Investing Guides

Choosing an investment platform today can feel overwhelming. This is especially true for beginners who don't understand the jargon. Fret not, as we did most of the hard work for you.

Managing your portfolio on the move is easy with investment apps, but selecting the right one is harder as there are so many to choose from.

A Lifetime ISA, or LISA, is a long-term Individual Savings Account (ISA) that comes with an attractive %25 government boost. The purpose of a LISA is twofold: it allows you to save for either your first home, with a maximum property cost of £450,000, or for your retirement. By using a LISA, you can save up to £4,000 every year.

We handpicked the top ethical ISA accounts offered by investment platforms and specialised providers, considering the costs, range of investment opportunities, adherence to industry standards, and usability of products. We also discuss how ethical ISAs work as well as what to consider when choosing one.

Investing in your child’s future is one of the most rewarding things a person can do. However, curating an investment plan like this can be difficult.

Choosing the right investment provider is crucial when it comes to meeting your unique investment demands. With numerous options available, it's essential to explore what the leading vendors have to offer in order to find the best fit for you.

As of 2021, over 3 million Brits hold a stocks and shares ISA account, and the amount locked in saw a £10 billion year-on-year increase. As the tax wrapper gains traction across the nation, we curated a list of the best stocks and shares ISA picks from the UK’s most trusted shares ISA providers.

We have compiled a list of the best robo-advisors available for UK investors, and explain how they work as well as the cases where they may have the advantage over traditional investment methods.

Now let’s take a look at the 10 best spread betting brokers to help you decide on the best options for your requirements.

Plus500 disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

London accounts for about 43% of global forex transactions, and the country holds the largest amount of online FX traders across Europe. To help those who wish to step into this incredibly in-demand market, we curated a list of the best forex brokers for beginners in the UK, along with a helpful guide to introduce currency trading, including common terms, risks, and benefits.

With no stamp duty, the ability to speculate in either price direction, and lots of leverage to increase your buying power, CFDs appeal to many. While CFD trading has its own set of unique benefits, it’s also extremely risky and requires a solid understanding of its complex mechanisms.

The UK is a hotspot for day traders – the country is #1 across Europe with over 300,000 active traders out of 9.8 million worldwide. A whopping 1.8 million tried their chances during the pandemic, fuelled by the boom in online trading platforms and the rapid circulation of content created by ‘investment influencers’. 22% of those reported losing money, while a quarter broke even.

There are several interesting social trading platforms available today. Here is a quick recap of the top 10 you should consider and their best use cases:

Automated trading systems are widely used by institutional investors, but this doesn't mean they are out of reach for retail traders.

Simply put, an option is a right to buy or sell a particular asset — like stock in a company — at a predetermined price on or before a certain date. You can buy and sell options contracts like stocks, but they also provide you with the right, but not the obligation, to take certain actions.

There are plenty of assets you can begin investing in like stocks, ETFs, and index trackers, to name a few. Alternatively, you could take advantage of tax-free earnings using an ISA or a SIPP.

The forex market never sleeps – for committed traders, it's crucial to be able to stay connected. A robust forex trading app with costs that suits your budget, features, tools, and forex pairs you need will ensure that.

With no stamp duty, the ability to speculate in either price direction, and lots of leverage to increase your buying power, CFDs appeal to many. While CFD trading has its own set of unique benefits, it’s also extremely risky and requires a solid understanding of its complex mechanisms.

Now let’s dive deeper into the top 10 futures trading platforms so you can better decide between them. Pay attention to the fees, leverage, and top noteworthy features.

Now let’s take a look at the 10 best spread betting brokers to help you decide on the best options for your requirements.

If you would like to know where to buy cryptocurrency in the UK, this comprehensive guide will explore the best cryptocurrency brokers in the United Kingdom. We’ve selected the top options based on several factors, such as ease of use, fee structure, coin variety, and security. Also, you’ll learn about different types of brokers and what to look for when selecting the best cryptocurrency app in the UK for yourself.

From stocks and forex to cryptocurrencies and commodities, IG offers a comprehensive range of investment products to suit various trading preferences.

You can access several investment opportunities on HL’s investment platform, such as active savings, stocks and shares (S&S), ISA, and self-invested personal pension (SIPP).

To kickstart our Fineco Bank review, let’s take a look at their investment products.

With over 71,000 investment instruments available, Saxo offers one of the broadest ranges of trading and investment products on the market.

What’s a platform without the products that they offer? In this section, we’re going to delve deep into just what investment products the platform allows you to add to your portfolio. But before that, let’s look at a summary.

DEGIRO offers a diverse range of investment options with some limitations. They do not support direct commodity trading, forex, or CFDs, but provide various assets for trading across more than 50 stock exchanges and multiple countries.

The variety of investment products offered by AJ Bell is one of the best you can expect to find on the market. The platform provides investors access to a vast array of shares, funds, trusts, bonds, and gilts from 24 different markets, which is more than enough to create diversity.

Freetrade doesn’t have the biggest choice of investment products on the market, but it’s more than sufficient for beginner DIY investors.

When it was first launched in 2007, eToro was largely focused on forex trading. The platform expanded its product portfolio to include stocks, ETFs, and commodities and quickly found traction globally. Today, its available in more than 140 countries and boasts over 20 million users, highlighting its appeal to a diverse range of traders.

At some point, we've all examined currency pairs, seeking to maximise the value of our money, especially when planning a vacation. But did you know that currency pairs can serve a greater purpose beyond holidays? Believe it or not, you have the potential to generate a significant income by becoming a successful forex trader.

For the past few years, mutual funds have become a popular option for UK investors. This popularity can be attributed to their investment diversification, advantages of professional management these investment vehicles offer, liquidity, and the customizability of their products.

Index funds, also known as tracker funds, are a type of mutual fund that tracks the performance of a given index, providing investors with exposure to a range of different assets in one cost-effective package.

At its core, investing refers to putting your money to work by purchasing an asset that you believe will grow in value so that when you sell it in the future, the amount you receive will exceed what you initially paid. As with many things in life, there are absolutely no guarantees in investing – your assets could increase in value in the long haul, but they could also drop, meaning you might end up getting back less than you put in.

The Nasdaq, or the National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System, is one of the world's largest stock exchanges that provides a range of opportunities for investors. Based in the US and founded in 1971, it lists over 3,000 stocks from more than 200 countries around the world. The exchange also offers a range of ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) that track certain sectors or markets within those indices. Investors in the UK may choose to invest in the NASDAQ, a popular stock exchange for technology companies, in addition to the New York Stock Exchange

Net worth is essentially a tally of all your financial assets (everything you own that has monetary value) minus any liabilities (money owed to someone else). This is the amount of money you would have if you sold all your assets and paid off any outstanding debt.

Dividend stocks are stocks of companies that have declared a dividend payment to shareholders. These payments typically come from the company’s profits or reserve funds and are paid out regularly. Dividend stocks are often found among blue-chip companies in mature industries with a long history of dividend payments, such as utilities and financial services. When a company declares a dividend, it will also announce the amount per share and when investors receive their payments - usually quarterly or yearly.

Investing in commodities can provide many benefits, most notably, it allows investors to hedge against inflation. Learn all there is to know about investing in commodities, including risks and benefits, types and categories, what drives their prices, the best investment platforms to use, and more below.

Buying shares is one of the most convenient and popular ways to start investing. With the commercialisation of stock trading platforms across the UK and beyond, it's now easier than ever.

Penny stocks are stocks that trade for less than $5 per share in the US and £1 per share in the UK. They tend to involve minor, less established companies that don’t have the backing of more prominent investors like blue-chip stocks do. Penny stock prices are highly volatile, making them difficult to predict due to the low liquidity.

Gold has been around since the dawn of civilization, and its value continues to skyrocket, making it an excellent way to diversify your portfolio and gain some financial security.

Investing can be a powerful tool for growing wealth and securing financial independence, but it's essential to understand the potential risks involved. In this article, we'll explore what investment risk means and how it is measured. We'll also delve into different low-risk investment options that can provide stability, preserve capital, and generate income.

Whether you've inherited it, saved it up over time, or won it in a game show, you're now faced with the exciting but daunting task of figuring out how to invest £100,000.

Let's face it: £10,000 is a significant amount when it comes to investing, and you want to make sure that your money is working for you in the best way possible. That's why we've put together this guide – to help you take advantage of your investment opportunities and maximise the return on your hard-earned money.

There is a lot you can do with £50,000, but there are only a handful of ways to spend a large chunk of money while ensuring you are getting the most out of them.

Before you explore your options on the best ways to invest £5,000, perhaps you can ask yourself whether you should invest all of your funds or set some aside for savings. Answering questions such as the following can allow you to assess your priorities and may help to decide whether you'd like to invest all of your £5,000 or some portion of it.

Stocks with a price below £1 represent an attractive opportunity for some. Investing in undervalued stocks can provide significantly more profit potential than more established stocks and indices. But penny stocks also bring greater risk. And with so many to choose from, how can you tell a winner from a dud?

Stock market indices offer the easiest way to get exposure to the best-performing players in a given market. In addition to providing investors with insights into market and company performance, they significantly mitigate portfolio risk through instantaneous diversification.

By investing in an exchange-traded fund that follows the top 100 companies on the London Stock Exchange, you get an opportunity to significantly diversify your portfolio by minimizing potential risk and maximizing your investments.

The S&P 500 is a well-known index of the largest publicly traded companies in the US, offering investors exposure to some of the world’s most successful businesses. As an index, it allows investors to buy a single investment that tracks the performance of the entire market. Think of it as a diversified collection of stocks in one package.

Putting your money into an investment fund is a wise decision. It lets you diversify your portfolio and slowly build a nest egg that grows over time.

Did you know that the UK stock market only represents less than 4% of the total value of the world stock markets? Of course, you can always stick within your borders, but a world of opportunities lies beyond the UK’s shores (literally and figuratively). Besides opening up new investment opportunities, spreading investment across regions also compensates for the volatility of a single region.

Some companies share a portion of their year’s earnings with the people who hold shares in their business through payments known as dividends. Dividend funds allow you to take advantage of these payments by investing in a number of stocks that offer dividend payments. Find the best dividend funds to invest in below.

Investing in investment funds has long been regarded as a prudent and accessible approach to building wealth over the long term. Whether you are a seasoned investor or just starting your investment journey, investment funds offer a range of benefits that can help you achieve your financial goals.

If you're looking to invest in the UK market, index funds can offer a reliable and cost-effective way to participate in its growth. These funds try to replicate the performance of a specific market index. In doing so, they provide their investors with exposure to a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds.

Below listed are the best growth funds for UK investors that are listed in exchanges both in the UK and the US.

Investing in dividend-yielding exchange-traded funds can provide a reliable source of passive income. However, selecting the right ETF requires careful consideration of various factors beyond just the dividend yield.

To help you navigate the world of sustainable investing with ease and uncover lucrative opportunities for responsible growth, we have curated a selection of top-notch ESG ETFs and a guide to help you choose the best ones for you and the best platforms to start investing.

Investing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is a smart choice for investors, especially beginners, offering a simple way to diversify your investment portfolio with just one purchase.

Emerging market funds take advantage of the potential growth in emerging market economies, often in places like India, China, and Brazil. On the riskier side of the market due to the susceptibility to both economic and political instability, investors usually consider emerging market ETFs as a ‘high risk, high reward’ strategy. Take a look at the best options available.

In the past year, we’ve seen an uptick in UK banks’ restrictions on cryptocurrencies. The likes of Santander, HSBC, and Natwest introduced new limitations on using their credit and debit cards to purchase cryptocurrencies. And they are not alone – since the pool of crypto-friendly banks is shrinking, and it's getting difficult for customers to purchase cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrencies are an increasingly popular investment for both retail and institutional investors, but with an ever-growing number of apps offering crypto, the choice can feel overwhelming.

When looking for different ways to invest in cryptocurrency in the UK, you can always have the option to buy cryptocurrencies and below we show some options where you can buy cryptocurrency in the UK.

More and more people are deciding to buy Bitcoin anonymously due to privacy concerns and other reasons. While it is still possible to buy Bitcoin anonymously, it’s getting much harder. Previous methods like Bitcoin ATMs now require registration in most cases, and setting up real-world meet-ups is becoming challenging.

Bitcoin (BTC) is one of the most highly valuable crypto assets that many crypto enthusiasts incorporate into their portfolios. It’s a great coin to hold for avoiding inflation and potentially earning a profit, making it perfect for UK residents.

Bitcoin (BTC) is the world's first cryptocurrency, launched in 2009 by an unknown person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. It is a decentralised digital currency that operates on a peer-to-peer network, without the need for intermediaries such as banks.

Ethereum (ETH) was the first cryptocurrency to come with its own programming language and smart contracts, making it easily stand out from the early competition. For those who are looking for ways to buy Ethereum in the UK must know that the price of ETH in GBP is determined by the international Ethereum market, so basically, the price to be found on cryptocurrency exchanges in the UK and all around the world

Before we go into the process of buying NFTs, it’s important for users to understand how they work. NFTs are assets stored on the blockchain with unique metadata and identification codes, allowing them to be distinguished from one another. They have evolved from the ERC-721 standard to the ERC-1155 standard, which has reduced transaction and storage costs for NFTs.

The UK requires its residents to pay taxes on cryptocurrencies and provides fairly straightforward guidelines. The HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) is the UK’s government body responsible for collecting taxes and will track individuals' assets in certain circumstances to verify the correct amount has been paid. HMRC states that the investor can be subject to income tax and capital gains tax purposes depending on the crypto transaction.

First, research the type of platform you’ll want to use - centralized exchange (CEX), decentralised exchange (DEX), or a broker. Centralized exchanges provide the best features for crypto buyers, so for the sake of simplicity, this step-by-step section will cover how to buy coins from cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Coinbase. Some things you can look out for in crypto exchanges when researching are liquidity, coins supported, fees, and methods accepted to deposit funds.

If you would like to know where to buy cryptocurrency in the UK, this comprehensive guide will explore the best cryptocurrency brokers in the United Kingdom. We’ve selected the top options based on several factors, such as ease of use, fee structure, coin variety, and security. Also, you’ll learn about different types of brokers and what to look for when selecting the best cryptocurrency app in the UK for yourself.