What to do with 10,000 at 18?

Barkin

Kirkmain said:

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

That's not usually a good idea. 

frankgraham2001

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. 

How do i learn about investing and personal finance ? Everytime i search investing it’s like a buzzword to be shown everything stocks. 

xylophone

https://www.cii.co.uk/learning/qualifications/introduction-to-personal-financial-planning/

If you have a definite need for this money in cash in three years time, find the best possible savings rate now and keep your eye on rates as they change.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1583859/Best-savings-rates-General-savings-Internet-branch.html

Cisco001

If you are not in London, £1500 to get driving licence done.
£8500 lock it to time deposit for a car later. E.g. £4000 fix 1 year, £4500 fix 2 year 

Sarahspangles

frankgraham2001 said:

How do i learn about investing and personal finance ? Everytime i search investing it’s like a buzzword to be shown everything stocks. 

I read a book called DIY Simple Investing by John Edwards. Alternatively you could look for a low cost platform which is likely to ‘walk you through’ the jargon and how things work. An example is Dodl by AJ Bell, or you could start a thread and ask for recommendations for a low-cost platform.

eskbanker

frankgraham2001 said:

How do i learn about investing and personal finance ? Everytime i search investing it’s like a buzzword to be shown everything stocks. 

I haven't refreshed this for a while but have previously directed newbie investors towards sites such as:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/investment-beginners/
https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/savings/investing/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 (or perhaps a SIPP) as a tax-efficient wrapper to avoid liability for income and capital gains tax.

Bizzywizard

Have you looked into the Universitys 'Trading and Investment Society'?  Looks like alot of people are joining I assume this is rn my the Maths department?

This is something my daughter will be joining when she starts uni next year. She also has circa £10k, but will be popping hers into LISA. She will put the full £4k in, in October 2024 (when she turns 18) and the following £4k in May 2025 once her bond matures. Any more money she has will be for hers ready for September 2025 when she starts uni.