How to invest £10,000 - Times Money Mentor (2024)

Do you have £10,000 of cash available that you could invest for the future?

With inflation meaning the buying power of cash decreases over time, investing the money could preserve or even increase what you can get from this initial sum further down the line.

Investing in the stock market is how many people grow their money over time. There are important factors to consider when deciding if this is the right move for you though. Here we consider the options and lay out the key things you need to know.

In this article we explain:

• Is investing right for me?
• Is £10,000 is a good investment amount?
• The best way to make the most of your £10,000
• How to invest £10,000 wisely
• Checklist for investing £10,000

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Capital at Risk. All investments carry a varying degree of risk and it’s important you understand the nature of these. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in.

Read more:

Is investing right for me?

The decision to invest will depend on many factors, including what else is going on in your life, your financial situation and your investment goals. Here are some things you should think about before you start:

• Do you have an emergency buffer? The recommendation is between three and six months’ essential outgoings in an easy access savings account, so that you can get your hands on it when you need it.
• Are you planning a big life change such as having a baby or moving house? Consider having extra cash in a savings account so that you can access it when you need it.
• How much expensive debt, such as money owed on credit cards, do you have? You may well be better off putting your money towards that and switching to the best 0% balance transfer credit card.
• Have you considered overpaying your mortgage? It could save hundreds or thousands of pounds in interest.

• Are you about to retire soon or in ill health?

To mitigate risk, it’s recommended that you leave your money invested for at least five years.

Investing is likely to be a good idea in the long run given that most banks are quick to lower interest rates but not so quick to put them up.

The annual rate of  inflation is now down to 2%, while theaverage easy access savings rate today is 5.2%. But it’s not long since interest was nearer 3% and inflation 5%, meaning the value of your money was being eroded over time.One potential way to combat this is through investing for the long-term.

If you have reached the end of this section and decided that investing ticks the boxes, read on.

Read more: Best investment platforms for beginners

Is £10,000 a good investment amount?

Yes, £10,000 is a good amount to invest. But remember: the longer you can leave your money invested, the better.

This gives it a chance to grow and ride out any fluctuations in the stock market.

If you want to find out more about the basic principles of investing then we have produced a free online investing for beginners course. 

What is the best way to invest money?

Here are three tips to help you get started.

1. Invest for at least five years

To give yourself a fair chance of getting a decent return, you should invest for at least five to ten years. The longer you invest your money, the more time you have to:

• Accrue returns on your investment portfolio
• Ride out any market downturns
• Let your returns compound (grow in a snowball effect over time as returns get reinvested)

2. Choose a low cost platform

Fees can erode your pot over time, so we have outlined some of the best platforms for both cost and customer service

According to investment platform Vanguard, if you invested £10,000 for 30 years, assuming investment growth of 5% a year, your pot would be:

• £24,270 = 2% fee
• £37,450 = 0.5% fee

Watch out for early exit charges to access money within a few years of investing as well, as these can run into hundreds of pounds.

Find out the best investment platforms for beginners.

3. Choose a tax-efficient wrapper

You should also consider using a tax-free wrapper to protect your investment returns from the taxman.

There are different types of tax-free financial products for you to consider, such as:

• Pensions: find our pick of the best ready-made pension providers
• Stocks and shares Isa: we outline the best ones
• Lifetime Isa (the stocks and shares version): here’s our list of top providers

Within these products, you would then choose what to invest in. Here are tips on how to choose investment funds.

Where is the best place to put £10,000?

As mentioned in the previous section, there are tax-free wrappers you could use to invest.

Which one you would choose depends on your investment horizon (that is, when you think you might want to cash in the investment):

Short term (between five and ten years):

If you are investing money and think you will want to access it in five to ten years time, one of the best investment options is a stocks and shares Isa.

This is because (unlike a pension), you can access the money at whatever age you want.

Medium term (ten to 30 years):

A stocks and shares Isa is likely to be most suitable. That is unless you will turn 55 within 30 years, in which case a pension might be a better tax wrapper for you.

If you’re unsure about the time horizon, you could invest in both a pension and a stocks and shares Isa.

Long term (30 plus years):

Often the best way to invest £10,000 for the long term is in a pension, because it comes with substantial tax perks that will increase your pot size:

• Invest in a pension and you get tax relief from the government
• Workers get free cash from employers if they are invested in a workplace pension scheme

NOTE: You can’t get your hands on your pension funds until you are 55 (rising to 57 in 2028). Check out our pensions guide for more on this.

If you are self-employed, consider a self-invested personal pension or ready-made personal pension. Ask your pension provider if you’re allowed to increase your contribution, or even pay a one-off sum into it.

If you are shopping for a pension, Fidelity* is one of our top-rated providers. Find out why.

How to invest £10,000 wisely

Another factor determining how you should invest is your attitude to risk. To work this out you need to consider your “capacity for loss” and your “risk appetite”.

• Capacity for loss = how much you can afford to lose
• Risk appetite = how you feel about losing money

You should ask yourself these questions first:

1. Are you happy for your £10,000 investment to fall in value every now and then?

2. Do you want to try for higher returns, despite the risks involved?

3. Can you resist the urge to panic and sell your investment if it falls below what you paid for it?

4. Can you afford to loose part of all of your investment?

If you answered yes to the above, it sounds like you would be comfortable investing. Find out more in our beginner’s guide to investing.

How to spread investment risk

Many investment experts recommend a 60/40 mix. That is an investment portfolio invested 60% in equities (company shares) and 40% in bonds.

For higher returns, an attractive investment for £10,000 could be shares or equity funds (which are made up of shares). You could invest in a tracker fund that mimics the performance of stocks listed on the FTSE 100, which is a low-cost way of investing in shares.

Remember shares are higher risk than bonds.

A potentially good way to invest £10,000 is to diversify it across:

• Different asset classes – such as shares and bonds
• Different sectors and countries – such as emerging markets (for example, India) and developed countries (such as the UK)

Spreading your investments this way can help level out fluctuations or falls in prices, making it easier to weather the bad times and benefit from the good.

Why not learn more about investing in our free, online, five-part beginners course to investing?

Should I choose a ready-made portfolio?

If you aren’t confident enough to buy and sell investments, you could let an investment manager do it for you. It’s now possible to invest with low-cost robo-advisers which make all the decisions on your behalf.

Some good examples of robo-advisers include Nutmeg* and Wealthify* (capital at risk, tax treatment depends on your individual circ*mstances and may change in the future, approved by Nutmeg on 28 February 2023). We outline thebest robo-advisers.

In order to select a ready-made portfolio, the robo-adviser will ask you a number of questions to establish your:

• Timeframe
• Risk profile
• Investment goals

Robo-advice can be one of the best ways to invest £10,000 because it can even be cheaper than the DIY approach.

If you have a larger lump sum, check out our article: How to invest £50,000.

How do you double up £10,000?

The best way to double £10,000 is by investing for the long-term, rather than trying to get rich quickly.

Consider what returns you are looking to make and over what time period. But be realistic — you are unlikely to double £10,000 in a few years.

As tempting as it might be when you see some of the promised rates of returns on high-risk products or the rise of bitcoin, these are best avoided. That is, unless you absolutely know the risks and are happy to take them on, including the prospect of losing your entire pot.

Can you turn £10k into £100k?

Yes, this is possible but it would take decades or a lot of luck.

You should probably expect an average investment growth of about 4% a year, over the long term. So at that rate it would take about 60 years before your £10,000 pot grew to £100,000.

The key here is to remain invested for a long period of time and invest in assets with a higher chance of return (such as shares) in order to grow your pot to £100,000.

Another tip is to drip-feed money into your pot over time to give it the best chance of growing. Here’s how to invest with little money.

Although also bear in mind that besides the prolonged risk of keeping your money in the market, if it takes decades for your money to grow then inflation will erode the purchasing power of your cash. So that £100,000 pot would be able to buy you less in 60 years compared to now.

How can I invest ethically?

If you don’t want to invest in companies involved in industries such as gambling, tobacco or alcohol production, consider ethical investing.

Find out more inour guide to ethical investing.

How to review your investments

Markets go up and down, so investors should monitor their portfolio, but should avoid making alterations unless their circ*mstances change, or to rebalance the portfolio.

Rebalancing might mean buying more shares when stock markets fall so as to benefit when markets bounce back.

Read more: The five best ethical stocks and shares ISAs

Checklist for investing £10,000

1. Know your goals: Are you investing £10,000 for the long-term, perhaps for retirement, or a short term saving such as for a house deposit?
2. Do your homework: Have a look at the track record of the fund manager or investment platform you are considering using
3. Check the costs: Platform fees and fund costs are one of the few things investors can control. Every pound you pay in fees is a pound less for your investment to earn a return.
4. Invest tax efficiently: Pay into an Isa and you’re free from income and capital gains tax. Pay into a personal pension and you also get tax back from HM Revenue & Customs.
5. Make the most of employer contributions: A workplace pension gets you three bites at the cherry: you contribute and it gets topped up by both your employer and the taxman. Some employers even match your contributions.
6. Diversify: Spread your cash across different asset classes, sectors and countries to level out any fluctuations in prices.
7. Keep it simple: A well-diversified portfolio of shares and bonds is all most investors need.
8. Keep a calm head: Investors have to manage their emotions. Once you’ve set up your low-cost, diversified portfolio, it is a matter of being patient and staying the course.