Advise for a noob

adammiller

Hey guys,

I was wondering if i could get some advice on investing. I currently save 500e a month and want to invest this money as the interest on my savings account is very poor. I will also be hoping to use this to purchase a house in 4/5 years time (when new houses have been built and prices normalize). I understand there is risk with investments and i have been listening to investment audio books, reading Investopedia and keeping up with business news.

I am thinking of purchasing 1000e in BoI shares. Currently they have shares at ~18c, they have started making a profit again and, despite having a decent foothold in the UK (which is around 25% of their business i think?), i dont think brexit will be crippling to them, reading their annual reports and i am willing to bet that stock prices here will stay the same or, if they start paying a dividend, rise.

For the rest i am thinking of splitting the the money, using Degiro, between the following ETFs: IAGG, IUSB, ITOT and IXUS

In a few other threads i saw some questions being asked;

* What % of your overall wealth is this money is your life savings
This will be my savings bar a small 3 month rainy day fund.

* Have you any high interest debts like car loan/credit card etc
I have no loans/debts/repayments

* Have you an SVR mortgage
No

* Have you a rainy day fund of 3-6 months salary
Yes

* Have you a pension
No

* Have you kids
No

* Are you married
No

* Have you any investment property
No

* What exactly constitutes success for this investment portfolio
I would be delighted with 10% annual growth including dividend payments.
I would consider it a success with 7-8% or more annual growth including dividends
I would be happy with 5% year on year growth.

* How long are you happy to be without this money
5 Years

* What would you do if value dropped 30% overnight
Nothing

Thanks for the input on this

Francie Barrett

It sounds like you have your head screwed on and you've set realistic expectations. Your strategy seems good to me, the only thing I would say is to make sure you don't time the market. Very often on this forum, you hear people saying something like this.

"The stock market is down 30%, so I have sold my stocks and will wait for the markets to stabilize before I get back in".

Please make sure you are not this person Selling your stocks for cheap and buying them back at a more expensive price is going to lose you money.