Beginners guide to investing

Investing is not nearly as hard as you might think. Anyone can do it, and be successful, as long as they understand a few basic principles. Investing in the stock marker is also a great way of improving your own financial education. It's a vital skill, which is undertaught in schools, but is so fundamentally important.

Basic Rules of Investing

1. Pay off any high interest debt, such as credit cards or bank loans, before you even consider investing.

2. You don't need £20,000+ to start investing. At Chelsea you can invest with as little as £50, and our fee is based on a percentage or your assets so charges aren't prohibitive. Even investing a small amount will get you into the habit of saving.

3. Diversify. A classic investing mistake is when an investor puts all their money in a single stock, only for them to lose all their money if the stock crashes. By investing in a fund which makes many different investments, you immediately diversify and help to protect yourself. You can also diversify by region, company size and asset class.

Don't have all your investments in the UK. Consider other parts of the developed world like the US, Europe and maybe also Asia and emerging markets if you have a higher risk tolerance.

4. Consider bonds. Bonds are money which is lent to governments, corporations and municipalities in return for periodic interest payments. They have typically given a lower return, but they are generally much less volatile than stocks and even more importantly they often do well when equities are doing badly. Commercial property funds are another way to diversify, although be aware that all funds carry some level of risk.

5. When you first start investing you should think about buying a fund. A fund invests in a range of different stocks, so it immediately covers our third point of being diversified. If one or two stocks in the fund go bust you won't lose all your money.

There are two types of fund, passive and active.

Passive funds simply try and match the entire performance of a stock market as best they can.

Active funds employ a fund manager who actively takes positions and tries to beat the market.

Chelsea offers a range of research, and other websites such as www.fundcalibre.com provide a list of managers who have historically been skilful, as well as performance data and free research on their favourite funds. As you become a more experienced investor you may decide to invest in individual stocks but you shouldn't if you're a beginner or do not have time to do your own research and stock picking.

6. Think about what you are saving for and your investment horizon. If you're saving for a housing deposit and plan to buy in the next couple of years then investing in the stock market is probably not appropriate because a big fall in the market might prevent you from reaching your goal. The key point to remember is that the longer your time horizon the better chance you have of making money in the stock market. If you're going to be investing for over 10 years you should consider some exposure to the stock market.

7. Remember that you don't have to invest all your money at once. One of the best ways to start is by investing monthly. By investing monthly you can invest gradually, enabling you to take advantage when prices fall. Putting a fixed amount into a fund every month, regardless of market behaviour, is known as 'pound-cost averaging'. Monthly investing is also affordable and promotes the discipline of saving, whereby a small amount invested every month over several years can build into a sizeable nest egg.

8. Consider your own risk tolerance and be honest. Some people just can't handle the swings of the stock market and it causes them sleepless nights. If you're one of these people you shouldn't be investing in stocks. Be aware that the stock market will almost certainly go through a major crash in the future but it's impossible to know when. Prepare yourself for this before you invest. Unfortunately many smaller investors sell out at the bottom of the market after a big sell-off and miss out on the subsequent rally. That's exactly what you want to avoid. Don't forget that by selling you are crystallising any loss you may have made. Remember that you don't have to have all your money invested in stocks. Consider investing in bonds and other assets as well, to cushion any big losses.  

9. Don't Trade Your funds. There's a big difference between a trader and an investor. Don't pay too much attention to noise in the media. Beginners should not trade their investments. This can be expensive and is usually pointless. A wise man once said that the stock market is a very efficient mechanism of transferring money from the impatient to the patient. Choose your initial funds carefully and then review them every so often. Once every six months should be enough.

10. Check a fund's underlying investments on the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) and factsheet.

11. Charges matter and unfortunately many providers aren’t transparent. At Chelsea we only have our service charge (0.4% a year) and a Cofunds platform charge (0.2% a year). There are no other charges. Watch out for providers who take a minimum monthly charge or charge you for each transaction. There's no point in investing £100 a month if there's a minimum charge of £8 a month or if it costs £5 for each trade.

Also watch out for the charges of the actual funds. Look at the OCF (ongoing charge figure) which includes the (annual management charge).

12. Be aware that the stock market is volatile. Understand the risks, but don't be scared off by negative headlines. Work out if investing in the stock market is appropriate for you. Remember to diversify your holdings and avoid paying too much in charges.

If you would like to make any changes to your portfolio, please: