What to do with 10,000 at 18?

frankgraham2001

Bostonerimus1 said:

frankgraham2001 said:

Hello all, im 18 and going to uni for 3 years soon. I want to pool my money somewhere where i’ll earn more on it without having to manage it a lot. by a lot i mean i don’t want to have to watch it constantly, i don’t mind taking active control sometimes. I was thinking a blue chip stock (namely visa as it has a lot of potential currently) or an REIT. A high interest bank sounds a bit boring to me and i don’t mind taking a bit of risk.

Stick it in a bank saving account while you take a some time to add some simple financial planning to your studies. You should be thinking about tax advantaged account types before investments so probably LISAs and ISAs. Then ask what you want to do with the money and when you will need it. If it's for uni living expenses so you don't have to borrow then put it in saving type account, if it's long term then I'd probably buy a low cost world equity tracker from Vanguard, HSBC, Fidelity etc.

Hey thanks for the reply! i wouldnt want to tie it up in a LISA as i want to use it to start a business after uni and i won’t use it for uni living expenses. What would the interest be like in a world equity tracker like vanguard ? 

aroominyork

frankgraham2001 said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

frankgraham2001 said:

Hello all, im 18 and going to uni for 3 years soon. I want to pool my money somewhere where i’ll earn more on it without having to manage it a lot. by a lot i mean i don’t want to have to watch it constantly, i don’t mind taking active control sometimes. I was thinking a blue chip stock (namely visa as it has a lot of potential currently) or an REIT. A high interest bank sounds a bit boring to me and i don’t mind taking a bit of risk.

Stick it in a bank saving account while you take a some time to add some simple financial planning to your studies. You should be thinking about tax advantaged account types before investments so probably LISAs and ISAs. Then ask what you want to do with the money and when you will need it. If it's for uni living expenses so you don't have to borrow then put it in saving type account, if it's long term then I'd probably buy a low cost world equity tracker from Vanguard, HSBC, Fidelity etc.

What would the interest be like in a world equity tracker like vanguard ? 

Oh dear...

frankgraham2001

ColdIron said:

Boring is good. Do you want fun or do you want to save for a deposit?

How would you feel if you bet the farm on a single company and it suffered an recoverable irrecoverable loss?

Hey thanks for the input, I’d like to be ambitious with my money. I didn’t work for it as it came from an insurance claim so while it would be heart wrenching to lose it all it wouldn’t be the be all and end all. Honestly, i’d be fine living with my family after uni for a while i think there’s a lot to learn from my parents so i wouldn’t need use it to make a deposit on a house. The money would be untouched during uni and i could monitor it if i was to invest but nothing would come out. The use of the money after uni would be starting a buisness or improving a small buisness i currently run. 

Sarahspangles

My son graduated a couple of years ago and used to rant a lot about the fact there’s no low-effort way to protect savings from inflation. He worked hard to stay within his budget and to save income from his summer/placement jobs and didn’t want his savings to be eaten away,

If you’re prepared to put in some time each month, one way is the following routine:

Set up a current account (could be your student account) with an instant access online saver with an okay savings rate. For example Nationwide do a 3.25% instant saver and their student account is okay. Leave enough in your current account for that month’s bills.

Then look for regular saver accounts/rainy day/Christmas saver accounts that offer rates like 6.5% on £100 to £200 added each month, or a lump sum of £2000. This website usually has tables to help you spot them. Fund the monthly ones with a standing order on the 1st.

Towards the end of the month, check if you need to withdraw from your instant access account for your monthly savers, plus look for new accounts if one of yours is maturing.

It’s boring (or as my kids call it, ‘adulting’) but it puts you in control of your budget and over the year, most of your initial pot will have been attracting interest at a rate that beats inflation.

A bonus is that you become a ‘loyalty’ customer of some of these banks/building societies. You may be offered member/loyalty accounts that aren’t available for other people.

Kirkmain

Pay off your student loan so you're not accruing 12% interest?

Bridlington1

frankgraham2001 said:

ColdIron said:

Boring is good. Do you want fun or do you want to save for a deposit?

How would you feel if you bet the farm on a single company and it suffered an recoverable irrecoverable loss?

Hey thanks for the input, I’d like to be ambitious with my money. I didn’t work for it as it came from an insurance claim so while it would be heart wrenching to lose it all it wouldn’t be the be all and end all. Honestly, i’d be fine living with my family after uni for a while i think there’s a lot to learn from my parents so i wouldn’t need use it to make a deposit on a house. The money would be untouched during uni and i could monitor it if i was to invest but nothing would come out. The use of the money after uni would be starting a buisness or improving a small buisness i currently run. 

If you want to start a business with the money then losing, say half of it by investing when you know precious little about investments wouldn't be very good start would it?

If you want to be ambitious with money I would suggest focusing on making money without risking your existing savings. Get a part time job, maximise your savings interest with some of those ``boring" high interest savings accounts that currently beat inflation, stooze as large a 0% student overdraft as you can get, hoover up some of the student account sign up offers, maybe go after some current account switching offers whilst you're at it etc. 

fifeken

frankgraham2001 said:

ColdIron said:

Boring is good. Do you want fun or do you want to save for a deposit?

How would you feel if you bet the farm on a single company and it suffered an recoverable irrecoverable loss?

Honestly, i’d be fine living with my family after uni for a while i think there’s a lot to learn from my parents so i wouldn’t need use it to make a deposit on a house.

You should ask your parents if they're fine with it.

Albermarle

Kirkmain said:

Pay off your student loan so you're not accruing 12% interest?

As from last month interest is capped at 7.7%. If inflation gets under control, which looks like happening, the interest will go down at some point.

In any case the OP has not actually gone to Uni yet and for most paying off the student loans is not advisable, unless you expect to be a pretty higher earner.

Student loans 2012-22: the truth about uni fees, loans & grants - MSE (moneysavingexpert.com)

Bostonerimus1

frankgraham2001 said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

frankgraham2001 said:

Hello all, im 18 and going to uni for 3 years soon. I want to pool my money somewhere where i’ll earn more on it without having to manage it a lot. by a lot i mean i don’t want to have to watch it constantly, i don’t mind taking active control sometimes. I was thinking a blue chip stock (namely visa as it has a lot of potential currently) or an REIT. A high interest bank sounds a bit boring to me and i don’t mind taking a bit of risk.

Stick it in a bank saving account while you take a some time to add some simple financial planning to your studies. You should be thinking about tax advantaged account types before investments so probably LISAs and ISAs. Then ask what you want to do with the money and when you will need it. If it's for uni living expenses so you don't have to borrow then put it in saving type account, if it's long term then I'd probably buy a low cost world equity tracker from Vanguard, HSBC, Fidelity etc.

Hey thanks for the reply! i wouldnt want to tie it up in a LISA as i want to use it to start a business after uni and i won’t use it for uni living expenses. What would the interest be like in a world equity tracker like vanguard ? 

You definitely need to learn about investing before you do anything other than a saving account. A world equity tracker will produce capital gains (something you could use with the first person pronoun too) and dividends and you can avoid tax on those by buying the fund inside an ISA. But don't do anything until you understand personal finance and investing a bit more. 

Middle_of_the_Road

Bostonerimus1 said:

frankgraham2001 said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

frankgraham2001 said:

Hello all, im 18 and going to uni for 3 years soon. I want to pool my money somewhere where i’ll earn more on it without having to manage it a lot. by a lot i mean i don’t want to have to watch it constantly, i don’t mind taking active control sometimes. I was thinking a blue chip stock (namely visa as it has a lot of potential currently) or an REIT. A high interest bank sounds a bit boring to me and i don’t mind taking a bit of risk.

Stick it in a bank saving account while you take a some time to add some simple financial planning to your studies. You should be thinking about tax advantaged account types before investments so probably LISAs and ISAs. Then ask what you want to do with the money and when you will need it. If it's for uni living expenses so you don't have to borrow then put it in saving type account, if it's long term then I'd probably buy a low cost world equity tracker from Vanguard, HSBC, Fidelity etc.

Hey thanks for the reply! i wouldnt want to tie it up in a LISA as i want to use it to start a business after uni and i won’t use it for uni living expenses. What would the interest be like in a world equity tracker like vanguard ? 

You definitely need to learn about investing before you do anything other than a saving account. A world equity tracker will produce capital gains (something you could use with the first person pronoun too) and dividends and you can avoid tax on those by buying the fund inside an ISA. But don't do anything until you understand personal finance and investing a bit more. 

Thees might b a good fit 

https://www.ii.co.uk/