Best way to invest

ljwhyte

Years ago I used to pay into endowments as a way to save but they no longer exist so what’s the best way to save for the future considering ISAs are really low at the moment 

droopsnoot

Only cash ISAs are really low at the moment, as are pretty much all savings accounts. If you're investing (as opposed to saving) for the longer term you could look at Stocks and Shares ISAs. 

tacpot12

The two best ways to invest at in Stocks and Shares ISA and via your pension. 

Investing via your pension is especially good because when you save, the government will add some tax relief (20%) to what you save, even if you don't pay tax. This money will then grow, assuming you invest it in assets that appreciate in value. You can also withdraw a quarter of what you have saved without paying any tax. The rest is taxed, but you will also have your  personal allowance to offset some of the tax.

The most important things to consider when investing are: 1) buying assets that are likely to appreciate 2) diversification, so that all your eggs are not in one basket 3) charges, you need to be careful that you are not being charged an excessive amount as this can wipe out much of the increase in the asset's value.

On this board, the Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity fund is often suggested for new investors as a good starting point, as it is a very large diversified fund of funds, the underlying funds are index funds which means they each track different global asset markets, and it has low charges. I would suggest that you look at the  documentation for this fund, and its performance to see if you think it might  suit you. You can use it as a bench mark to compare other funds. 

Finally I would encourage you to start investing; the sooner you start, the longer you will be invested for, and the sooner you will start to learn more about it.

dunstonh

ljwhyte said:

Years ago I used to pay into endowments as a way to save but they no longer exist so what’s the best way to save for the future considering ISAs are really low at the moment 

Endowments were largely killed off because of ISAs.   Endowments used life funds which are taxed internally whilst ISAs are tax free.   Endowments were also rigid because of HMRC rules. ISAs are flexible and much more suited to the modern world.
Endowments had to have an element of life assurance to qualify under life assurance rules.   ISAs do not.  So, all your money goes towards the investment.

So, you can still invest in the same way endowments (single or monthly) did but you just use ISAs nowadays.