A little investment advice needed

tyguy96

Hi there.

Im 18 in a week, and i want to start investing ive done alot of reasearch into it. I have a reasonable income, (we're talking 22k pa) and live with my folks. I feel the time is right to start investing, especially while living at home as i can afford to invest more. Im hoping to invest 100-250 per month for a while just to "get my foot in the door" on the investment tree.
I understand there is risk etc. All i really would like to know is... Whats the best platform to hold an account with? Any particular account providers better for newbie investors? If you feel i need to know more please just say any advice is welcome and all will be considered.

TIA
Ty

Your_Hero

In my opinion, use Hargreaves Lansdown (HL). Very easy to use for newbie investors, although not the most competitive on price, but isn't terrible either.

Drp8713

I agree with the above. I think as a new investor you cant go wrong with Hargreaves Lansdown.


The platform is easy to use, there is lots of information about the different options eg active funds or trackers, Investment Trusts, ETFs etc.


Someone will be along in a minute to tell you HL is expensive but £250 a month is £3000 in your first year, invested in something like the Blackrock Consensus 85 you would be looking at less than £18 a year in charges as the £3k wont be invested all year, which is not a lot.


Also, if you look on here, the people who went from HL to III will agree, you get what you pay for.


I recently transferred my Cash ISA to my S&S ISA with HL, I posted the form in the last post on Monday and by Tuesday lunchtime, the transfer was complete.

Nixter

You can't go wrong with HL, if investing only small amounts.
And spreading the word once again - Avoid Interactive Investor at all cost.

masonic

Drp8713 wrote: »

I recently transferred my Cash ISA to my S&S ISA with HL, I posted the form in the last post on Monday and by Tuesday lunchtime, the transfer was complete.

Really? Less than 24 hours? :shocked:

Totton

My own ISA transfer to HL went very smoothly but for many on this forum things weren't so great going the other way. I'd agree with the choice of Hargreaves Lansdown although you could find cheaper if you wanted that, my own rec is simply down to my own experience with them compared to the others that I have used (several).

You haven't said what you intend to invest in, whether it will be funds, Investment Trusts, Trackers etc. At HL for funds it will cost 0.45% whilst for IT's there will be the dealing charge & stamp duty (0.5%) You can reduce the fees by opting for a monthly direct debit and instruction to purchase an IT each month, by doing that the dealing charge is reduced from £11.95 to £1.50 which makes the share/IT purchase much more agreeable for smaller amounts. http://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/fund-and-share-account

An alternative would be to invest direct into an Investment Trust savings plan, these usually start at £50 a month although some will take 10 or 20 pounds, again they offer cheap dealing fees but you can't escape the stamp duty. If you intend buying just one investment until you have a larger pot then the IT Savings plan is a useful option imho, I'd look at the range offered by the likes of Baillee Gifford, Aberdeen and Henderson for a nice Global holding or whatever you would like to invest in.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.
Mickey

Drp8713

masonic wrote: »

Really? Less than 24 hours? :shocked:

Yes, I was slightly in shock they did it so fast. I was going on holiday the next week so was hoping it would be done within the week.

I put the form in the post box in time for the 5.30 post. They couldnt have got the post until what, 8 or 9am the next day. I logged in at 12 and it was in my S&S ISA and ready to invest.

Must have literally opened the envelope and done the work right then. Most places your lucky if they even look at it for 5-10 working days.

jj1981dd

A few nuggets from me....

- Put you investments in a NISA account to maximise future tax benefits
- Don't get drawn into over trading. Buy and hold is best.
- Consider low cost (<0.5% TER) ETFs/trackers as a start point to diversify risk
- Don't panic if prices fall, they will do at some point

I use TDInvesting and have no complaints.

woody_56

Tguy : Invest in Investment trusts go on to Trustnet
and look at the figures most of the top ones outperform
the usual saving's accounts.
Scottisth Mortgage----Monks----Edinburgh worldwide all with
Baille giffford.
Witan and Witan pacific.
Blackrock frontiers is doing very well.


Most of all INVEST yourself why pay Hargreaves to do it for you.?
And be patient most of these funds are for 5-10 years or more.

woody_56

Sorry TGUY invest in these funds with your ISA allowance each year.
They are then tax exempt.

tyguy96

Thanks for all the input guys, i really do appreciate it tremendously!
Just a few notes after. Obviously im going to put money into a s&s isa and deal through that, i want to do my own deals for the most part, that way im in "control"(little power freak here haha)

Im getting from most of you that H&L are good for us newbies?
Another question to add is, what do you guys do to diversify your investments?

Thanks again, i just want to make sure ive got all the right info before i go in for the kill ina week or so ( Scary stuff!)