Would it be worth investing money for house deposit?

psychic_teabag

concrete_kid wrote: »

I see. So you think investing is more suitable when it is 'extra' money you can afford to lose, and not a house deposit which I'll obviously need?

I don't think it's so much that you can afford to lose it, but that you can afford to leave it invested for long enough to ride out any down-turns. The stock market returns are pretty good averaged over the longer term, but it can be quite a bumpy ride. If you're unlucky, there will be a downturn just before you need to take the money out. If you are need to access the money within a particular timeframe, you tend to want to be de-risking over the last few years as the deadline approaches. I'm sure there are guidelines for the percentage held in equities/bonds based on the number of years remaining.

I'll just point out that your £300 per month can get 6% risk-free from a first-direct regular saver, and you can currently get 5% risk-free in the £2k from a nationwide current account. Unfortunately, those only cover the first year. But at least it's somewhere to put any cash component you decide to keep.