Have you ever invested in shares?

Or you can put your shares or funds into a SIPP and you get the tax top up from the government as well as being income tax and CGT tax free (like an ISA). But you can't access the money until you retire.

Like everyone else on here says, don't put all of your funds into one stock.

I would recommend ETFs....there are many available with various different features and/or risk levels, The main advantage is that they focus on different combinations of stocks/bonds and shares in different markets/types of industry, ie they are naturally more diversified without you needing to do all the research and make all the trades yourself.

ISAs are also a good option because any gains on the amount you're looking at investing would be tax-free (assuming you're UK-based).

short answer yes. i have TWO apple shares.
long story: from my first few years of employment (i'm now 65) i was encouraged to put money into the canadian registered retirement saving plan which is a bank led portfolio of various stocks (you don't get to choose).
till 2008 it rose steadily and nicely, then crashed to less than half it's value (from 223K to 98K)
now 15 years later and it was struggling to maintain over 200K. and yet monthly these "investors" charged me fees for "managing" this portfolio :(.
after chatting to a friend i decided to take over the portfolio.
i switched my holdings to a self investment web site. there were 64 holdings...a bit daunting and many in the red (meaning i had lost money on them), some like my apple shares are tiny tiny amounts (i also have two; amazon, costco, and 4 mastercard and visa)
today i'm pleased with my portfolio: currently 38 various shares, plus several bank bonds mostly at 5% interest. it gained in value and i'm not bleeding money out of it.
i have my eye on three or four that are irrationally irritating me and i'm trying to hold off dumping them daily.
the final numbers 40+ years in and only gained $47K on $170K of invested money.

great shares that have done well for me. S&P500, JPMorgan Chase, Waste Management (yup a garbage company!!), Dollarama (i guess when times get tough people buy cheap stuff), Franco Nevada (a precious metal mining group), yes i have Microsoft as well.

i don't need the money but sure would like to see $250K (my goal number as a 30 year old investor).

Definitely use your 20k annual ISA allowance. Put it into Vanguard - a Lifestrategy fund - the higher the number the more risk/potential return. Or into S&P 500, then you are investing in a huge range of companies, it's all about diversifying risk so I wouldn't put everything into one company like Apple.

Just to clarify that you can hold Apple shares in a S&S ISA. I think other posters are referring to fund based ISAs as the ISA part is just a tax wrapper to hold investments.

I work in investing. Just to echo what PPs have said, don't put all your eggs in one basket and buy Apple shares!

It's up by over 50% year to date. Tech stocks (generally) had a torrid 2022 but have had somewhat of a recovery this year. But it's very finely poised and they could well fall back.

It's really difficult picking investments at the moment as inflation isn't under control and interest rate hikes don't help most equities. I'm personally not a massive fan of ETFs as there's nowhere to hide in a downturn. But they'd be a better option than putting it all in Apple.

S&S ISA, vanguard or something similarly low fee. All world, diversified.

Stay away from stock picking and stay away from crypto.

Unless, for you, this is like putter a tenner on the grand national for fun.

There is so much info out there - the UK personal finance Reddit, podcasts like Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You to be Rich, books like The Slow Path to Wealth...all with solid advice.

Stocks and shares isa all the way

Warning - negative note coming in
Tried shares when first earning enough to generate savings. Bit of a disaster.
Sorry but ever since then, I’ve referred to the Stock Exchange as the posh (or rich) man’s (or woman’s) betting shop.
Premium Bonds have been better for me plus I can increase or reduce my holding at any time. Never won any of the £1million prizes but a steady trickle of wins. It is another betting shop but my money cannot be lost.

Oh gosh OP, certainly don't get into crypto thinking it's a medium risk investment.

Put £100 in just to play around with it because it's an interesting social phenomenon but definitely don't put your savings in!

I use a company/app called Freetrade. It's effectively free to use for their basic account (you can upgrade for more stocks, ISAs).

I've been dripping what is my weekly coffee money into it for a year or so, as the minimum trade amount is £2, and building up slowly. It's been quite the education actually. I'd recommend it for getting a feel for the whole thing before committing large amounts of money. I had visions of being wildly successful as I'm good at maths and I read the news, so how hard could it be...

I do find it completely fascinating though, watching the stocks fluctuate and then matching it up with current affairs, and I do get a rush when one of my stocks spikes.

An ISA is just an instrument to avoid tax. It's not an investment in itself

OP, I wouldn't recommend putting £10k into one company's shares. That's very risky. Apple is a solid company but do you not feel you've missed the boat on huge growth? If you like big companies like that what about a fund that tracks the top companies in the US or the world?

Just a few more notes on 10k in Apple

Putting 10k on Apple now is not medium risk — it's very high risk.

Not to say that it will definitely lose value but if you look at the chart of apple stock it has shot up in value in last few years. This is what a bubble can look like... Apple is exposed to geopolitical risk re: China.

All the future expectations of growth are "priced in" at the moment, which means you may not see much return even if Apple continues to do well.

It's a confident bet, but it's not a calm investment. Calm, sensible stock investing is looking for 4%-8% inflation adjusted returns over time (some bad years, some good years).

Not to say you can't do that, but just be clear that it is not a medium risk sensible way to dip your toe in. It's a big risky plunge in. But if you want to do that, you can do it, & good luck!

Get a S&S ISA.

I had £10k a few years ago which I decided to invest myself in shares I had chosen. I split it over 10 companies - half some quite out there companies, and half more sensible like Apple.

It went up to £14k really quickly and I thought I was quids in. It's now sat at a loss at £8k. I can leave it there, but I really don't know where it's going to end up by the time I take it out. I wish I'd done the S&S ISA - even though I knew a lot about most of the companies I was investing in, I still have a loss.

The big tech stocks are priced at huge multiples over their current earnings. Lots of people expect some downside from these stocks. Even if they don't go down a lot, they aren't cheap now and you've probably missed the main years of growth from Apple.

You would do better to look into what an ETF is and how to use one within an Isa.

The risk is huge when investing in one stock.

If you invest in a broad based indice, you can expect a reasonable return (over the long haul) - something like Vanguard All World.

Stock investing is not advisable for money you want to use in next decade.

I do a share save scheme with my work. Save for 3 years then exercise an option to buy shares at the price they were at the beginning of the 3-year period. It works quite well for me. It's a successful company so doesn't feel risky.

We have a fair bit in shares, but only since dh has been able to have time to look at them often, buy and sell frequently and do plenty of research

Definitely diversify, maybe 4 or 5 different companies

Other thing is to check out which shares pay the highest dividends

Stocks and shares ISA, S and P 500 index fund.

Job done

Pro tip - vanguard for low fees

How long are you planning to be in the market for? Thais will determine your strategy and risk profile. Selecting one stock is high risk. £10k isn’t a lot of money but I’d still diversify. You could still buy the one stock but ensure it is a low % of your portfolio. The rest passive trackers with a mix of global companies across a range of sectors. Don’t expect the returns of the last few years though. Time in the market is important.

I agree with the other posters to use an ISA wrapper as a tax shelter. That way, you don't pay any capital gains tax. You have a 20K ISA allowance a year.

Don't invest in crypto particularly if you know nothing about it, unless you are prepared to lose the lot.

I must know some cheap Financial Advisors but yes if its going to be expensive for you to go to one dont bother but certainly dont put all your 10k in one place.

10K is not a lot of money relatively speaking and not enough to justify IFA fees.

If you don't need to money right away (and your time horizon for investing in shares should in any case be putting it away for around 5 years to smooth out market volatility) is to buy Vanguard LifeStrategy 100, 80 or 60. It is a large worldwide diversified fund with low fees. The 100, 80 or 60 reflects the % that is invested in equities with 100% being the most and 60% the least.

I put the dcs' savings into Vanguard and they have done pretty well. I have to say that shares performance have generally been pretty flat at the moment, so don't expect huge rises in the short term. Shares are a medium term investment.

Another vote for an ISA here. Why not get the tax benefit? If you go to a firm like Charles Stanley direct they can suggest a basket of funds based on your risk appetite. I went with them because their charges were low, but I think there’s others out there doing the same thing even more competitively now, so worth doing a bit of research