New to investing - need help

Soccer80

hi,


I am looking to invest and know what I want to invest in - just not how to actually do it. I have looked at YouInvest and other online platforms, but am not sure exactly how they work. Any info or advice would be great.


I am looking to invest long-term and plan to put my money into the following:
UK Total Stock Market Index
US (or another depending on advice) Total Stock Market Index
UK Gov. Bond Index


Different percentages of my investment in each.


Within the online platforms that I can sign up to, will they be called what I have called them, or are there a variety of names/indexes?


I am sure that with some responses I will have many more questions.


Thanks in advance for advice and help.

BLB53

Within the online platforms that I can sign up to, will they be called what I have called them, or are there a variety of names/indexes?

You probably need to know who provides the funds you require and then use their search facility to identify the one you want. For example Vanguard offer a UK FTSE All Share index fund so you could use their filter to show Vanguard funds only then click on the one you want and you will be taken to an overview page with a 'buy' button...should be fairly straight forward from there assuming you have opened an account and have transferred your funds in.
https://www.youinvest.co.uk/market-research/FUND:B3X7QG6

redpete

I would suggest having a look at websites for the platforms you are considering and seeing if you can make sense of the range of funds they offer (and the filtering / search facilities they offer to narrow the options). The funds won't be called exactly the same as the words you have used but you should be able to find close matches.

bostonerimus

Don't buy anything until you have educated yourself a bit. There's nothing wrong with the money being safe and sound in a savings account for a few months.

When you understand the basics of investing open an ISA and invest away. My recommendation would be to use Vanguard because they are inexpensive and don't overcomplicate the process, but there are plenty of other platforms as well. .

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/home

If you want to learn a bit about investing read the boglehead wiki which is based on the investing philosophy of Vanguard's founder, John Bogle. I like any guide that starts off with "Dont' Panic". It's American so bear that in mind when looking at the asset allocation of the portfolios, but the basic principles ca be applied anywhere in the Galaxy. Also the UK has great things like ISAs so make sure you understand the UK environment and apply the basic approach.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page

I'd start with one of Vanguard's Life Strategy funds. These will spread your money across the sectors you mention.......and quite a few more too. For example VLS80 is a smorgasbord of these funds

Security Weight
Vanguard U.S Equity Index 19.42%
Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-U.K Equity Index 19.23%
Vanguard FTSE U.K. All Share Index Unit Trust 18.37%
Vanguard Global Bond Index Hedged 14.11%
Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe ex-U.K Equity Index 6.62%
Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index 5.88%
Vanguard Japan Stock Index 3.55%
Vanguard ETFs S&P 500 UCTIS ETF 3.21%
Vanguard U.K Government Bond Index 2.62%
Vanguard U.K. Inflation-Linked Gilt Index Gross 1.88%

Best of Luck.

badger09

Soccer80 wrote: »

hi,


I am looking to invest and know what I want to invest in - just not how to actually do it. I have looked at YouInvest and other online platforms, but am not sure exactly how they work. Any info or advice would be great.


I am looking to invest long-term and plan to put my money into the following:
UK Total Stock Market Index
US (or another depending on advice) Total Stock Market Index
UK Gov. Bond Index


Different percentages of my investment in each.


Within the online platforms that I can sign up to, will they be called what I have called them, or are there a variety of names/indexes?


I am sure that with some responses I will have many more questions.


Thanks in advance for advice and help.

Why have you chosen those? What about Europe, Asia, the rest of the world?

Have a read around this website. Has a bias towards passive investing, but written in easy to understand language for a beginner.

http://monevator.com/category/investing/passive-investing-investing/

Soccer80

Thanks for all the help.


The Vanguard site is very good and clear so I think I can do what I want from here.


Part of my 'plan' was to re-balance investments once/twice a year, so I am selling higher buying lower - within my portfolio - does anyone know if the vanguard VLS80, and their other VSL offers, do this? do they change the proportions of the stocks/bonds within the funds yearly/often, or will it stay the same throughout?


Thanks for the website Badger 09 - looks good. In case anyone was interested, the book I read which got me interested was called Millionaire Teacher - if anyone has read this too, and acted upon its advice it would be great to know what they thought.


thanks

bigadaj

Soccer80 wrote: »

Thanks for all the help.


The Vanguard site is very good and clear so I think I can do what I want from here.


Part of my 'plan' was to re-balance investments once/twice a year, so I am selling higher buying lower - within my portfolio - does anyone know if the vanguard VLS80, and their other VSL offers, do this? do they change the proportions of the stocks/bonds within the funds yearly/often, or will it stay the same throughout?


Thanks for the website Badger 09 - looks good. In case anyone was interested, the book I read which got me interested was called Millionaire Teacher - if anyone has read this too, and acted upon its advice it would be great to know what they thought.


thanks

That's the whole point of the vanguard lifestratgey series, they rebalance back to the allocation, saving you soem effort and potentially trading fees.

So if shares, or bonds, increase relative to each other then the fund automatically sells one and buys the other to get back to the determined allocation.

No guarantee this is beneficial of course, what goes up doesn't always come down, but the probability is that you will be buying low and selling high, and/ or vice versa, over the long term.