Small saver

bartelbe

Finally in full time work, so for the first time in my life I am building up savings, the trouble is what to do with them. Bank accounts seem to offer very poor returns, barely keeping up with inflation. I don't earn enough to risk loosing it on something like the stockmarket.

There seems to be a hole in the investment market. If I had alot of money to invest, I could put it in property and make a decent return. With a few thousand, whats on offer returns virtually nothing.

Archi_Bald

May be read this to start with: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest

You need an emergency cash reserve before you can scheme plans on things like property. Don't be mistaken though, property isn't the holy grail many people believe it is.

Medihv

Hello Bartelbe,

I respect you.

It sounds like you have just stepped into full time work and the first thing on your mind is, how do i save up and improve my financial situation. Rather than, Oh a new shiny car!

I'm not sure who you bank with but have a look at the regular saver from HSBC, I'm sorry i cant attach a link


Yes yes it's not the best thing in the world but its a solid start. Would you mind if i asked you how much roughly you earn?

jimjames

bartelbe wrote: »

Finally in full time work, so for the first time in my life I am building up savings, the trouble is what to do with them. Bank accounts seem to offer very poor returns, barely keeping up with inflation. I don't earn enough to risk loosing it on something like the stockmarket.

There seems to be a hole in the investment market. If I had alot of money to invest, I could put it in property and make a decent return. With a few thousand, whats on offer returns virtually nothing.

Not sure what hole you are referring to? Can you give any more details? I think companies have covered pretty much anything that can be offered.

You can invest in shares, funds and bonds plus many other things like property, wine or cars. Which you choose to do depends on your attitude to risk and pot of money available.

Property certainly isn't something you can do with £50 per month but investing definitely is. Also means if you need your money back you can access it, not very easy to sell the lounge from a house to get back £10k. Plenty of ways to hold the investments too from ISAs to SIPPs (pensions)

I agree with Archibald above, before investing you need to have a cash emergency fund available to cover unexpected expenses, once that is in place then look to invest but consider things like company pensions too - being given free money by your company is normally one of the best ways to build your pension.

atush

bartelbe wrote: »

Finally in full time work, so for the first time in my life I am building up savings, the trouble is what to do with them. Bank accounts seem to offer very poor returns, barely keeping up with inflation. I don't earn enough to risk loosing it on something like the stockmarket.

There seems to be a hole in the investment market. If I had alot of money to invest, I could put it in property and make a decent return. With a few thousand, whats on offer returns virtually nothing.

What makes you think you can't lose money on property and that you would even see a return after interest and tax and maintenance?

You start with saving an emergency pot of at least 1K, but 3-6 months spending is better. Alongside of that you join whatever pension your employer offers, as they pay in money for you on top of what you do- we call this Free money.

Then you can save into the stockmarket, starting low like 20 quid a month if you like. It doesn't carry as much risk as you think, as when you save monthly, when prices fall you get more for your monthly spend. You only lose money if you sell just after a big fall and having the emergency pot means you dont have to. We did this when we first started to save, and that 20 quid a month turned into more than 10K over a decade plus+. Not bad for money you dont even miss from your budget.