Novice - Places to start

First Time Investing 🐣
#1

Hello all!

I opened this account back in 2018 however I used it for 5 minutes, then left.

Since all this craze about GME etc and seeing how low the savings account rates are I’m looking to start investing so I can hope to get a better return that would I do right now putting into a fixed rate savings account.

As the title suggest I’m very much a novice and I’m happy to step back and take some time to learn all the fundamentals etc (Like what is a market cap and its relevance towards a share price?)

Does anyone have any advise on books/videos/websites/podcasts etc that they could recommend so I can gain some further knowledge on the fundamentals?

Any advice would be appreciated!

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#2

I am by no means an expert or a financial advisor, so this is just how I do it;

Invest what you are comfortable with every month into a low-cost index fund.
It’s about time in the market, NOT timing the market.
Ideally, you want to have an investment horizon of 10 yrs, and the longer the better.
Resist the urge to tinker.

For books there is an entire thread dedicated to it here

All the best,
BTY

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#3

Here is some great intros to ETFs etc.

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#4

You might find this community stock suggestion list for high growth a good start.
We are only 3 weeks in and already have 3 stocks that have hit 100%

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#5

I really think it’s a bad idea to push high-risk stocks on investment beginners. Your thread has nothing to do with beginner investing at all.

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#6

It’s great that this has peaked your interest into investing, now… pretend you never heard to GME or WSB for a while, trust me.

I think investing is probably one of the single most important things any person can do to improve their long term financial health and build financial wealth for their family. Everyone should be investing even a little.

But investing for the long term is the best way to approach things imo as a beginer trying to hit mene stocks and hype stocks I believe is a disaster waiting to happen.

The link @Brap_the_younger is good for books.

for podcasts I would suggest

Freetrade has some resources Freetrade Invest Hub

And you should definitely ask questions on the forum if you want, more than happy to help answer them

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#7

Just IMHO… but I would suggest taking the time to learn the ropes. I think subscribing to something like ‘Simply Wall St’ could really benefit you. It uses infographics to simply break down many of the fundamental metrics used to value stocks. It helps to quickly get a grasp on things like P/E, P/B, EPS etc. The things that help you to evaluate if and why you want to invest in a stock. I would subscribe to a few investing podcasts to familiarise yourself with different ideas, approaches and the terminology. Slowly try to get a feel for what you want your investing style to be - simply put ‘value’ or ‘growth’. Or how much of a mix of the two. Only you will be able to determine this based on your appetite towards risk. Start slowly until you know what you’re doing. It’s hard to time the market, so read about DCA and how this can help a novice. Be very wary of stock tips on here! Research everything yourself. IMHO, look to build a portfolio that’s highly diversified across multiple sectors with no one holding more than 5% of the total value. So if you inevitably make mistakes or are unlucky with timing, it will hopefully make it less painful. Good luck!

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#8

Thanks for all the information!

Trust me I have no intention to go for the all these hyped up “meme stocks”.

It was more the mention in the news for me about the investment side in general which peaked my interest back into investing as I currently have money sat in a Savings account which is effectively useless with current rates!

I’m sure to going to have a look at what you provided and then go from there! :slight_smile:

#9

I’ve been managing my stocks and shares savings since May 2019, didnt have one before.
Had never heard of FT until I did, and thanks to FT my minimal investment power is still of worth. A year later I’m still here.

I started with a very minimal amount (nothing i wasnt willing to lose). Firstly I got to grips with the app itself. Knowing how to navigate and what the app can do is very useful. I put some money down on shares that were priced low (no doubt thanks to pandemic).
I saw the numbers move and made some sales for short term profit. Reinvested. Deposited more.
While the percentages were jumping around in the background I spent time reading various resources. Freetrade forum, simplywall.st, even WSB (take everything you read on there as a probable troll). This was all in a GIA.

As your confidence and knowledge grows so will your investment strategy. If you dont already know about ISAs and what they can offer then this is a logical point of research also. In doing so you may realise some more fundamental changes are beneficial too, such as changing bank or using a cash ISA instead of standard savings account.

This is not financial advice, simply a personal experience that may help guide your journey.

I’ve now fallen into a similar line as many. Majority of portfolio in ETFs/bonds and smaller amount in company stocks which are more for fun (for me). At present it’s a 75 / 25 split as I learn alot through active trading and the money involved I am prepared to loose (so far in green though :+1:)