Investing...

MyMarvellousMoney

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Today i decided to take the plunge and I downloaded the MoneyBox app for investing in an accessible way. Only something small - £5 a week and a £5 initial deposit but I felt it was a good way to tip my toe in the water with stocks and shares. Has anyone on here had any experience with the app or recommendations? I went for a middle of the range type of investment - not high risk, but not low risk either...
 

Jon

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Not heard about moneybox before

What’s it all about?
 

MyMarvellousMoney

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So it's an app on your phone that rounds up things you spend to the nearest penny and builds a small investment fund. E.g. if you spend £1.20 on a sandwich (unlikely but an example!) It takes the extra 80p and puts it in a fund.

Theres also easier options like just having a direct debit set up for £5 a week or any custom amount you want to invest. You can choose to be adventurous, cautious or safe as 3 levels of risk. I think at the moment it costs £1 a month (free trial for 3 months) and perhaps a small fee of something like 0.45% of the investment.

This is at least what I've read and understood so far and hoping I've got the fees right! It seems an easy option for someone like me who is a bit of a novice to investing and withdrawals are free although they can take up to 2 weeks.

Link is here for more info!

https://www.moneyboxapp.com
 

The Reverend

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So it's an app on your phone that rounds up things you spend to the nearest penny and builds a small investment fund. E.g. if you spend £1.20 on a sandwich (unlikely but an example!) It takes the extra 80p and puts it in a fund.

Theres also easier options like just having a direct debit set up for £5 a week or any custom amount you want to invest. You can choose to be adventurous, cautious or safe as 3 levels of risk. I think at the moment it costs £1 a month (free trial for 3 months) and perhaps a small fee of something like 0.45% of the investment.

This is at least what I've read and understood so far and hoping I've got the fees right! It seems an easy option for someone like me who is a bit of a novice to investing and withdrawals are free although they can take up to 2 weeks.

Link is here for more info!

https://www.moneyboxapp.com

Is there a reason you'd not just set up a standing order from your bank account for free to do this?

(sorry just saw this was for investing - I'd say that investing £20 a month, with those charges, really wouldn't be worth it.)
 
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skint

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Actually, it might be a good option for some people. My son 'plays' with stocks and shares and I know he pays a flat rate of £6 when he buys and £6 when he sells. So if you are only wanting to invest a few pounds every week then it's worth looking at. The only problem is you don't get to choose the individual l companies which is where the fun is. You could also look at a stocks and shares isa as an alternative. It depends whether you actually mean investment or if what you are looking for is a way to save? If it's saving then there are cheaper ways to do it.
 

The Reverend

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Actually, it might be a good option for some people. My son 'plays' with stocks and shares and I know he pays a flat rate of £6 when he buys and £6 when he sells. So if you are only wanting to invest a few pounds every week then it's worth looking at. The only problem is you don't get to choose the individual l companies which is where the fun is. You could also look at a stocks and shares isa as an alternative. It depends whether you actually mean investment or if what you are looking for is a way to save? If it's saving then there are cheaper ways to do it.

Hi Skint,

It sounds like your son is using an investment company to buy into 'funds' rather than actual stocks and shares. I'm not sure what happens with the dividends from these.

I use a stock and shares platform which charges £2.95 per trade (plus taxes) to buy actual shares and I get the dividend.

From the little investigation I've done, if you have a S&S ISA you tend to pay much more for trades however they are tax free upto your tax allowance.

:)

The Reverend
 

skint

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Can I ask you what platform you use Rev? It's penny shares he 'plays' with and it's really just for the fun of it. Most people don't need ISAs now so I agree the stocks and shares ones aren't great value. I'm more a saver than an investor. At least I was until life came along and used up my nest egg.
 
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The Reverend

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Can I ask you what platform you use Gov? It's penny shares he 'plays' with and it's really just for the fun of it. Most people don't need ISAs now so I agree the stocks and shares ones aren't great value. I'm more a saver than an investor. At least I was until life came along and used up my nest egg.

Hi @skint

I'm currently using Degiro and I've just checked - I paid £1.75 for the last batch of shares I purchased and just over 50p in duty/tax. That was for about £100 worth of shares.

I'd have to disagre on the ISA, but for lower value investments I'm not sure its the best choice. I will do a blog-post about why I think they are great.

If you are a saver, then Premium bonds is always a safe bet. Life has recently wiped out all my money so I'm slowly trying to build something up.

:)

The Reverend
 

MyMarvellousMoney

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Is there a reason you'd not just set up a standing order from your bank account for free to do this?

(sorry just saw this was for investing - I'd say that investing £20 a month, with those charges, really wouldn't be worth it.)
I don't know any other sites or platforms to invest in/with with no charges. I've looked at nutmeg but the minimum startup investment was £500 - not sure I'm ready to dive in deep just yet with that much. Do you know ones with a bank which will let you open with £5?
 

MyMarvellousMoney

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Actually, it might be a good option for some people. My son 'plays' with stocks and shares and I know he pays a flat rate of £6 when he buys and £6 when he sells. So if you are only wanting to invest a few pounds every week then it's worth looking at. The only problem is you don't get to choose the individual l companies which is where the fun is. You could also look at a stocks and shares isa as an alternative. It depends whether you actually mean investment or if what you are looking for is a way to save? If it's saving then there are cheaper ways to do it.
I believe the money is going to a Stocks and Shares ISA. At the moment I'm just using it to give myself a flavour of investing as I've not done it before. Always glad to hear recommendations though!
 

skint

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Rev.I'll suggest Degiro to my son. Thanks for that:). The personal savings allowance affected ISAs usefulness bigtime. I'd love to be earning over £1000 a year in interest lol. Life does get in the way of the best plans. Both my parents developed Alzheimers and my Dad put their life savings into the wheely bin.

MyMarvellousMoney, What about using a savings account until you've built up a wad to invest?
 

The Reverend

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I don't know any other sites or platforms to invest in/with with no charges. I've looked at nutmeg but the minimum startup investment was £500 - not sure I'm ready to dive in deep just yet with that much. Do you know ones with a bank which will let you open with £5?

I use Degiro - not 'no charges' but the lowest I've found so far. I opened an account and put money in there and I pay into it every month. There is nothing to stop you paying in £5 a month and then after 12 months buying 1 batch of shares. You'd still need to pay £1.75 and the 0.5% duty/tax but obviously if you did that every month you'd lose about 20% of your £5 so isn't really worth it.
 

skint

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Spoke to my son he already uses Degiro. Fees depend on where the shares are floated so he pays 2euro plus 14 Canadian dollars. He says Degiro is the cheapest he could find.
 

The Reverend

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Spoke to my son he already uses Degiro. Fees depend on where the shares are floated so he pays 2euro plus 14 Canadian dollars. He says Degiro is the cheapest he could find.

Yeah. Currently I'm only trading UK stock. As I don't buy anything in other currencies I don't have to pay anything else except what I've outlined. I'm not 'penny share' trading so I only do 1 trade a month and that is to buy stocks in a company.
 

skint

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It's good to know that that's the cheapest platform. At the moment I think premium bonds are the best option for me. Once I've actually got some money saved that is. Try to build up a cushion. I would not have gotten through the last 5years if I hadn't had a cushion.
 

The Reverend

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It's good to know that that's the cheapest platform. At the moment I think premium bonds are the best option for me. Once I've actually got some money saved that is. Try to build up a cushion. I would not have gotten through the last 5years if I hadn't had a cushion.

Don't forget Premium bonds require £100 investment at a time (or £50 if you set up a DD/SO after your initial £100.

:)
 

skint

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My income isn't regular enough to justify a so/DD. I've got a savings account to use then buy bonds each time it goes over £100. I've got a new current account to use for mb. So if I get the hang of it I can hopefully transfer into savings then into bonds.
 

The Reverend

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My income isn't regular enough to justify a so/DD. I've got a savings account to use then buy bonds each time it goes over £100. I've got a new current account to use for mb. So if I get the hang of it I can hopefully transfer into savings then into bonds.
Good plan, @skint

:)
 

MyMarvellousMoney

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Rev.I'll suggest Degiro to my son. Thanks for that:). The personal savings allowance affected ISAs usefulness bigtime. I'd love to be earning over £1000 a year in interest lol. Life does get in the way of the best plans. Both my parents developed Alzheimers and my Dad put their life savings into the wheely bin.

MyMarvellousMoney, What about using a savings account until you've built up a wad to invest?
I do have savings separate I'm just not ready yet to take the plunge and invest it all lol! I think I just want to ease myself in, so investing pennies here and there will hopefully inspire me to do bigger things!

At the moment I'm looking at crypto-currency investments but thats probably another thread topic!
 

skint

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I have mentioned before that when bitcoin first came out my then teenage son tried to persuade me to sell my house and use the money to mine bitcoins. Can you imagine how unskint I'd have been?
 

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