How to invest £50 a month: tips for people at different ages

T hinking about investing? There are compelling reasons for moving at least some of your money away from standard savings accounts and into the stock market. There are also risks, but over the long term the rewards can be better. Many people are put off by the idea that you need to be wealthy to start investing, or over a certain age. But even if you can only afford to set aside £50 a month, it is worth considering. And while there are important factors to consider before you start, it is rarely too early, or too late, to take the first step. For most people, choosing funds will be a better option than buying shares (also known as equities or stocks) in an individual company. Funds let you spread your risk, and give the job of buying and selling shares to a fund manager. We asked some experts for tips on where to invest £50 a month at different life stages. Before you start If you haven’t already, it is worth building up an emergency fund that would cover three to six months of essential outgoings that you can easily access in case of unexpected costs. After that, consider your investment goal, the time horizon you are looking at, your appetite for risk and the level of return you are ideally looking for, says Russ Mould, the investment director at the platform AJ Bell. This should help you decide on things such as the most suitable “asset classes” (the types of investment your money goes into) and which company to invest through. …