What age were you when you started investing and how many years have you been investing for

Hi All Iā€™m curious as to what age you were when you started investing and how many years you have been investing. If you donā€™t feel comfortable posting your age feel free to put an age bracket or just answer the second question.

Iā€™ll start:

Iā€™m between 30-35 and been investing for a year

I do know people in their 80ā€™s who Iā€™ve convinced to start investing

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I only just started investing ( 3 months ago) at 29

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46 about a week ago!

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I am 21 started investing when I was 18.
My first investment was in HL in a HL life time isa account ā€¦ I brought 1 shareā€¦ later I find out even if I sell that 1 share Iā€™ll only gain 5 pound or less becuase of the selling feee XD. I still have a life time isa which I mostly buy etf and Bond etfā€¦ just a tiny fund for a future house ā€¦ Freetrade has been a great help for me as it allows me to buy share without any significant chargesā€¦

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41 started 6yrs ago

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22 stared 2 years ago but been more at it this year

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Iā€™m 35 and just started a few months ago

I wish Iā€™d got started earlier but never too late to join the party :joy::tada:

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I wanted to invest since I was 16 but never had the confidence to take that ā€œplungeā€ so missed out for so long.

Then Bitcoin came along and I believed it in for a long time, but everyone started putting me down when it started gaining traction so lost the confidence to invest in that as well. So after missing out on Bitcoin, thatā€™s what finally gave me the kick to go ā€œfuck itā€.

So finally opened an account with Nutmeg in March 2018 at the age of 27, and then an account with Freetrade in December 2018 (after searching ages for a Robinhood alternative) at the age of 28.

Turning 30 next month and so glad I finally got in on the investing game, although of course I regret not having done it over 10 years ago :joy:

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26 and started last year

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Likewise I feel the same way. Most of my friends still donā€™t understand why I invest. But I wish I started sooner

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43 & started in March !

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Iā€™m 34 and have only been investing since March.

Started as I was helping sort out my late father-in-laws estate and saw how well he had done over the years

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I kept one of my friends for the longest time and he was always dubious. Then Freetrade came along and that helped convinced him because of the free share and low cost entry. Now heā€™s put pretty much all of his money into stocks and was even thanking me the other day for convincing him because heā€™s made such huge returns and has never been richer :smile:

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Hope you offered them a FreeTrade free stock :slight_smile:

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Itā€™s really insipiring hearing peopleā€™s stories.

Me, I only started investing just over a year ago. I had an ā€˜epiphanyā€™ and it suddenly clicked !

Would be interested to hear others peopleā€™s motives or lightbulb moments as to the initial kick that started their ball rolling.

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I have tried but freetrade isnā€™t compatible with their android phone so Iā€™ve got them an old iPhone so I can give them the free share

What stopped you before or what caused the epiphany?

am 23 and been investing since i was 18. Learnt lots! Started at Bux, then Etoro, now FT. Do Crowdcube investments as well.

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I started at 23yo, going for 10 years now.

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15 years old. The original inspiration was the movie ā€˜Wall Streetā€™, which my dad had bought for me as a birthday gift. I was hooked. I pooled together all my cash from cutting grass for neighbours and working at a Deli 15-20hrs a week, mostly on a weekends.
The first few trades were in biotech firms. The thesis was usually a matter of ā€œhoping for FDA approvals/positive rumoursā€ rather than critical analysis.
I got lucky a few times then lost it all when one of the small-cap biotech/therapeutic drugs in Phase I got hit with a myriad of hurdles and company-ending FDA rejection. The lesson has never been forgotten and Iā€™ve continued to invest more critically and carefully ever since. Losing your own money (not intentionally of course!) is a pretty important experience. It often reveals your intrinsic risk appetite and personality as an investor. It also reminds you of reality. Even the best lose billions. Starting earlier should be more encouraged as hours/days of experience canā€™t really be forgone or skipped.

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