Thinking of investing

jarv81178

Everyone wants to make a bit of money..... I believe investing is a bit of a risk but I thought I’d ask for advise on here first! 

Where is the best place to start?
who and what would be a good target investment if I have £200?
once invested I believe it could go up or down.... best way to leave the investment for at least a year plus before touching it?

El_Torro

You need to think longer term. Investments in the stock market should be left for 10 years or more. Sure, you can (and most likely will) make a good profit in less than 10 years but 10 years is where your money is almost guaranteed to give you a better return than having left it in savings accounts.

The best place to put your money is in a global tracker, if you want to go with 100% equities. Or in a globally invested multi asset fund if you want to include assets which will reduce volatility. 

Doing some reading up on investments is definitely a good idea. I found https://monevator.com/ a good web site for this, especially when looking at passive investing, which is the preferred form of investing on this particular forum.

Of course reading this forum and asking appropriate questions will help you too

DireEmblem

Same as above.  With £200 you would probably be best(and willing to leave your money for a while), in a fund.

You could also dabble in investing by opening up a free practice trading account, and learning the ropes without risking any of your cash.

Username999

jarv81178 said:

Everyone wants to make a bit of money..... I believe investing is a bit of a risk but I thought I’d ask for advise on here first! 

Where is the best place to start?
who and what would be a good target investment if I have £200?
once invested I believe it could go up or down.... best way to leave the investment for at least a year plus before touching it?

£200 is not enough to invest in the stock market.
Buy and sell on Ebay/Amazon in something you know the value of.

DireEmblem

Username999 said:

£200 is not enough to invest in the stock market.
Buy and sell on Ebay/Amazon in something you know the value of.

£200 is more than enough to start investing in funds.  You have to start somewhere.

jarv81178

I have more than £200 that was just a rough estimate, I don’t wanna make myself skint

jarv81178

And so a mate of mine has an etoro account and is doing quite well at 32% he deposits about £1200 per month I’m thinking of copying him and joining and just putting in about £200 per month?!
advice please?

JohnWinder

Spend it on some books. No, better yet, borrow the books from some libraries, and write yourself an 'investment policy statement' before you go doing something reckless with £200.

Alistair31

jarv81178 said:

And so a mate of mine has an etoro account and is doing quite well at 32% he deposits about £1200 per month I’m thinking of copying him and joining and just putting in about £200 per month?!
advice please?

Put in £200 pm and then do what with it? Sounds more like your friend is speculating and trading rather than investing. A good way to lose your £200 if you really are as ignorant as your OP implies. 

Or you could get lucky...

barnstar2077

jarv81178 said:

And so a mate of mine has an etoro account and is doing quite well at 32% he deposits about £1200 per month I’m thinking of copying him and joining and just putting in about £200 per month?!
advice please?

As has been said above, this sounds more like trading than investing to me. It is much, much riskier.  It really depends what you are after.  If you want to start putting some money away every month to work towards a more financially secure future then investing, through a pension or stocks and shares ISA is for you.  On the other hand, if you just want a bit of a thrill and don't care if you double your money or lose it entirely then there are lots of ways to gamble your money, not just etoro.  The last ten years have seen a lot of growth in shares which may or may not continue, but one side effect of which is that it gives even novices a sense that they can do no wrong.  In the event of a down turn a fund containing thousands of slices of different companies should continue to trundle along until there is a recovery, where as if you are trading then just a few bets going bad could destroy your portfolio.  Not to say that buying shares in individual companies is wrong, just that it is not advised for beginners, or those without the time or mindset to do the required research. 

Albermarle

jarv81178 said:

And so a mate of mine has an etoro account and is doing quite well at 32% he deposits about £1200 per month I’m thinking of copying him and joining and just putting in about £200 per month?!
advice please?

I have a mate who won a lot of money betting on horse races and then lost most of it again . I suspect your mate will follow the same path.