Teach a first time investor please...

flyawaywithme

Would you generally choose shares or funds? What companies financials do you look at? What research do you do? How do you decide where to invest your money?

... where do you start?

ARH_2

Fees. 

Few fund managers beat the market reliably, and in the case of those who have, that's not a massive reason to believe they will continue to. 

The only thing you can be sure(ish) about in investing is the fees. I'd propose cheap passive funds, with a blend of equities and bonds suitable for your circumstances.

AnotherJoe

flyawaywithme said:

Would you generally choose shares or funds? What companies financials do you look at? What research do you do? How do you decide where to invest your money?

... where do you start?

ETFs.  Which are funds that are shares. Sort of.

And shares of particularly favoured (by me) companies.

And funds where there's no equivalent IT (which are shares)

Thrugelmir

Intially funds or investment trusts as broad and diversified as possible. Leave investment decisions to the index (tracker) or fund manager. More esoteric investments can follow later when the base portfolio has been established. 

As for research read, watch, listen and attend.  Fair amount of business coverage on BBC radio. Unfortunately TV these days not as good. Join ShareSoc plus there's some other research channels available with increasing number of online presentations for retail investors. Read the papers at your local library FT, Investors Chronicle. Serious Sunday papers also can be an informative read. A number of good books are available through Harriman Press. Attend AGM's. If possible go and listen to respected business speakers talk. You'll always gain a deeper understanding and new perspective from doing so. 

Most of all , have an open mind and soak like a sponge. Set your long term objectives and be patient. Compounding is the key. 

My recommended read is "New Book of Investing Rules". 

aroominyork

AnotherJoe said:

flyawaywithme said:

Would you generally choose shares or funds? What companies financials do you look at? What research do you do? How do you decide where to invest your money?

... where do you start?

ETFs.  Which are funds that are shares. Sort of.

And shares of particularly favoured (by me) companies.

And funds where there's no equivalent IT (which are shares)

All very interesting Joe, but of no use to a novice. ETFs have no real advantage over funds unless you want to time the moment you trade. Individual shares should be of no interest to a novice; only funds should be. Investment trusts (ITs) have complexities that a novice needn't focus on. ARH is more on the mark.

Tassie_Devil

Lots of good introductory stuff on YT. Try these for starters:

Lars Kroijer https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1RYKuzT6ic2KYCKWQsScDw/videos?view=0&sort=da&flow=grid

Pensioncraft  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9OIwUcx-Uss7xj7s1P5XGw/videos?view=0&sort=da&flow=grid

Ben Felix https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDXTQ8nWmx_EhZ2v-kp7QxA/videos

AnotherJoe

aroominyork said:

AnotherJoe said:

flyawaywithme said:

Would you generally choose shares or funds? What companies financials do you look at? What research do you do? How do you decide where to invest your money?

... where do you start?

ETFs.  Which are funds that are shares. Sort of.

And shares of particularly favoured (by me) companies.

And funds where there's no equivalent IT (which are shares)

All very interesting Joe, but of no use to a novice. ETFs have no real advantage over funds unless you want to time the moment you trade. Individual shares should be of no interest to a novice; only funds should be. Investment trusts (ITs) have complexities that a novice needn't focus on. ARH is more on the mark.

ETFs have cheaper ongoing costs (for me anyway), and also are availabel to cover areas soemone might wish to invest in which funds dont cover, or only at high cost.

ITs have advantage for novices, such as not getting trapped in a fund and being able to buy at undervalue.

And not having to wait several days for a sale or buy, and knowing the price you want to pay.

I dont see any reason why a novice should have to start with potentially high cost funds only. Certainly for ITs theres a lot of good reasons to buy instead of funds.

Albermarle

aroominyork said:

AnotherJoe said:

flyawaywithme said:

Would you generally choose shares or funds? What companies financials do you look at? What research do you do? How do you decide where to invest your money?

... where do you start?

ETFs.  Which are funds that are shares. Sort of.

And shares of particularly favoured (by me) companies.

And funds where there's no equivalent IT (which are shares)

All very interesting Joe, but of no use to a novice. ETFs have no real advantage over funds unless you want to time the moment you trade. Individual shares should be of no interest to a novice; only funds should be. Investment trusts (ITs) have complexities that a novice needn't focus on. ARH is more on the mark.

I would agree with this .
OP - Forget about owning individual shares , it is too risky at the beginning of your investment journey .
You do not mention by which route you want to invest . For the long term investing via a pension has tax advantages , and depending on your circumstances a S&S LISA might be OK. 

steampowered

If you want to read company financials and have a go at selecting individual shares, go for it. However this does take time, and is a higher risk approach - since the risk of owning a few shares is greater than the risk of owning many different shares.

You would do just fine investing in a low cost fund which is diversified across different companies, countries and industry sectors. Good choices are HSBC FTSE All-World Index Fund C and Vanguard Lifestrategy funds.

btcp

It is my first year and I read and did some research before. I ended up selecting Vanguard ISA and buying VLS fund. I am also planning to sell my RSA - individual shares of a tech company, as I feel like I don’t want to have all eggs in one basket and buying more shares to diversify will take lots of energy. 

Sailtheworld

IMO the OP ought to spend some time thinking about risk (www,kroijer.com) then invest in one of the VLS funds appropriate to their appetite for risk every month until they retire. Nothing wrong with being into investing as a hobby but reading company reports, attending AGMs and going to the library to read the papers is well boring. Unless they've got a knack for picking up snippets others haven't spotted or have a gift for interpreting the data better than everyone else that time would be better spent trying to earn more money and increasing their savings rate.

What I found confusing when I started out (and still do to an extent) was the whole mechanics of investing. Brokers, platforms, SIPPs, ISAs, LISAs, funds, ETFs etc. This is worth paying attention to - investing for a few decades in a standard trading account instead of a SIPP / ISA or LISA is likely to have more of an effect on future wealth than wasting time trying to beat the market. In the same way pick a platform that isn't cost efficient for the investment chosen and that's going to take a bite too.

Not getting it right first time isn't the end of the world but chopping and changing is expensive and a waste of headspace.