Naive but keen to learn+have £30-£60 p.m- Help please?

bob_dob

Hi there,
I'm a newbie on here so please take it easy with me. I feel guilty as I'm going to ask the sort of question that you guys must be bored to tears with: My girlfriend and I want to invest between £30 - £60 per month and am unsure whether to use a passive fund or an actively managed fund. Ideally we are looking at investing for 3 to 5 years.
Please could I ask for some advice? And once again I apologise for my lack of knowledge.

ColdIron

You probably won't thank me for it but £30-£60 pcm is really not enough to invest with and 3-5 years is too short an investment horizon. I suggest a higher rate Regular Saver would be more suitable to your means

bob_dob

On the contrary, I thank you.

How much do you suggest? £100 pm? Over what time period, minimum, please?

jimjames

I don't think the amount is a problem personally. Many S&S ISAs start from £50 so if you can manage that it would be fine. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

In terms of time it is generally suggested that more than 5 years is the best timescale to be looking at. However unlike fixed term products with most funds and S&S ISAs you can get at your money at anytime. The thing to bear in mind is that the market may have dipped at the time you want your money but the longer you can leave it the less likely that this will make it less than you invested.

It is always a good time to start and by beginning with a small amount you will build your knowledge so that when you have bigger sums to invest you will know more what to do.

For the sums you are looking at you might find HL.co.uk good for managed funds and Cavendish Online best for trackers.

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/

Sanchsoot49

Hi

I agree with JJ, you have to start somewhere and you can invest in a fund from £50 per month. As time goes on maybe you could increase to £100 and so on depending on your circumstances.

When I started off I only invested £50 monthly but its possible (like me!) that you may find it a bit addictive and so as you get more interested and learn more and more then you allocate a bit more of your income.

10 years prob a better time frame though. Good Luck.

paulineb_2

I have an ISA with scottish friendly, I invest £30 a month, its worth about £2000 now.

Pineapple88

Do you have other savings? If not you could consider starting savings with a cash ISA or a regular saver to get you started and then use a S&S ISA later?

atush

Yes, I agree boradly with JJ you can start out low. I started out saving 20 quid and 25 quid into two different investment trust savings plans.

The key is when you want the money for. 3 years is a bit short term (but could work depending on market performance), 5 years + is better. and as said, if you have an emergency cash slush fund, you could always use that if there had been a market correction and you didn't want to sell your investment.

bigadaj

OP, do you have a specific objective from this saving, eg house deposit or could it be open ended. This will guide advice, if for a house then most people would advise against anything but cash, if a few years is all you can see ahead for now but don't have a definite purpose then stock markets could be good as otherwise life has a habit of passing by and you away be mising out on gains.

Atush's comment is good, regular small investments into investment trusts can work very well, they can be researched on trustnet and have a good record of providing steady returns, and can cover a wide range of areas and types of investing.

bob_dob

Thank you ALL!! That is inspiring stuff!!

Yes I do have savings of £3000-£4000, mainly in an ISA, but am keen to start something else long-term.

Thank you for all the help.

So passive or actively managed, do you think?

PS- Sanchsoot49, I can see me getting addicted too! I'm like that!

ColdIron

The figures suggest a goal of about £2k - £3k, perhaps a small home improvement or holiday. The trouble with investing for a fixed objective with a short timescale is you could easily under or overshoot by 50% which isn't a very well thought out plan and there are other options that better suit this sort of goal, principally cash

On the other hand if the goal is much more open ended I can't see that a defined timescale applies

Could I suggest the OP needs to have a better idea of what he plans to achieve before selecting a vehicle to achieve it and consider this in the context of other savings and future obligations