So, where are we up to? Hopefully by now you’ve got to know Dodl a little better, the charges are nice and clear, you’ve chosen your investment account and you know how you’d like your portfolio to shape up. Next on the agenda? how you’ll actually go about investing your money. That can be broken down into three questions: how much to invest, how to get started and how regularly you invest. Let’s tackle them one by one. 🥊
How much to invest? 💸
There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Firstly it depends on how much you can afford. And secondly it depends on your goals. What are you saving for, and when? This will give you a rough idea of how much you need to put in every month, or every year, to hit your target.
Starting off small
As we mentioned while busting some myths in the Why invest series, you don’t need to be rolling in it to start investing. Once you’ve cleared the debts (student loan or mortgage types not included) and have enough easy-access cash for those emergency moments, you may be in a position to start investing – and can do this from as little as £25 a month. And because Dodl doesn’t do charges for buying or selling investments (except where foreign exchange charges apply), more of your money actually gets invested!
Investment minimums
With Dodl, shares have a minimum amount you’ll need to invest in them. That’s enough to buy one whole share as Dodl doesn’t offer the option to invest in fractional shares. When you go to buy any shares you’ll be told if the amount you’re planning to invest doesn’t reach the minimum investment – then you can decide if you want to hold off buying, increase the amount you’re investing or choose something else entirely.
How to get started? 🤔
Before you can choose your investments, and how regularly you invest in them, you need to add cash to invest with. You’ve got three ways you can add cash to your brand new Dodl account to get started investing.
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Add a lump sum - If you’ve got a chunk of cash you’re ready to invest all at once, you can certainly do this. Just so you know, the minimum lump sum needed to get started is £100.
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Transfer an account - If you have an ISA, lifetime ISA, pension or general investment account elsewhere, it’s super easy to transfer it to Dodl to get started. Learn more about how transfers work.
- Set up a direct debit - This one’s for all those little-and-often types. If you’re planning on investing every month, setting up a direct debit to ensure your account has enough cash for your monthly investments is a smart move. You can get started from just £25 per month.
Once you’re on your way, there’s nothing to stop you changing up the way you add cash to your account: you can start or stop a direct debit at any time, add a lump sum whenever it makes sense to you, or transfer an account when you're good and ready.
With cash in your account, you can start investing in your choice of funds, themes and shares! 🎉
How regularly should you invest? 📅
Again, there’s no right answer here. It’s all about what works for you, your finances and your goals.
If you do have a lump sum of cash ready to go, it could benefit from having more time invested (assuming markets are rising). Let’s look at a comparison:
Say you add £1,200 to your account all in one go on 1 January and immediately invest the lot, then you check back on it a year later – the full amount has been invested for the whole year. Compare this to investing £100 a month for a year – the same amount has been invested overall, but only £100 has been invested for the whole 365 days.
But monthly investing is a popular way of taking investing slowly and steadily. It isn’t just more forgiving on your finances, it can also cushion you from the ups and downs in the market, and saves you from worrying about ‘timing’ the right moment to invest. You can find out more about the benefits of monthly investing in the next article.
However regularly you choose to invest, remember it’s important to keep your money in for the long term to give it the best chance of bringing you returns.
Ready to get your money working? 💪
Though there aren’t any golden ‘How to’ rules to garner from this article, you should now know all about the ways you can get your money into your account to invest and get it working for you!
And one thing’s for sure: the sooner you do this, the better. Cast your eyes over the investing monthly article to understand more about this option, or add cash to your account now to begin investing it today.
🔔 Remember, investing carries risk and nothing in this article should be taken as advice - Dodl doesn't give advice, but we do hope the info is helpful!