Can someone quickly redpill me on investing, or direct me to a useful site?
I'm just about to graduate, and am in the process of applying for my first 'real' job. The ones I'm going for have salaries of ~£25-30k. On that salary, if I keep my lifestyle frugal I could immediately put aside about ~£5k per year to invest in low-risk stocks. Would it be worth doing this as soon as possible, or should I just chill out, enjoy being young for a bit, and wait until mid-career when I have higher earnings before starting an investment portfolio? Also, what rate of return is typical for a diverse low-risk portfolio? How much research is needed before starting to invest? Do you need a very good understanding of economics, or is it something anyone can do with a bit of common sense and money? Thanks in advance for any answers.
>>1354715
Redpill is buying ETFs, focusing on buying dips and holding for 20-30 years
bluepill is thinking you can make more money doing anything else
>>1355025
this. ETFs all the way. Get the ones rated 4 or 5 stars by blackrock
>>1354715
>low risk
>stocks
Pick one
Do yourself a favor and max your Roth Ira. Do a 90-10 allocation for good long term growth.
>>1355062
~7-8%, pick one that reinvests the returns automatically (accumulating).
If you don't want to research ETFs too much, a basic portfolio of two ETFs would be:
85% MSCI world
15% emerging markets
>>1355080
I thought, in terms of lowest risk to highest risk, it was something like: Bank account -> Bonds -> Low-risk stocks -> High-risk stocks. Is that not the case?
>>1355103
Is it possible to say what an average weekly rate of return would be for a portfolio like that? I'm trying to work out how much I could accumulate over a year if I invest ~£100 weekly, and whether it's worth doing that as soon as possible or wait a bit later on in my career when (hopefully) I'll be on a £40k-50k salary at least.
>>1354715
What course did you study , and what job is it your applying for?, thats a good salary for just graduating, ususally i see the salary being 15-20k for first few years or so then it goes up
>>1354715
Index Tracker wrapped in an ISA.
Add monthly for mad, compound gains.
>>1355166
I studied Psychology at BSc and MSc, and now I'm applying for Research Assistant jobs. I was surprised to see they paid that much too, careers in academia don't usually pay that well so I don't know why they don't just offer ~£20k like other graduate jobs. Only downside is there's no real career progression here, it's just something I can use to save up money for a few years. There's no guarantees I'll get any of the ones I've applied for by any means, but I meet the criteria, got a first at BSc and should get a distinction at MSc, so I'm hopeful to get interviews at least.
>>1355193
Do you know what the average monthly rate of return for that would be?
>>1355157
left column: year you started investing in
a bit dated but you get the idea
>>1355208
i fucked up, i meant the bottom row. left is when you cashed out.
>>1355208
So if you invested in 1999 and withdrew in 2014 you'd actually be making a slight loss? 15 years of investing for worse than nothing?
>>1355193
>Do you know what the average monthly rate of return for that would be?
It's going to vary to be honest, but you're in for the long haul and the compounding of interest is key.
>https://www.fool.co.uk/investing-basics/isas-and-investment-funds/choosing-an-index-tracker/
>>1355235
no, you would have made 17%
and this through 2 major bubble bursts (dotcom and lehman)
>>1355292
Oh shit yeah, I misread. It still doesn't seem that good though, are those typical returns or are they skewed by the bursts? Also, does the graph account for accumulated interest or is it based on an original sum which doesn't reinvest accumulated interest?
>>1355157
a year is not gonna do much with an index fund. You have to look at it as a retirement fund, meaning monthly investments for decades optimally to get a good cumulative effect. You can illustrate this for yourself easily here:
http://screen.morningstar.com/calculators/savings-calculator.aspx
>>1355312
or here (seems like link is down rn)
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NhV8TS0Y3C4J:screen.morningstar.com/calculators/savings-calculator.aspx+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
>>1355328
yes
