Investing your money can get complicated. Here’s Moneycube’s roundup of the investing mistakes we spend time talking people out of.
No goal
It’s always better if you start with your end in mind.
What is successful investment for you? If you’re 30 and tucking away surplus cash, it’s going to look a little different from when you’re five years from retirement and will soon need to generate an income from your funds.
If this is you: you need a goal – at a minimum, an investment timeframe and a level of risk you’re willing to tolerate. Moneycube’s online investment system helps you think about both.
Confusing being lucky with being clever
It’s been said that if you’re invested in fewer than 20 different companies, you’re speculating, not investing. For sure, you might get lucky. But if you’re doing it with your life savings, you’ll be taking some big, unnecessary risks along the way. And that’s not clever.
Moneycube’s not hung up on the number of direct investments you hold. The point is, when it comes to your savings, you’ll want to spread your money around so that all your eggs aren’t in one speculative basket.
If this is you: Moneycube believes multi-asset funds are ideal for your purpose, as they do the diversifying for you.
Overtrading
Don’t get too keen! A lot of the time, chopping and changing your investments will cost you time and money. It’ll mean you’re out of the market when you want to be in. And create an admin headache.
It’s much more important to make some good investment choices for your goal at the start, and give them time to bear fruit.
If this is you: When’s the right time to trade? When your goal, your financial circumstances, or your investments have materially changed.
Ignoring costs
Costs have a huge impact on the performance of your investment. It really pays to choose the right provider at the start.
In particular, avoid paying an upfront chunk of your money to access an investment. You’ll immediately reduce your chances of earning a return, because not all your money is being put to work for you.
If this is you: Wherever you place your money, demand clarity on the initial costs to access the service, the ongoing costs to use it, and the charges if you want to make a change to your investment. Compare different providers. And take a look at Moneycube’s great value fees for a start.
Fear and procrastination
This is the other extreme of investing mistakes. Maybe you’re assuming the bank will do what’s right for your savings, or the state pension will provide, or that investments are risky because they can go up as well as down.
It’s true in one sense that if you never make investments, you’ll never make investing mistakes.
Trouble is, inflation is eating up your bank savings, pension provision is uncertain, and markets have always done better than cash over the long term.
If this is you: You’ve come to the right place. Moneycube specialises in helping people take charge of their money. We’ll help you evaluate your true appetite for risk and reward, and recommend a suitable investment for you.
Get started with Moneycube today
