Do you invest?

[Greentoytractor]

And if not, why not?

Obviously a lot of people can't afford to, but my question is more for people who can, but keep all of their savings in cash rather than stocks and shares. This is the position I'm in, and have only just started investing in my mid 40s. I wish someone had educated me on investing back in my 20s. Feel like I've missed a trick!

wow what an interesting thread. I have two questions for you knowledgeable people.

1. i have £20,000 I inherited sitting in a cash isa. Should I put it in a stocks and shares ISA instead? I haven’t touched it in years. I may move house in the next 3 years and want it, but not NEED it, then.

2. Also wondering if I should be investing my child benefit in a stocks and shares ISA in my child’s name. My concern is then they will get it at 18 and blow it on crap.

Open a JSIPP for your kid and invest there - it’s a pension so they will thank you an thousand times over because it will be worth so much more than what they put in later and they won’t be able to blow it on crap because it’s a pension so can’t be accessed until later.

@DavesGirl90 -
I think the £20k you have is “potentially” suitable to be used for investment. If you really think you might need it in 3 years I would say no - that is a short amount of time to think about investing and if you do need it then there is a chance you will be disappointed, or worse still you might need it exactly when a market fall hits!

But…if that market fall happened and you were able to say “actually I don’t need this, I can leave it for a few more years until the market recovers” then it might be worth going ahead. Basically make sure you have your short term need for money covered by cash, then think about investing any extra you might have.

For your second question, I agree with @Thesoundofmusic23 - I’ve recently started Junior SIPPs (Self Invested Personal Pensions) for my kids. I pay in a bit of money and the government tops it up by an extra 20% as a tax refund. I choose a fund for it to be invested in, and just leave time to do the rest of the work. My hope is to build it up to a few thousand over the next few years. Eventually, when my kids turn 18, they will be able to control where the money is invested - but just like any other pension they won’t be able to actually access the money until they are much, much older.

Even if they don’t pay any more into it themselves, at least that investment will have decades to grow. Hopefully it will give them a nice boost and make their own retirements a little more comfortable.

The investment market doesn't revolve around your needs, so that point is irrelevant.

I'm trying to not bring ethical aspects to this discussion.

What I'm saying is, that investment market based long term financial planning is partially a bet and partially MLM stunt.
Take how many people praise bitcoin - and how many lost money in alt coins. I know it's not the same thing, but it nicely illustrates the hype-based value.

And no, I'm not at public sector.

not to mention the bobby axelrods of the world too

@DavesGirl90 Split it up, put a third in a cash ISA, a third in a low risk stocks and shares ISA and a third in a higher risk stocks and shares ISA

I use JPM Invest (formerly known as Nutmeg) and you could open 1 lower risk stocks and shares ISA and 1 higher risk stocks and shares ISA in the next ten minutes if you wanted to.

It's really not hard.

You can withdraw the money with a few days notice at any time

The benefit of a junior ISA is additional tax benefits but if you are worried about your child accessing it at 18, just save in your own stocks and shares ISA and give them the money when you like. But don't just leave it in cash - take advantage of the fact you might not give it to them for 20 or 25 years and get it invested and benefiting from the compound interest.

42 and just discovered S&S ISA. I have 3 months salary in my revolut savings account and figured id have a go at the ISA, put £500 in the last 2 months instead of into savings. Sad to see it downturn this week but ever hopeful 🤣 Revolut is good in that it shows what experts recommend ie buy, hold or sell. Ive ploughed most into Nvidia with some pharmaceuticals but next month will put into S&P or something as seems a safer bet than individual stocks. Id recommend Revolut, its very beginner friendly. Im a total novice but enjoying the experience despite being £40 down at this moment in time.

Both DP and I are public sector so we have a good work pension, 2/3 of the mortgage paid on our forever home so feel the next 20 years will our saving for retirement era. DP has also been buying silver monthly since 2020 and the price of that has gone up exponentially.

That's not really the case unless you're buying the shares on initial float or an additional share issue.
If you're buying in the market then your money goes to the previous owner of the shares rather than the company you're buying a share in. So the company can't use that money to grow/pay staff/whatever. It's more a theoretical they could raise money based off the share valuation rather than actual money they have.

yes I so wish I’d learnt about investing earlier in life, I’ve just taught myself recently and kicking myself for not doing it earlier, I’ve sorted out my spending & debt, and given myself a 10 year target for investing, it’s not an over night quick fix but I actually feel excited about it, I can’t believe I’ve been so flippant with money up to now

Yes, i got a stocks and shares LISA as soon as they became available. I had no idea about investing, so just accumulated cash on account (plus the bonus) until i had time to figure it out. Then lockdown happened so i had the time to learn about funds and bonds, etc. The markets were low at that point, so it was a great point to start investing with my lump sum. I now use chatGPT to help me to make investment decisions and i find it quite good fun.

My kids are 24 and 26, and DH and I got them started investing as soon as they had earned income that made them eligible for a Roth Individual Retirement Account. It allows all investment gains and income to accumulate tax-free forever, making it a fabulous vehicle for young people who have decades of investing ahead of them.

They caught the fever from us and are off to a great start.

To those who are using a global tracker, which product are you using?

@DavesGirl90 my DC have a small cash ISA and that's ear marked for a cat ,driving lessons etc.
They have a bigger stocks and shares ISA which is their capital going forward.
Both have had it drummed into them to invest what it means ,they have bank cards early they are exposed to the family budget and spreadsheet and what we do and how we save.

If the blow it inspite of this financial education that's their problem .

@Bluebellsparklypant same ,it's too late for me to make any meaningful changes to my life which is why I've drummed it into Dc

@EmmaM84 I'm not keen on the buy hold sell stuff really because it encourages too much movement.
Stick to broad diversified index funds hold and keep.

Yes I do, mine is really simple though, I’ve done a S&S isa , pension and savings pot through Monzo, I also have a normal ISA with my bank, a few hundred in NS&I plus we run a business so have a business high interest savings account, Monzo is so easy to set up, it’s an app that links to your bank and takes seconds, I don’t have any S&S with the big companies like Lansdown so I’ve no idea how easy it is to manage but I like that my savings account, investments and pension are in one app and simple to manage, I do have about £50 shares with Nivida and about 200 quid in an eco crowdfunded but they just sit there doing not a lot due to the amounts ☺️

@Thesoundofmusic23 we also have one for DC! I imagine how I would feel having a little bonus nest egg to look forward to now I'm coming to retirement age !!

@FourSevenTwo I don't undertsnd the premise of your posts really

When you by a share of say Tesla or Google you are buying something tangible we don't see it but you are buying a slice of the business which includes assets people furnishing production plants intellectual property and so on
It's real and tangible.
Bitcoin is totally different .

I use HSBC all world on one platform and vanguard global all cap on another

F