New years investing resolution

tatties

Happy new year folks.

I have made a new years resolution to start investing as it's something which I've been interested in for a while. The problem is I'm a bit overwhelmed with my research!

I'm 28 years old and looking to invest over a long period of time say 20 years at least. At the moment I have a cash isa with my emergency pot and am looking for a simple investment which I don't have to do a lot of work with and buy and sell.

I have about £50 each month to invest and was looking for a s&s isa which was simple and cheap. I understand the need for diversification and like the look of the vanguard life strategy trackers.

Is it just as simple as opening a stocks and shares isa with one of the VSL trackers and drip feed into it?

As time goes on and I get more experience I may look at modify the portfolio. In the meantime is this a good starting point, or am I missing something obvious!?

Any help much appreciated, advice on which isa to go for, etc.

Thanks

Broken_Biscuits

The short answer - yes. It is that easy.

http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

You will want a broker with the lowest percent fee due to the small amounts involved.

Linton

tatties wrote: »

Happy new year folks.

I have made a new years resolution to start investing as it's something which I've been interested in for a while. The problem is I'm a bit overwhelmed with my research!

I'm 28 years old and looking to invest over a long period of time say 20 years at least. At the moment I have a cash isa with my emergency pot and am looking for a simple investment which I don't have to do a lot of work with and buy and sell.

I have about £50 each month to invest and was looking for a s&s isa which was simple and cheap. I understand the need for diversification and like the look of the vanguard life strategy trackers.

Is it just as simple as opening a stocks and shares isa with one of the VSL trackers and drip feed into it?

As time goes on and I get more experience I may look at modify the portfolio. In the meantime is this a good starting point, or am I missing something obvious!?

Any help much appreciated, advice on which isa to go for, etc.

Thanks

For someone starting off investing it is that simple, and it doesnt really matter whether you use VSL or some other broadly based fund. Vanguard themselves arent interested in directly dealing with anyone with less than £100K to invest so you will need to research which online broker you should use as costs can vary considerably. With only £50/month to invest you want to be looking for % based charging (or zero charging) for both purchases and management, rather than fixed costs.

Once you have a few £K invested than you can start thinking about a portfolio allocation that may better match your requirements.

ColdIron

tatties wrote: »

Is it just as simple as opening a stocks and shares isa with one of the VSL trackers and drip feed into it?

Pretty much yes

In the meantime is this a good starting point, or am I missing something obvious!?

From what you've said it's a good fit, simple, cheap and diverse

Any help much appreciated, advice on which isa to go for, etc.

You might look at Hargreaves Lansdown, it's more expensive than most but at your level of investment this won't be significant for many years. It is a good choice for novice investors, lots of information, slick site, good customer service and allows £50 monthly payments

Don't stop researching though, you need to know what you are putting your cash into but as a starting point you could do a lot worse

tatties

Many thanks all for the advice

tatties

Another quick question...

If I have more than one tracker in my isa and I am drip feeding 50 a month. Is the 50 split evenly between each tracker or can you distribute the money so you have more invested in one than the other?

colsten

The money gets invested in what you invest it in.

ColdIron

You can split the payments however you want but your problem is that £50 is the minimum allowable monthly transaction so you would have to pay £50 into fund A on Jan then say £50 into fund B on Feb & Mar

However at this level of investment you really want to stick to a single fund for now, remember one of your criteria was simple and you were overwhelmed with the research

george4064

tatties wrote: »

Another quick question...

If I have more than one tracker in my isa and I am drip feeding 50 a month. Is the 50 split evenly between each tracker or can you distribute the money so you have more invested in one than the other?

You can decide how your monthly drip feed money is split, just be wary that platforms will enforce a minimum amount into each fund.

Taking HL as an example, they have the following minimums;

£25 per fund
No minimum for equities/investment trusts

Remember to look at the dealing costs for regular savings/drip feeding.

ColdIron

george4064 wrote: »

£25 per fund

Thanks for the correction

george4064

ColdIron wrote: »

Thanks for the correction

I wasn't correcting you, because different platforms may have different monthly minimums.

All I did was use HL as an example, I dont know exactly what the minimum amounts are for other platforms.