Young and looking for long term investment, advice?

RCarm

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum/board to post this but here goes!

I am a 20 year old student. I currently am in the financial situation to be able to invest in the region of £5k every 2-3 months. I'm looking for a 5-10 year low-medium risk investment plan, I have read a fair bit about index funds and some of my friends in the US who are in a similar situation are using www.vanguard.com for this purpose - however this seems to be a US-based site.

Could anyone share some advice on the kind of plan that they would undertake if they were in my situation? My living expenses at the moment are fairly mimimal and will be for the next 3 years minimum.

My first port of call is to put 7K in my ISAs (is this a good idea?) but I am unsure as to what to do next.

Long term goals are to save for a good down payment on a house and early retirement (a bit optimistic perhaps!)

Thanks for any advice,

Rory

Rafter

Rory,

Nice situation to be in as a student! Here are my thoughts:

Using your ISA allowance is a good idea, although presumably you aren't paying much income tax at the moment being a student?

Although stocks and shares should outperform savings in the medium to long term, there is some uncertainty about the economic outlook so you must be prepared to lose in the short term potentially.

You can reduce this risk by diversifying your portfolio - IE not putting all your money into one share or one country or even just into shares.

I'd have a look at websites like moneyweek for some ideas about funds and sectors you might be interested in, if you want to be an active investor.

Alternatively find yourself a good financial advisor who can set you up with some funds and potentially even a SIPP (pension plan).

Good luck

R.

robp

If you don't make any other investments than the ISA, it might be worth looking at the 'Savings Fountain' in the site Savings section.

Basically:- Regular savings accounts, basic savings accounts

Might also be worth looking at NS&I Investment Bond and/or Icesave Fixed Term savings account.

If you want to make more investments, you could buy more Funds outside of your ISA, but might be worth taking advice on any CGT.

Rob