That’s great. Curiosity has been linked with many potential benefits: psychological, emotional, social, and in this case, financial. By learning ways to invest your money now, you could be giving your future self a powerful gift.
Before you invest your money, it's important to invest some time into learning the basics and understanding the risks. With that in mind, we’ve demystified the jargon and unpicked the detail to bring you a guide that can help you navigate this exciting new world.
Investing is a way of setting aside some of your money for the future by putting it to work for you. When you invest, you’re buying something that you believe will increase in value over time. The main thing you need to remember is there are no guarantees. The value of any investment can and will jump around so you could get back less than you invest.
What can you invest in? Well, from the more common types of investments - such as gold, bonds or shares, to the more unusual - such as coins, comics or cryptocurrencies, the answer is almost anything.
Rather than baffling you by describing the entire investment universe, let’s focus on the 2 most well-known ways to invest: shares and funds.
When you buy funds, you’re buying into a ready-made basket of investments. Mutual funds are managed by an investment professional. Funds include many different investments rather than just one, which is why many people start by investing in funds.
By investing in the stock market, you get access to a diverse range of assets, such as shares, bonds and funds. The diversity is what gives your money the potential to generate a better return than cash in the long run.
So one of the first decisions you’ll need make is how you want to receive this potential return - whether via an income, capital growth or a combination of growth.
Investing for income could be a good shorter-term strategy if you’re nearing or in retirement. By choosing shares or funds that pay dividends or bonds that pay interest, you can receive regular payments to boost your existing income or pension.
Investing for growth could be good if you have more time on your side to grow your money. Growth investments aim to increase the value of the actual investment - known as capital gain. The objective of a growth fund would be to grow the original sum invested. For a growth share, it would be to increase the value of the share.
Some people are naturally more cautious than others. The first thing you need to understand is that no investment is risk-free. You’re putting your money into something you believe will go up in value but there are no guarantees.
You’ll be exposed to the uncertainties of the markets, which means the value of your investment can and will jump around so you could get back less than you put in. Your expected returns can also fluctuate. This is all normal and to be expected. With investing, risk and reward go hand in hand.
As a general rule of thumb, higher-risk investments have the potential to give you higher rewards while lower-risk investments tend to equal lower rewards. What’s important is to ask yourself: how do I feel about taking a risk with my money?
Taking a small amount of risk could be a good way to dip your toe in the water. Then you can watch what happens to your investment – and increase your level of risk later if you want to.
And if you’re not sure about how much risk is right for you, you might want to consider getting personalised investment advice.
Big things in life can, and do, happen out of the blue. We understand that. With any investment at HSBC, you have peace of mind knowing that you can access your money quickly if you need to – usually within 2 to 3 days from the sale of your mutual funds according to processing times.
However, investments have a better chance of producing favourable returns the longer they are left to grow. That’s why, you should think of investing as long-term commitment and aim to invest for at least 5 years.
If you think funds are the way to go, we offer a wide range of funds at your fingertips. You can invest through your Relationship Manager, either in the Branch, or via the phone.
For a quick and easy way to start investing you could choose one of our HSBC Portfolios. A suite of 5 multi-asset funds, they each invest in Global Financial Markets providing exposure to both Fixed Income and Equities. All you have to do is choose the one that meets your preferred level of risk.
If you’re not sure where to start, HSBC can give you personalised advice with no obligation to invest. Have a dedicated meeting with your Relationship Manager, and and we’ll advise whether investing is right for you and if so, which fund matches your needs. You can start investing with as little as €3.000
A round up of 4 key things to remember
You can invest through your Relationship Manager, either in the Branch, or via the phone.
To discuss your investment options, call us on 801 11 71717, or complete our online form and a member of our team will get in touch.
This is for informational purposes only and does not constitute nor may be considered a solicitation or advice for the purchase or sale of deposits, securities, goods or other investment products or services or investment agreement. HSBC Continental Europe, Greece hereby does not advise, does not accept any obligation and does not assume any responsibility for the decision of the reader that may have been based on this information.
UNDERTAKINGS FOR COLLECTIVE INVESTMENTS IN TRANSFERABLE SECURITIES (UCITS) DON'T HAVE A GUARANTEED RETURN AND PREVIOUS PERFORMANCE DOES NOT GUARANTEE FUTURE PERFORMANCE.
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