Newbie investor- Seeking advice

PurplePixie999

Would love some opinions and advice on moving away from cash to a S&S isa with funds. With the rather uninspiring rates on offer for the next financial year I am contemplating looking to the stock market. I have done some reading and tried getting my head round the passive/active debate. Looking at the importance of fees and fund supermarkets etc but the more I read the more my head hurts.


I am 40, have a pension and a good emergency fund, and feel now is the time to consider investing rather than saving (losing money, thanks to inflation). I'm sure there will be many people this year in the same position so I was wondering what advice you experienced investors could give to us newbies? What things did you wish you had known when you started? What resources help inform your decisions?


Any advice will be greatly appreciated

bigadaj

Get a copy of tim hales smarter investing, it outlines some good approaches, is passively biased but a good start.

My opinion is that as a new investor you initially want to buy the market, so to speak, so soe thing like vanguard lifestratgety or black rock consensus is a good start, your buying a wide selection of the worlds stockmarkets, and bonds dependent on teh flavour, and gaining from rebalancing meaning that you don't oay extra for it.

I'm terms of where to access this then charles stanley direct is good for smaller sums, once they grow above around £30k or so then moving to a fixed fee provider like iii or iWeb can be cheaper.

jimjames

Another place for reading is:

http://monevator.com/

There are also a lot of threads here with useful info on different providers. HL has some ideas to consider but isnt the cheapest place to buy from

http://www.hl.co.uk/

Ifts

PurplePixie999 wrote: »

What things did you wish you had known when you started?

If I was beginning investing today the one thing I would do differently is - I would make sure that I use up my S&S Isa allowance each year.

No CGT to pay when you invest through your S&S Isa (also saves on paperwork).


There are some easy to understand investment articles and guides over on the Monevator blog:

http://monevator.com/category/invest...ing-investing/

Investing Basics over on the Motley Fool website:

http://www.fool.co.uk/investing-basics/