Archived article: Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
If you want to invest, you don’t have to be swimming in cash to get going. Instead, you can start by saving a little bit of your paycheque each month to put in the market, which can allow you to become more comfortable with investing while building yourself a solid foundation.
If you’re not used to setting aside some of your earnings each month, many people find £50 can be a good amount without having to drastically alter their lifestyle. This might mean cutting back a bit on Deliveroo orders or pub rounds, but you can be rewarded down the line.
At first, £50 might seem like an inconsequential amount to set aside. But if you put £50 in an investment that returned an average of 7% each year after fees, your pot would be worth approximately £3,600 in just five years. Even better, approximately £600 of that amount would simply be from your investment returns, creating extra money in your pocket.
How do I get started?
Outside of pensions, one of the most popular ways for people to invest is through a Stocks and shares ISA. These accounts protect your gains from the taxman. So, if you make a profit when selling investments you won’t need to pay any capital gains tax. Neither will you have to pay income tax on any dividends paid by your investments.
You can contribute up to £20,000 in your ISA each year. But if you invest through a Dealing account, you will not get these same tax protections.
You can set up automatic payments into your investment account, so you aren’t tempted to use the money for something else throughout the month. This also means that once you’ve set it up, you don’t need to be constantly checking back in.
Where people can get stuck in their investment journey is choosing a fund as the choice can be overwhelming. We have a lot of information on different types of investments, and who they might appeal to if you’d like to learn more. But one of the most important things to know is you aren’t alone in the journey. You can choose to put your money in a fund, and an investment company will make the decisions for you, or you can simply track the market.
Popular options for first time investors are global funds, which invest in a range of companies across the world, or ones holding companies in a specific country, like funds tracking the S&P 500 (the main US stock index).
You can also look at multi-asset funds, where investment professionals choose a mix of different assets based on how much risk you’re comfortable taking. AJ Bell offers its own suite of these kinds of investments.
What kind of fees should I expect?
If you’re investing through an ISA, you shouldn’t need to worry about any extra tax, but there are some costs to consider.
First, you will have a platform charge. This is the amount that is charged to buy, sell, and hold investments. These costs can be as low as £12 a year if you invest through something like Dodl, AJ Bell’s investment app.
Or, if you invested £50 each month in a fund through AJ Bell, you would pay £18 for the dealing charges (£1.50 each month) and 0.25% of the value of the investment as an annual platform charge.
You can calculate what you’d expect to pay based on the investments you choose and the amount, using AJ Bell’s charges calculator.
If you invest in a fund, you will also pay a management fee that’s built into the product. These can often be a fraction of a percent. Choosing a fund with a low ongoing charge can mean more money in your pocket. And a high fee doesn’t necessarily mean the fund will perform better, so it’s worth shopping around. You can do this through AJ Bell’s fund screener.
After you’ve chosen your investment, and set up your deposits, you can sit back. It might be tempting to check your investments all the time but remember that markets go up and down. By checking your investments closer to every month, or even every few months, you can get an idea if you’re happy with the performance or if you want to make any changes.
Not sure you’re ready to invest?
If you’re unsure about investing, you can use this checklist to help decide if you’re ready. Taking steps like building an emergency fund, clearing debts, and deciding what you are investing for can be helpful to put yourself on the right track.
Hannah Williford: Content Writer
Hannah joined AJ Bell in 2025 as an investment writer. She was previously a journalist at Portfolio Adviser Magazine, reporting on multi-asset, fixed income and equity funds, as well as macroeconomic impacts and regulatory changes...
