Split risk £100k investment

Paul_Esh

This is my first post on MSE, I am looking for some advice on my first investment.

I have £250k cash that I am looking to invest. I have a mortgage of c.£300k against a house valued at c.£600k. I am 41 and I don’t have any pension provision.

I am considering investing £100k in some stocks/shares/ISAs etc but have no idea where to start. I know the obvious advice is to speak to an IFA but I don’t want to do that from a position of complete ignorance. Ideally I am looking to spread the risk, perhaps with 5 x £20k investments or similar.

I am not looking for an income from the investments in the short term.

Any help gratefully received. Thanks

AnotherJoe

Start with the Monevator website.

IanSt

A +1 for the monevator website.

In addition to any initial lump sum investments you make, if it were me, then I'd definitely be thinking about starting a pension as it's likely to be the best way to invest for your future with all the tax advantages it currently brings, and investing on a regular basis gives you the advantage of pound cost averaging your investments. You could also consider setting up some regular monthly investments into a stocks and shares ISA, this would be for money that you wouldn't plan to touch for at least 5 years.

Make sure you keep some money back for emergencies, and do consider the fact that redundancy can happen to just about anyone nowadays. The exact amount to keep readily available will depend on your financial circumstances e.g what financial commitments do you have, does any partner also work, etc.

Gadfium

Paul_Esh wrote: »

to speak to an IFA but I don’t want to do that from a position of complete ignorance.

If the engine on your car was making a funny noise and you knew nothing about DIY or mechanics, then you'd take it to a mechanic, rather than asking a bunch of anonymous strangers on the Internet???

ColdIron

Paul_Esh wrote: »

I am 41 and I don’t have any pension provision.

A course of action suggests itself?

xylophone

I am 41 and I don’t have any pension provision.

Why is this?

bigadaj

Gadfium wrote: »

If the engine on your car was making a funny noise and you knew nothing about DIY or mechanics, then you'd take it to a mechanic, rather than asking a bunch of anonymous strangers on the Internet???

Though you may well ask before taking it to the mechanic to get a bit of background, find out what the issues might be, whether model specific or not. And make sure what they propose seems sensible, and they aren't ripping you off. Little difference I'd say.

I think the analogy works quite well.