Have you ever invested in shares?

[YogaMama66]

Have you ever invested? I’m thinking of making a modest (10k) investment in the stock market and fancy Apple. Done some research and established my medium risk comfort level. For context, I’ve been organising my finances recently, and thought I’d like to try it out. I know investments can go down as well as up!

If you have 10k to invest (which by the way is not a modest amount) I would make an appointment with a financial advisor before sticking all your eggs in one basket.

I stay away from single stocks and invest in funds instead, less risky.

I have a Hargeaves Lansdown S&S ISA and do a mixture of my own choices and their Portfolio Plus - https://www.hl.co.uk/funds/leave-it-to-an-expert

£10k isn’t really enough to justify a financial advisers fees imo.

I’ve got a bit stashed in stocks and shares ISAs with Wealthify and EQ, initially went well and now are worth less than invested, got close to 10% loss after a year but are now recovering and about 5% down, all medium risk eco products. Mortgage is fixed at 1.09 until 2026 and thought market should outperform over 5 year fix.

Worth a punt if you can afford a loss short term imo

Personally would put it in a S&S ISA.

I would watch Damien Talks Money on YouTube. Everything is on there, spreading risks, diversification etc. On his recommendation, I've set up a stocks and shares ISA on a website called Trading 212. Im having a great time watching the progress. Dont invest more than you can afford and do it gradually

Yes. S&S ISA invested in a couple of different funds, one low one medium risk

Investing in individual stocks is high risk, not medium! If it's money you can afford to lose that's one thing; but diversification will help bring the risk level down.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/investment-beginners/

Yes. s&s isa. I have had a few individual before but not really worth the effort and risk (nice to back a company).
I don’t think 10k is worth a financial advisor.
Choose your risk, longer term better.
(also tried blockchain back before it got sleazy- Bitcoin paid for a new kitchen in 2017 but wouldn’t do that now - too unethical and not worth it).
Ramit Sethi “I will teach you to be rich” is great (sounds sleazy but isn’t).

Yes I have done for years. I have a high risk appetite and have done very well with some individual shares. I've invested in some funds too. It takes a lot of research though. Some of it is in ISAs, some in general investment accounts as I maxed out the ISAs. I use IWeb and Hargreaves Lansdowne.

Tim Hale's Smarter Investing is a good read, though not an approach I've stuck to.

A single stock is an awful idea. You want to be diversified.

Whatever you do don’t put the whole amount into any single stock (even Apple). Far too risky. Speak to a financial advisor and get access to a diversified portfolio.

101 of investment is never put all your eggs in one basket.

BTW stock market investment is tricky and best left to people who know what they are doing. Unless you are very financially savvy and have a lot of money to invest (and I’m talking more than £10k) it’s not worth it.

My partner buys and sells small amounts of crypto. Currently he has about $20k invested and he makes between $800 - $3k a month at present as crypto is down.

He did spend quite a bit of time studying the best way to do it, but has been doing it for a few years now and has done quite well out of it. You set the bots and forget them.

I had a stocks and shares ISA for 5 years, went medium risk and made absolutely no money in that time so gave up and cashed out when the amount invested was back to the original amount I put in.

You're not unreasonable to put your money in the stock market (I think you'd be unreasonable to avoid it entirely) but YABU to put it all in Apple stocks.

Consider ETFs or managed funds, probably through a S&S ISA. Vanguard has one which lets you invest in all their diversified/whole-market ETFs.

How does your partner do the crypto investing, if you don’t mind me asking?

@whirlyhead the above was for you!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Job done

Pro tip - vanguard for low fees

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

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.

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.

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.

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!