How do I use Vanguard now my money is in there?

[icantwaitforsummer]

Sorry if this sounds really stupid but I was inspired to dabble in stocks and shares.

I Read the threads on here saying Vanguard was a good place to start.

I put £500 in a general managed account, and now it's just in there and I don't know what to do?

There is no button to press, can't invest it anything, the chat box is terrible and won't answer my question and there is no phone number.

So I just have £500 just sitting in an account and no idea on the next step. Do I just leave it in there and it may grow eventually?

Is this a stocks and shares ISA account? Is the 'invest' button not clickable?

Erm.., click the invest button and buy some shares (I always stick to FTSE100 companies)

Do you know how you want to invest the money OP? For instance, if it’s a longer term investment, you could buy a fund of shares in Uk or global companies (rather than try and pick the companies yourself). The cheapest way would be to buy a UK equity index tracker fund or a global equity index tracker fund. The latter will have quite a lot of exposure to the US but also European and Asian companies.

On the menu choose 'My accounts' then 'Overview'. Click on your GIA and scroll down to 'Available cash'. Click on 'Invest now'.

I thought HL is considered better for newbies because the app is more user friendly.

Really recommend doing the "rebel finance school" course for 2024 on YouTube (free) it will really help you understand investing from week 6

In a nutshell, managed funds have higher fees and are less likely to beat the market, while passive index funds track the market as a whole which always gains as long as you're looking a a long time horizon (say 5+ years). Vanguard have a couple of really good global index funds with low fees.

I think they may also have videos to help you with apps and various other supporting skills (subscribe to "the Donegans"

The HL app is absolutely pants for actively managing anything - you really need to go in on a browser to get all of the functionality, but once you're in there it is very user friendly.

Not used the Vanguard app as we have Vanguard ETFs in HL and Fidelity - the Fidelity app is much more useable without having to log in outside the application.

Oh wait I think it actually is invested as I have made 29p! 😂

It's not an ISA as my normal cash ISA has 20k so it's full. I did choose the managed global all cap index account which I know has higher funds but I'm such a newby I just wanted to start with that until I'm more confident.

You are all so knowledgeable on it with all the acronyms etc it takes me a while just to google what you are all saying! But I want to do it and I will return to this thread as it's so helpful.

I will check out that rebel finance YouTube video Nougatcougar thank you.

If I'm feeling brave again and want to do another £500 in a month or so would anyone recommend where to put it?

Here is the 29p!

Oh I think I can manage some individually on Vanguard from looking, but will need to know what I'm doing about more.

So it's things like this I need to invest in I suppose, but after a bit more research as I don't know what's good or bad.

I have a Vanguard ISA and SIPP and I've just opened a general investment account as have also maxed out this year's ISA. I started with just the ISA in 2019 as a total beginner like you and first invested in one of the Lifestrategy funds as I really didn't know where to start and that seemed to cover a bit of everything. But then heard good things about the FTSE Global All Cap so have bought some of that too. They're all accumulation in the ISA and SIPP.

For the new general account I bought £1k of the S&P500 UCITS (ETF) - Distributing (VUSA). It's partly to teach myself how the different funds do, as that one is especially the effect of world affairs such as the presidential election. To be honest, I don't know how I feel about it tracking up since Trump was elected.

I deliberately bought a distributing one as opposed to an accumulation as I have had to complete my first self assessment this year and I read that it's a bit of a nightmare to calculate dividends for an accumulation fund. There is some kind of complicated calculation I think and I want to keep it simple rather than get a tax adviser involved. So a straight forward distributing fund which just pays out straight dividends that I can see easily is better for me. Therre is such a thing called "Bed and ISA" where you sell funds in your general account and rebuy them in your ISA every year but I'm just learning about that.

I've learned a LOT just from reading the Investing Education section on the Vanguard website. And from places like the UK Personal Finance subreddit, Morningstar etc.

I'm no expert at all but I feel I have basic knowledge now and my investments seem to doing better than if they'd been left in the bank so.....

I meant to say, I'm not interested in buying individual shares, I'm just happy with global index funds. My son started with Vanguard when I showed him how it all worked and has got a bit of an interested in individual shares, and he says Hargreaves Lansdown is better for that. He's got some tech shares and is just holding them.

The main thing I've learned is don't try and be clever and think you can buy and sell and make some money by timing things. Just steadily invest regularly in a global tracker fund and be prepared to stay invested for at least 5 year but preferably 10, and that way you'll be more cushioned from the drops. Seems to be working for me.

I did choose the managed global all cap index account which I know has higher funds

Right, if you're going to do this you need to be accurate in your terms. You haven't chosen a managed account, you've chosen a managed fund. Which has higher fees than a passive fund. If you've bought a fund, then you have indeed already invested.

Presumably your fund is held within a general investment account. (The alternatives would be ISA or pension.)

I deliberately bought a distributing one as opposed to an accumulation as I have had to complete my first self assessment this year and I read that it's a bit of a nightmare to calculate dividends for an accumulation fund.

This is important. Accumulation funds are fine within ISAs and pensions. In a GIA you need distributing funds. Especially if you're new and uncertain what youre doing.

OP, I really recommend doing more research before you buy anything else.