London | How to invest & save money
For those of you working in London, how do you invest you money? The fact that we cannot buy stocks (due to insider information etc) makes things complicated. I have heard of premium bonds, ISA etc. but don't really know what to do
Max out your ISA for every fiscal year and buy ETFs - either for indexes or "trends".
What do you mean by "Max out your ISA for every fiscal year"? Sorry I'm not from the UK I don't understand anything here
If you could just give more details it would really help thank you
So an ISA is an investment account where you can invest up to 20k per year. These investments can really take any form - ie sitting in cash compounding at 1% p.a. or investing it in equities/fixed income ( can be single names or indexes, ETFs, Funds).
The great thing about the ISA is that all of the returns will be tax free - so say in year one you invest 20k in there and make a 10% return. at the end of year one you have 22k sitting there being ready to be invested on a tax free basis (ie compounding) and you can add again another 20k the following year. So effectively you can invest 20k per year that will compound and will be tax free.
What recommendations do you have for platforms to invest in ETFs on, specifically looking for ones where you can invest in broad trends, e.g. green energy, tech etc.
Anyone have any thoughts on shelling out 500k for a flat and paying my way down with low i/r? Rent is quite obscene in London...
I don‘t think you can find a decent flat for 500k in London. Unless it’s 1 hour outside of the city..
exactly what I was thinking lol...
You can get a 2 bed for sub-PS500k in areas like Stratford, Limehouse, Bow and Wapping - all of which are not too far from the City...
you can get a two bed for £550k in aldgate east (20 year old building)
I would take a look at Slough. Could be a good buy even if you work in Canary but only if you know that even after the pandemic your bank will allow you to work at east one day from home (say Friday).
There will be a cross rail station, which means (at least this is what i saw published) it will take you 46 minutes to get to Canary Wharf. I dont think prices have incorporated the cross rail effect fully just yet. Also the borough council is about to spend £3bn on housing etc (they call it a Slough regeneration project).
A ton of green space, good schools nearby including Eton.
You can buy a two bed flat in a new building for ~£360k.
Double check your firm's policy, most banks allow you buy individual stocks although with tight restrictions.
Really not worth it in my view. You can really target some stocks through sector/themes ETFs. Know some people that were locked with a stock as they covered the name as a junior and were on calls with CEOs even though there was no real insider information the bank didn’t want to take such a risk. Also as you may know academics have basically proven that the average investor underperforms its benchmark. So don’t waste time looking at stocks and just say I like automation and buy the automation ETF rather than looking into which firm will be the best one etc you won’t have time as an analyst.
Depends how much you have to invest. If you have £300k+, there is a ton of opportunities now to buy property at up to 20% discount. Target studios and one bedroom flats because they are most liquid + they can still generate a nice yield (~4%).
Otherwise I would invest in ETFs. Shouldn't hurt you career (depends how strict your compliance team) because should you even receive some non-public info on one of the constituent stocks, you aren't the one actively managing your exposure to that company. Also you won't beat the market if you invest in individual stocks unless you are very lucky, have some insider info or work in a value HF (even then not guaranteed).
Don't think this guy as an incoming Analyst has 300k at hand (although it is the only thing that I can wish for him.
You never know , what if his family is rich af
What recommendations do you have for platforms to invest in ETFs on, specifically looking for ones where you can invest in broad trends, e.g. green energy, tech etc.
Don't think you will need that much equity to buy a flat though right? Isn't ~10% enough these days?
In that case you could get an ok flat with a few ten thousands... Curious to hear some thoughts on this vs stocks.
Yeah but when we are talking 20% discount, usually people want cash quickly. Takes up to 2 months to get a mortgage so unless you can find someone who can loan you quickly, you'd have to use equity.
Am American so have a Roth IRA, but will be working in London long-term — should I set up an ISA?
I see it's been a while, but I wanted to chime in. While buying stocks may not be an option for everyone, there are still plenty of ways to make your money work for you. Premium bonds and ISAs are worth considering, but it's essential to research and determine what works best for your financial situation and goals. Also, use free money management app to save money more efficiently. You might also want to look into mutual funds, index funds, and real estate investment trusts (REITs).
What's your experience/average return with Premium Bonds? Sounds like it's more for the fun than the returns.
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