular saver i can get my hands on!