Start Investing UK company

Bravepants

To the OP...


Time to deploy my ever evolving set of beginner bullet points based upon my own experience and non-expert findings (comments/adjustments always welcome)...

Start with bullet point number 1 and then choose other bullets as appropriate, or consider them in order:

• Pay off any non-mortgage debt first, then

• Start with 3, 6 or 12 months outgoings (maybe even swap the word "outgoings" for "salary") as an emergency fund in some sort of (or several) instant access account. Find out about current accounts, regular savers etc. and the interest rates they provide. With all savings and investments use the principle of "pay yourself first", that is, put money aside when you get paid, not at the end of the month saving what's left over - because there probably won't be!

• Make sure you have any cash needed for expenditure in the short term, such as house purchase deposit, replacement car, wedding (don't overspend on this) etc., and

• Figure out how your work pension works, and how much extra your company contributes for any additional contribution you make, pensions (work, private or SIPPS) are particularly good if you are a higher rate tax payer. On the subject of pensions…

• Be very aware of pension transfer scams! Even the ones that mention bone fide financial companies. Anyone promising you "guaranteed" returns is likely a scam artist, especially if the returns they are promising are double figure percentages, i.e. 10% or more! Remember you cannot, and nor can anyone on your behalf, legally take money out of a pension before pension age!

• Buy or borrow a copy of Tim Hale's "Smarter Investing", and once you have point 2 and point 3 in place:

• Check out www.monevator.com, particularly the passive investing section, and,

• Read up about the tax advantages of Stocks and Shares ISAs and SIPPS, and

• If considering retiring early check out www.mrmoneymustache.com and https://theescapeartist.me for inspiration, then

• Stash as much as you can, monthly (taking advantage of "pound cost averaging"), in a global index tracking fund , or a multi-asset index fund (or fund of funds - read up online about these). As you get older switch to funds that contain a lower percentage of equities and higher percentage of bonds (read up online about these, but Tim Hale talks about it too) depending on your tolerance for risk. Keep it simple and stick to one or two funds until you have £100k or so.

• Whatever fund(s) you plan to invest in make sure you don't pay too much in annual fees; a good passive index fund should be around 0.5% or so, including platform charge, active funds (those managed by humans) are around 1% to 1.5% but try to keep close to 1%. In no way pay 2% in annual fees for any of your investments!

• If having considered the above you are unsure about making your own investment decisions then seek the advice of an IFA (Independent Financial Advisor) - the word "Independent" is very important here, avoid Financial Advisors who want to sell you a product owned by the company for whom they work!

• Learn about the concept of a "phased" retirement, using certain pots of money to carry you through periods before work pensions or SIPPS become payable at Normal Retirement Age (often referred to as "bridging the gap") and/or think about actuarial reduction if appropriate.

• Learn to use Microsoft Excel (other spreadsheet software is available) and write yourself a retirement planning spreadsheet, and finally…

• If you want to be rich, live like you're poor; if you want to be poor, live like you're rich.

londoninvestor

AnotherJoe wrote: »

What a joke

So they think they can do what whole teams of analysts with billions of dollars invested in the fastest super computers and best algorithms that money can buy have consistently failed to do for the last 50 years, beat the market?

And they leverage their magical powers by selling email newsletters? It almost raises implausible suspicions that they couldn't get hired by an investment bank, asset manager or hedge fund!

DrSyn

This reminds me of the share tips sheets I have seen that came from the era of Mrs Thatcher. It looks like its been up dated to the internet era.

1. They have a only been investing since 2018 and have beaten the FTSE 100. They have not said if this was before or after fees dealing charges have been deducted.

Nor have they given the names of the companies they have bet on. So we cannot to see how risky their bets where.

2. They have a system that they thinks works. So have many others before them.

4. To join is free, but they charge £1.99 to check a single stock.

5. They sound very altruistic. However I have heard this all before.

If you have no experience of investing then stick to multi asset funds, main index funds or ETF's, until you do know what your doing.

Rather than being guided by them, I suggest you take a look at theses two videos:

https://www.ifa.com/indexfundsthemovie/

http://www.kroijer.com/

bostonerimus

AnotherJoe wrote: »

What a joke

So they think they can do what whole teams of analysts with billions of dollars invested in the fastest super computers and best algorithms that money can buy have consistently failed to do for the last 50 years, beat the market?

There are a lot of smart folks working in finance, but there's a lot of dolts too. I got a job offer from Smith Barney in London back in the 1980s on the strength of understanding a standard deviation. The clever people went to work for Arthur Andersen and remember what happened to them.

Apodemus

eskbanker wrote: »

Fantastic, guaranteed to have unique insight into market fundamentals then, where do I sign? :eek:

Maybe good at finding the dogs though....

But to be fair, the average vet sees more bulls than bears!

lpgm

"We want our stocks to pay us back, so we only pick stocks that pay a dividend."

And ignore companies that have found a better use for the money.

Zanderman

I must start my own investment company!

If a young research scientist and a vet who've just discovered the 'magic' (!!!) of compound interest and think it's related to the stock market can do it then I'm well-qualified to do better - as a rather older and experienced scientist who discovered the ordinariness of compound interest as a schoolboy and who knows it isn't related to the stock market.

Look out for Zanderman Investing, coming soon! Completely risk-free, obv.

greenglide

The clever people went to work for Arthur Andersen and remember what happened to them

Many became part of Accenture who are still milking HM Government for IT services, particularly for HMRC.

Clive_Woody

As a research scientist with the best part of 20 years experience since completing my PhD I can wholeheartedly confirm that you should not turn to me for detailed advice on investing. This is not my specialist area (if you want advice on drug development and clinical trials then I'm your man).

At best I would point you to MSE (this forum and the Pension one), Monevator, Vanguard, HL and if applicable talk with an IFA....even then I would advise caution when gathering advice and information as essentially it's all a gamble in the long run, but it's about risk management (something I do know about, albeit in a different industry).

The idea of turning to a vet and a scientist for financial advice is quaintly absurd (no offence to the OP, or vets and fellow scientists).

bostonerimus

Clive_Woody wrote: »

As a research scientist with the best part of 20 years experience since completing my PhD I can wholeheartedly confirm that you should not turn to me for detailed advice on investing. This is not my specialist area (if you want advice on drug development and clinical trials then I'm your man).

At best I would point you to MSE (this forum and the Pension one), Monevator, Vanguard, HL and if applicable talk with an IFA....even then I would advise caution when gathering advice and information as essentially it's all a gamble in the long run, but it's about risk management (something I do know about, albeit in a different industry).

The idea of turning to a vet and a scientist for financial advice is quaintly absurd (no offence to the OP, or vets and fellow scientists).

Scientists have a bit of an advantage over some people as they should have the maths skills to analyse financial data. But that can also lead to hubris and thinking you are smart enough to "pick the winners".

FYI one of my favourite financial blogs is written by a medical doctor; lots of good advice there

https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/