How should I invest £1000 a month?

tryingtodobetter

I would really appreciate some advice from you lovely people, the situation is this; I want to invest £1000 a month into some sort of savings account starting with a initial £3000 deposit we do not have any ISA's. I live in a small village that has a post office and a LLoyds bank that opens 3 days a week so I would like an account that can be run either through these or online. Thanks in advance.

dunstonh

I want to invest £1000 a month into some sort of savings account

That is not investing. That is saving. You are probably best looking at cash ISA and then regular savers. There is detail in the savings section of the website.

£1000 into savings accounts does seem a little wasteful. Any reason why you are not considering investing some of it?

tryingtodobetter

Just a little bit new to this saving/investing game what is the main difference, is it the availibility of the money?

dunstonh

investing would generally [and its open to interpretation due to mis-use of the term] mean that you are investing into areas that involve some degree of risk and a longer timescale. This would usually mean non-cash based products.

Risk is not an on/off situation but a whole sliding scale. Even cash has a risk and that is if the interest rate payable does not beat inflation. However, it is the lowest risk. Taking on increased risk doesnt mean you need to go diving in at the deep end as you can dip your toes in the water and do it in stages. Especially with monthly contributions where the risk is a little reduced.

Many of us know of people that will tell you they lost money on the stockmarket and they will never invest there again. They are the perfect example of an inexperienced investor who didnt research and put their money in at the "deep end" when they were better suited to investing at the "shallow end" with lower risk investments. Unfortunatly, they obviously didnt realise that there was such a sliding scale of difference in risk.

£1000 pm into cash means you are just about keeping up with inflation or even possibly not. Maybe some of that money could go into investments with a tad more risk. However, that would depend on your risk profile and your timescale.

I mentioned the £3000 cash ISA allowance. You also have a £4000 stocks and shares ISA allowance on top of that. That is £333 a month tax free open to you as well. So, maybe consider some or all of that chunk of your £1000pm for investing rather than saving.

Jonbvn

You really have to use your ISA allowance. Other than that, it is difficult to know how to offer any further advice, since you have not given sufficient information.

Are you a 20 year old looking to save for a house deposit? Or perhaps you are a 55 year old looking to secure a comfortable retirement?

If you are investing for the longer term, I would suggest you diversify your savings & investments.

HTH

plonkee

A agree that without a purpose for the money, its difficult for people to make suggestions as to where you might start looking.

In general, if you aren't sure, I think the best thing to do is to put some into savings and some into real (more risky) investments, to start off with, put more into savings and as you get more familiar with investments, increase the proportion that go there.

tryingtodobetter

Looking to save as much as possible in 4 years to emigrate to NZ with. I will definately look into what ISA's are available and put some research into the stocks and shares ISA. Thanks.

Jonbvn

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

Looking to save as much as possible in 4 years to emigrate to NZ with. I will definately look into what ISA's are available and put some research into the stocks and shares ISA. Thanks.

TTDB,

Due to relatively short term, I would suggest that you avoid S&S ISA's. Look for regular savers. Luckily, there is a fantastic thread on RS a/c's here.

HTH