Everyone wants to be financially stable. Better yet, everybody wants to be rich. All of that is possible thanks to the beautiful i-word - investing. When reading about investing online, it can seem very confusing and full of jargon. 

Below, we’re going to explore the different investment products available, how they work and the potential returns you could see from your investments.

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How Much Money Do I Need To Invest To Reach £100,000?

The stock market is a volatile one with multiple fluctuations every day. You may have heard the quote ‘time in the market vs timing the market’ in reference to investing. If you’re looking to invest for the short term, you’ll be more than likely playing a waiting game trying to time the right point to sell your investments to (hopefully) make a profit. Because that’s such a risky and, quite frankly, time consuming way to invest, we tend to lean more towards longer term investing and spending more time in the market. 

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The percentage return you could get depends on the level of risk you’re willing to take (as well as a range of other external factors). If you’re looking to take on a medium level of risk with your investments, the average return is around 5% per year*. This is versus an average of 1.3% from leaving your money in a savings account. 

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So, let’s say you start off with £1,000 and want to make monthly contributions of £635 at a 5% yearly return. In ten years time, your investment account could be worth £100,048**. 

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A bit more of a risk taker? If you invested the same amount but went for a slightly riskier investment product with around an 8% return each year, your investment account could be worth a whopping £117,273**. 
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As great as these numbers look, it’s important to remember that your investments could go up as well as down. This means that there is a chance that you could get back less money than you invested. It is essential for you to fully understand the risks associated with investing before taking out any investment product.

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What Investment Products Are Available?

There are a range of different investment products out there to choose from. Some are higher risk meaning there’s potential for higher returns, whilst others are lower risk offering more security in exchange for lower returns. Here’s what’s available to you:

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Stocks

A stock is part-ownership of a company. If you buy a stock from a company, you own one part of that company. For example, if you bought one stock from Pennies To Pounds, you’d own one part of P2P (woo hoo!). Stocks are often seen as higher risk products for your money with the potential for higher returns. You can buy stocks through the stock exchange via a range of platforms, or buy a collection of stocks through an investment fund (explained below).

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Investment Funds

An investment fund is a group of different investments that are collectively managed by a fund manager. You aren’t able to choose what investments are within an investment fund as that is predetermined by the fund manager. You are however, able to choose the type of fund that you invest into eg. tech companies, environmental companies etc. You can invest in an investment fund through online investment platforms.

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ETFs

ETFs are similar to investment funds, the only difference being that they act like a share themselves. You are able to openly trade ETFs on a stock exchange such as the FTSE100 here in the UK. ETFs are made up of a range of assets such as stocks and bonds. You can purchase ETFs through investment platforms.

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Bonds

A bond is just like an IOU from a company. When you purchase a bond, you are purchasing a debt. For example, if you bought a Pennies To Pounds bond, you would be purchasing some debt (look at it as you giving Pennies To Pounds a loan). In exchange for that loan, Pennies To Pounds will agree to pay you interest on that bond over an agreed period of time. Once the end of that timeframe is reached, Pennies To Pounds will repay that loan in full and you will still get to keep ahold of the interest payments made within that time frame. Bonds are often seen as a lower risk and safer investment products for your money.

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There are many more investment products available but these are some of the main ones you’ll come across on your investment journey. Be sure to listen to the Pennies To Pounds Podcast where we share tips on how you can begin your investment journey!

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*this figure is just an average and could be lower or higher than the number stated in the future.

**this figure doesn’t take into account inflation or investment charges.