Struggling to Understand Investing

Cptralls

Hi All,
I've tried to begin a small investment portfolio, however, I've been unable to understand it. How to buy stocks and shares and what to use. Is there a good beginner's guide? 

eskbanker

Best bet will be to start by getting to grips with the principles of investing (what/why/when) before the mechanics of doing so (how/where) - newbie investor threads on here typically highlight reading material 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 MyMap 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.

bostonerimus

Those are good links!
Well you should not be buying individual stocks and shares. There are things called multi-asset funds that own lots of stocks and shares and bonds and other things too; they are an off the shelf portfolio. First make sure you have paid off all your debt (excluding a mortgage if you have one), have about 6 months of spending saved in cash, understand and contribute to your pension and then look into opening a stocks and shares ISA with a firm like Vanguard, Fidelity, H&L etc.

Thrugelmir

Start with a basic book such as Investing for Dummies .

Albermarle

Depending on if you have a job/ pension and what type it is , you may well have money already in investments within the pension.
If so try to understand this first and consider that investing more in a pension is more tax efficient than outside a pension , although the money is locked up until you are older.