Investing Question/MoneyFarm/Disabilities

cloudwalker_3

I'm tentatively starting to think about investing some money, I'm not sure how much I will invest but it'll most probably be under £20,000 and it'll be gradual probably in £200-500 chunks over a few years.

I'm a disabled person and I have SEN (specifically dyscalculia, dyslexia, dyspraxia and a small dose of Aspergers).

Because of my disabilities, I've not really invested before because I find understanding how investment schemes work pretty baffling especially the math and the small print. It's pretty scary!

I just had a look at the MoneyFarm website (https://www.moneyfarm.com/uk) I'd picked up a leaflet from somewhere so I thought I'd check it out.

It looks fairly straightforward, in so far as, you give them your money and they charge as follows:

"Moneyfarm’s simple and low-cost fee structure means you know exactly what you’re paying and keep more of your money. The fees are as follows: 0.7% of investments up to £20,000 ..."

Having said this, it might be that I'm missing something obvious here that makes investing with them a bad idea.

I'd appreciate any advice that people might have to offer about investing generally, MoneyFarm or anything else that might be helpful for a disabled person who literally doesn't know where to start.

Thanks.

eskbanker

cloudwalker_3 wrote: »

It looks fairly straightforward, in so far as, you give them your money and they charge as follows:

"Moneyfarm’s simple and low-cost fee structure means you know exactly what you’re paying and keep more of your money. The fees are as follows: 0.7% of investments up to £20,000 ..."

Having said this, it might be that I'm missing something obvious here that makes investing with them a bad idea.

0.7% isn't very competitive, there are several platforms at 0.25% or below, and even the notoriously expensive Hargreaves Lansdown is 'only' 0.45%.

There are various comparison sites that allow you to compare platform costs but to be honest platform costs aren't really the place to start - it would make more sense to get to grips with the basics of investing first, so I'd usually recommend starting your research at sites suited to inexperienced investors, such as:

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/investing-beginners-guide
https://www.hl.co.uk/beginners-guides/investing
http://www.monevator.com
http://kroijer.com/
http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/
https://www.ifa.com/indexfundsthemovie/

as well as bearing in mind a number of key points of principle:

1. Only consider investing once you have adequate accessible cash reserves.
2. Only invest if you're happy to commit for at least 5-7 years and preferably 10-15 or more.
3. Diversify - ignore individual shares, etc, and concentrate on collective investments that spread your eggs over many baskets. Global multi-asset funds are a good place to start, available from the likes of HSBC Global Strategy, Vanguard LifeStrategy, Blackrock Consensus and L&G Multi-Index.
4. Choose what you want to invest in before considering which platform to hold it/them on.
5. Keep an eye on ongoing costs for funds and platforms - they shouldn't be the primary consideration but can make a noticeable difference over the long term.
6. Use a Stocks & Shares ISA as a tax-efficient wrapper to avoid liability for income and capital gains tax.