WEBVTT - The Secret to Investing Like a Pro 0:00:00.270 --> 0:00:02.940 This series is brought to you by L& G, helping 0:00:02.940 --> 0:00:04.980 you build a future that's a little bit richer. 0:00:06.269 --> 0:00:09.330 Hello. I'm Iona Bain, and welcome to A Little Bit 0:00:09.330 --> 0:00:13.139 Richer, brought to you by Legal & General. This is part two 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.430 of our investing series, where we're moving from mindset into 0:00:17.430 --> 0:00:20.340 mechanics. So if you listened to the last episode and thought, " 0:00:20.430 --> 0:00:23.400 Yep, I'm in, what do I do next," this one's 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.160 for you. Today we're going to be breaking down the 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:29.040 practical side of investing. We're going to be looking at 0:00:29.190 --> 0:00:33.030 the different ways to invest, common mistakes people make, and 0:00:33.030 --> 0:00:37.320 how to review your investments over time without panicking every 0:00:37.530 --> 0:00:40.470 moment the market moves. And to get under the bonnet 0:00:40.470 --> 0:00:43.710 of all of this, let's welcome back founder of Vestpod 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.820 and host of The Wallet podcast, Emilie Bellet. Hi, Emilie. 0:00:47.909 --> 0:00:48.510 Hi, Iona. 0:00:48.540 --> 0:00:51.809 Welcome back. Now, we're going to ask you to do 0:00:51.810 --> 0:00:54.779 another 30- second summary for us, since the last one 0:00:54.780 --> 0:00:57.150 you did was so good. So in 30 seconds or 0:00:57.150 --> 0:01:00.390 less, what is an investing portfolio and why does it 0:01:00.390 --> 0:01:01.440 matter? Go. 0:01:01.620 --> 0:01:05.819 An investment portfolio is simply your baskets of investment. Inside 0:01:05.819 --> 0:01:08.400 it, you will find a mix of equities, pieces of 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.760 companies. You will find bonds, which are loans to companies 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:16.770 and governments, cash, real estate, and sometimes also other asset 0:01:16.770 --> 0:01:19.920 classes. You know that investments can go up and down, 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.260 so that's important that you spread your risk, and that's 0:01:22.260 --> 0:01:25.709 why instead of picking just one investment, you're building a portfolio. 0:01:25.830 --> 0:01:29.250 Spot on, I would say. Can you talk us through 0:01:29.310 --> 0:01:34.470 the different components of investing, i. e. the different steps 0:01:34.470 --> 0:01:37.290 that you go through in order to become an investor? 0:01:37.500 --> 0:01:40.680 So when you start investing, first thing, you need to 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:42.959 have a plan. We talked about this also in the 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.360 first episode. You need to have an emergency fund. You 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:47.340 don't want to have a lot of debts that are 0:01:47.340 --> 0:01:50.820 very costly. You have a plan why you are investing, for your 0:01:50.940 --> 0:01:53.100 investing for the medium term, for the long term, maybe for 0:01:53.100 --> 0:01:56.550 retirement. Once you have your plan, you will need to 0:01:56.550 --> 0:01:59.820 pick a platform. This can be quite overwhelming. The platforms 0:01:59.820 --> 0:02:02.010 are a little bit like a shop where you will be 0:02:02.010 --> 0:02:05.280 able to buy your investments. If you're a complete beginner, 0:02:05.310 --> 0:02:07.530 I will look at a platform that will manage your 0:02:07.530 --> 0:02:10.410 investments on your behalf. You may have heard of robo- 0:02:10.410 --> 0:02:14.160 investing, for example, of robo- advice, also some maybe ready- 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.799 made portfolios that could be managed for you. So basically 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.100 the platform will look at your goals and they will 0:02:20.100 --> 0:02:23.760 suggest a portfolio for you that will have a mix of 0:02:23.850 --> 0:02:26.010 equities, that will have a mix of bonds and a 0:02:26.010 --> 0:02:28.680 little bit of cash. And by investing, there's a lot 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.260 of investors like you, and you're going to be put 0:02:31.260 --> 0:02:34.410 into one of these portfolios. So that's a very easy way to 0:02:34.410 --> 0:02:39.450 get started with a minimum knowledge. If you are a more advanced 0:02:39.450 --> 0:02:43.050 investor, you may want to customize this portfolio. You may think, " 0:02:43.110 --> 0:02:46.918 Oh, I really like this industry. I like these funds. 0:02:47.130 --> 0:02:49.139 I want to follow the market." So you can look 0:02:49.139 --> 0:02:53.579 at buying yourself, investing via funds or maybe via individual 0:02:53.580 --> 0:02:56.580 investments, even if it's usually a lot more riskier to 0:02:56.580 --> 0:03:01.440 buy single stocks than buying by funds. So this is the platform, 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.960 so you can look at either something that's managed for 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:08.040 you, a robo or a DIY platform. Once you're on this 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.889 platform, the first thing you need is some kind of an 0:03:10.889 --> 0:03:13.888 umbrella. We call it an account. And when you invest, 0:03:13.889 --> 0:03:16.410 you can look at two different accounts usually that are 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.710 tax efficient. It's very important to look at tax efficiency, 0:03:20.070 --> 0:03:23.550 so using your allowance first maybe for your pension. You 0:03:23.550 --> 0:03:26.010 may have a workplace pension, but you could also have 0:03:26.340 --> 0:03:30.540 a personal pension or SIPP, self- invested personal pension, and 0:03:30.540 --> 0:03:33.300 the other account is a Stocks and Shares ISA. So 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.170 there's different accounts that you can look into. Once you've 0:03:37.170 --> 0:03:39.930 chosen this account, it's a matter of you putting some 0:03:39.930 --> 0:03:43.650 money into your account, and then this money will be 0:03:43.740 --> 0:03:46.770 invested in the stock market. With the robo, that's going 0:03:46.770 --> 0:03:49.380 to be made automatically for you in a selection of 0:03:49.380 --> 0:03:54.120 funds. And if you're investing with a DIY platform, then 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.820 you'll have to pick your investments. So that could be 0:03:56.910 --> 0:03:59.970 a little bit tricky, so maybe you start with the 0:03:59.970 --> 0:04:02.280 robo and later on you can move to a DIY 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:06.120 investment platform. With the DIY investment platform, this is a 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.840 little bit like a supermarket. And you'll have a lot, 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.170 like tens of thousands of funds and stocks. So you 0:04:13.170 --> 0:04:15.600 will need a little bit more knowledge, but at least 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:17.430 it's a little bit more flexible. 0:04:17.670 --> 0:04:20.339 So that gives people a really good idea of what 0:04:20.339 --> 0:04:23.310 they need to think about if they're getting started. How 0:04:23.310 --> 0:04:27.000 would you go about building your portfolio step by step, 0:04:27.029 --> 0:04:29.910 and what does good investing look like in practice? 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.390 I think there's not one way to invest, but you 0:04:33.390 --> 0:04:36.450 have to really remind yourself. Why are you investing money? You're 0:04:36.570 --> 0:04:38.580 investing money because you want to grow your money over 0:04:38.580 --> 0:04:40.650 time, you want to achieve your goals, you want to 0:04:40.650 --> 0:04:44.010 beat inflation. So once you have your cash savings and 0:04:44.010 --> 0:04:46.740 you're looking at investing a little bit of your money, 0:04:47.010 --> 0:04:49.860 how do you start picking your portfolio? I think there's 0:04:49.860 --> 0:04:52.950 this notion of risk that's introduced when you talk about 0:04:52.950 --> 0:04:56.730 investments that you didn't necessarily have with cash savings. So 0:04:56.730 --> 0:04:58.919 what does it mean to actually take risk? That can 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.669 scare people, and especially women in the investment community say, " But 0:05:02.670 --> 0:05:05.220 I don't want to lose money." So risk is not 0:05:05.220 --> 0:05:07.950 about losing money. I'd love to reframe risk a little 0:05:07.950 --> 0:05:11.070 bit. And for me, risk is also an opportunity. When 0:05:11.070 --> 0:05:13.529 you have money in a cash savings, you're not getting a 0:05:13.529 --> 0:05:15.870 lot of interest for your money. So when you move 0:05:15.870 --> 0:05:18.480 your money into investing, it's because you think you could 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.570 get a higher rate of return ... nothing is guaranteed, of 0:05:21.570 --> 0:05:25.529 course ... but with taking a little bit more risk. So 0:05:25.529 --> 0:05:28.050 that's important when you build up your portfolio, that you 0:05:28.050 --> 0:05:33.000 understand the relationship between risk and what you actually put 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.360 into your portfolio. So if we look at the components 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.180 on a typical stock market portfolio, you will have the 0:05:39.180 --> 0:05:42.900 first category that we call stocks. So stocks are little 0:05:42.900 --> 0:05:45.450 pieces of companies. So when you buy a stock, you 0:05:45.510 --> 0:05:48.930 own a small part of a company. And how do 0:05:48.930 --> 0:05:52.260 you make money? Maybe these companies grow, they hire amazing 0:05:52.260 --> 0:05:56.700 managers, they make great decisions. People have a very positive 0:05:56.700 --> 0:05:59.460 view about the company. The value of the companies grows, 0:05:59.790 --> 0:06:02.520 the stock price goes up, and that's one way to 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.219 make money. Companies may also generate a lot of cash 0:06:05.250 --> 0:06:07.680 and they can start paying what we call dividends, so you also 0:06:08.010 --> 0:06:11.279 get some income. So that's how stock works. Now, you 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:13.589 don't need to invest in individual stocks, but you can 0:06:13.589 --> 0:06:17.040 find funds. So instead of buying stock into one company, 0:06:17.310 --> 0:06:20.310 you invest via a fund and you will get like hundreds 0:06:20.310 --> 0:06:22.950 of different companies, 500 companies, and that's going to be 0:06:22.950 --> 0:06:26.430 an amazing way to diversify. So again, putting your money 0:06:26.430 --> 0:06:28.620 into a lot of different things. So if this one 0:06:28.620 --> 0:06:32.910 company I invest in fails, then I have like 499 0:06:32.910 --> 0:06:36.630 other companies that will support my portfolio, so that's your 0:06:36.630 --> 0:06:40.500 first category, shares. The second one is bonds, and bonds 0:06:40.500 --> 0:06:43.500 are loans to companies or government, and they're usually here 0:06:43.500 --> 0:06:47.430 in your portfolio for a little bit more stability. So 0:06:47.460 --> 0:06:51.150 they will react differently to market fluctuation, so that's why 0:06:51.450 --> 0:06:53.610 it's important that in your portfolio you have shares that 0:06:53.610 --> 0:06:57.570 will grow quicker, or potentially, but they are also more risky, and bonds, 0:06:57.570 --> 0:06:59.910 that tend to be a bit less risky with a 0:06:59.910 --> 0:07:04.409 slightly lower growth. So when people put together a portfolio ... and 0:07:04.500 --> 0:07:06.990 that could be on robo- advisors, that could be yourself ... 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:11.670 you're trying to have the proportion of shares, of equities, 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.880 and of bonds in your portfolio. The portfolio have a 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.670 higher risk when there's more equities, and you could see 0:07:17.670 --> 0:07:20.280 portfolios that are 100% equities. They tend to be very 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.130 risky, and portfolios that have a mix of bonds and 0:07:23.130 --> 0:07:26.280 equities and the more bonds, there's less risk. It lowers 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.650 your risk. Also you could have cash in portfolios, and 0:07:28.650 --> 0:07:31.860 that will lower your risk. So when you're trying to 0:07:31.890 --> 0:07:34.410 find out the level of risk, it's really trying to 0:07:34.410 --> 0:07:37.590 find the right portfolio. So if I'm quite young, I 0:07:37.710 --> 0:07:40.830 can usually take more risk. Why is that? Because if 0:07:40.830 --> 0:07:43.980 there are market fluctuations, I will have more time for 0:07:43.980 --> 0:07:46.260 my money to recover until I need the money, if 0:07:46.260 --> 0:07:48.450 we're talking about retirement, for example. So if you're in your 0:07:48.450 --> 0:07:51.210 20s, you could probably take a little bit more risk 0:07:51.270 --> 0:07:54.120 than someone who is in their 50s or 60s, who 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:58.890 sees retirement very close and needs to change their portfolio 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.430 to have maybe a lower allocation to equities, maybe bigger 0:08:02.430 --> 0:08:05.850 on bonds and cash, because they want more certainty. So 0:08:05.850 --> 0:08:07.710 that's going to be the main thing when you look 0:08:07.710 --> 0:08:10.740 at building a portfolio. And whether you do it yourself, 0:08:10.740 --> 0:08:13.620 whether you use a robo- advisor, it's really trying to 0:08:13.620 --> 0:08:16.110 keep in mind how I build these portfolios. 0:08:16.620 --> 0:08:18.870 And can you just explain, for anyone who doesn't know 0:08:18.870 --> 0:08:19.860 what equities are? 0:08:19.980 --> 0:08:23.370 So the term equities means that we're looking at buying 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:27.030 small pieces of companies. You will sometimes hear the term 0:08:27.090 --> 0:08:30.750 shares or stock, so this is really looking at buying companies. 0:08:30.810 --> 0:08:33.750 And people might have heard vaguely of this idea of 0:08:33.809 --> 0:08:38.579 active investing versus passive investing. Could you just unpack what 0:08:38.580 --> 0:08:41.610 those mean and why you need to understand the difference 0:08:41.610 --> 0:08:42.150 between them? 0:08:42.300 --> 0:08:45.840 So when you invest, there's two ways to build these 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.020 portfolios and to invest. So if you're a passive investor, 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.870 it means that you just want to follow the market. 0:08:51.929 --> 0:08:56.130 And the market is a collection of companies in different 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:00.570 industries, in different geographies, and you're trying to get the 0:09:00.570 --> 0:09:03.630 market return. So when you're a passive investor, you can 0:09:03.630 --> 0:09:06.150 invest into a selection of funds or you could have 0:09:06.420 --> 0:09:11.370 a very broad multi- asset fund, index funds. Ideally, it's 0:09:11.370 --> 0:09:13.229 a low- cost fund also that doesn't cost you a 0:09:13.230 --> 0:09:15.689 lot of money. And then this way, you're going to 0:09:15.690 --> 0:09:18.360 invest in the whole market, and you're not necessarily going 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.929 to adjust your investment when something happens. Now, you could 0:09:21.929 --> 0:09:24.840 also be a more active investor, and someone who's an 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.480 active investor means they're going to pick and choose what 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.179 they want in their portfolio. So they won't necessarily try 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:32.880 to get the market return, but they will try to 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.520 beat the market. It's not always going to be the 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.160 case, because as we know, when we want to become 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.470 active investors, it's going to take us so much time 0:09:40.470 --> 0:09:44.219 to research. Some people, it's their full- time job to 0:09:44.220 --> 0:09:47.939 actually be active investors. So I would recommend from anyone 0:09:47.940 --> 0:09:51.300 who's a beginner, who's starting to invest, or also who's 0:09:51.300 --> 0:09:54.240 been investing for a little while, the passive approach is 0:09:54.270 --> 0:09:57.390 actually really helpful in terms of also not reacting to 0:09:57.390 --> 0:10:02.250 market fluctuation, having a long- term approach, and letting your 0:10:02.250 --> 0:10:05.040 investments actually do the work over a longer period of time. 0:10:05.370 --> 0:10:08.460 And in the past 10 or 20 years, we've seen a lot 0:10:08.460 --> 0:10:12.630 of passive investment funds, like index funds and exchange- traded 0:10:12.660 --> 0:10:16.380 funds, become a lot more popular, especially with beginner investors. 0:10:16.590 --> 0:10:17.340 Why is that? 0:10:17.910 --> 0:10:21.300 So I think investing via funds, it's such a great 0:10:21.300 --> 0:10:24.660 way to get what we want, is this diversification also. 0:10:24.660 --> 0:10:27.690 So not having just one investment into one stock or 0:10:27.690 --> 0:10:31.620 one bond, but actually buying a collection of investments. That's 0:10:31.620 --> 0:10:34.080 what you want for your portfolio, is making sure you 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:36.689 have a little bit of everything of every asset classes. 0:10:36.690 --> 0:10:39.780 So these types of funds are now widely available on 0:10:39.780 --> 0:10:42.750 platforms and you could find index funds that will track 0:10:42.750 --> 0:10:45.420 the whole market, but you could also find funds that 0:10:45.420 --> 0:10:48.870 will track just a specific industry or will track a 0:10:48.870 --> 0:10:51.720 specific geography. So that's really interesting in terms of you 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:56.040 trying to get exposed to these industries via funds, and 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.199 you won't have just one investment, but you will have a 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.170 lot of investments. So again, these funds will always try 0:11:01.170 --> 0:11:04.559 to take the best in their markets or the top 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.980 performance in their market. Some index funds will look at 0:11:08.250 --> 0:11:09.360 the biggest companies. 0:11:09.420 --> 0:11:12.090 Could we just explain what an index is, in case 0:11:12.090 --> 0:11:13.020 people aren't sure? 0:11:13.290 --> 0:11:16.349 So an index is just a way to follow maybe 0:11:16.350 --> 0:11:19.530 the top companies in the market. And this way, when 0:11:19.530 --> 0:11:23.580 you invest via an index fund, for example, or via an ETF, 0:11:23.820 --> 0:11:26.580 you're getting a collection of a lot of investments of 0:11:26.580 --> 0:11:29.340 a lot of companies instead of just going and buying 0:11:29.340 --> 0:11:32.219 one company. And that gives you something that's going to 0:11:32.220 --> 0:11:34.800 help your investment return over a longer period of time, 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.790 which is diversification. That's going to help manage your risk, 0:11:39.059 --> 0:11:41.429 because your investments will be spread into a lot of 0:11:41.429 --> 0:11:42.690 different smaller investments. 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.290 So the FTSE 100, for example, is an index that people 0:11:46.290 --> 0:11:49.890 could follow if they wanted to. And you do hear 0:11:49.890 --> 0:11:53.850 about people making a lot of money by investing just 0:11:53.850 --> 0:11:59.010 in five or ten really hot companies. And I think 0:11:59.010 --> 0:12:04.110 back to the 2010s and the FANGs, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, 0:12:04.110 --> 0:12:07.770 Google, and the idea that these companies are all you 0:12:07.770 --> 0:12:10.290 ever need for your investment portfolio because they just do 0:12:10.290 --> 0:12:14.100 so well, why would you invest anywhere else? What's your 0:12:14.100 --> 0:12:17.520 thinking today on investing in hot companies like that, and 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:20.280 not maybe looking at the wider market and seeing what 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:21.270 else there is to offer? 0:12:21.420 --> 0:12:24.000 So I mean, I've made this mistake myself of trying 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.959 to pick individual companies, and that's actually really risky. So you're 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:32.040 hoping for higher return, but it's quite concentrated. And with 0:12:32.070 --> 0:12:35.610 being more concentrated, you also increase your level of risk. 0:12:35.820 --> 0:12:38.760 So if you just have three, four companies, one of them 0:12:38.850 --> 0:12:42.300 fails, then that's a big part of your portfolio. Then 0:12:42.300 --> 0:12:44.820 you have to know that some of the big tech 0:12:44.820 --> 0:12:48.750 companies, for example, today, they make most of the larger 0:12:48.809 --> 0:12:52.380 index funds and markets. So even when you invest into 0:12:52.380 --> 0:12:54.780 these index funds, you're going to get exposure to this 0:12:54.809 --> 0:12:57.809 company. If there's some companies you really want to invest 0:12:57.809 --> 0:13:01.200 in, either you look at some indices that will hold 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.449 these companies ... they will have them as a holding, and 0:13:03.450 --> 0:13:06.420 then by investing into the whole fund, you will have 0:13:06.420 --> 0:13:09.780 exposure to these companies ... or otherwise you keep it maybe 0:13:10.020 --> 0:13:13.079 as a small portion of your overall portfolio. So you 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.540 still get the exposure, but that's not going to be 0:13:15.690 --> 0:13:18.390 100% of your exposure into a selection of companies. 0:13:18.450 --> 0:13:21.420 That's really good advice. So let's just talk about reviewing 0:13:21.420 --> 0:13:24.780 our investments and pensions and how often we should do 0:13:24.780 --> 0:13:29.250 that, whether we should think about rebalancing at certain points 0:13:29.250 --> 0:13:33.210 in our life, how we can rebalance without panicking or 0:13:33.210 --> 0:13:34.530 harming our returns. 0:13:34.620 --> 0:13:38.490 So rebalancing is quite interesting, is when you've built your 0:13:38.490 --> 0:13:41.610 initial portfolio, remember that you had equities and you had 0:13:41.610 --> 0:13:45.900 bonds in your portfolio. Because stocks, equities ... we can use 0:13:45.900 --> 0:13:49.050 the same term ... they tend to grow faster, over a 0:13:49.050 --> 0:13:51.600 slightly long period of time, you will see that your 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.840 allocation is changing. So if you add maybe 50% of 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.350 equities and 50% of bonds, you'll see that maybe this 0:13:58.350 --> 0:14:02.069 50% is now 60% or 70%. And what you want 0:14:02.070 --> 0:14:04.679 to do with rebalancing, it means that you have to 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:08.670 sell some of these stocks, equities, and add more bonds, 0:14:08.670 --> 0:14:14.280 so basically come back to the original allocation. If you want to do that, if it's 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.760 still in line with your goals, so this is why 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:21.420 we rebalance portfolios, so that's the term. If you're investing 0:14:21.420 --> 0:14:25.230 with a robo- advisor or something that's managed for you, 0:14:25.500 --> 0:14:27.840 this rebalancing is automatically done for you. 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:28.920 That's clever. 0:14:29.100 --> 0:14:32.580 That's clever. And now if you're doing it on your 0:14:32.580 --> 0:14:35.490 own, you have to check that you're still in line 0:14:35.490 --> 0:14:38.910 and you have to rebalance yourself. In terms of reviewing your 0:14:38.940 --> 0:14:42.090 investments, this is really personal, but I would say don't 0:14:42.090 --> 0:14:45.360 check every day, maybe not every week, but maybe once 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:48.120 a year, twice a year, really sit down, look at 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.030 your investments. I think it's really important that you check 0:14:51.030 --> 0:14:54.030 your pensions. You check that your contributions have been going 0:14:54.030 --> 0:14:57.090 in, you check the type of funds you're investing in. Is 0:14:57.090 --> 0:14:59.430 it the default funds, or are you actually allocating your money 0:14:59.430 --> 0:15:05.250 yourself? Reviewing your strategy, reviewing also the fees on all 0:15:05.250 --> 0:15:08.700 of these platforms. Unfortunately, investing is never free, so you 0:15:08.700 --> 0:15:11.100 have to check how much money you're paying, and sometimes 0:15:11.340 --> 0:15:13.500 you need to adjust your investments or you need to 0:15:13.500 --> 0:15:17.490 adjust maybe the platform, how much money you're actually putting into 0:15:18.450 --> 0:15:21.780 your investment pots. And the other thing is looking at 0:15:22.170 --> 0:15:24.840 personal goals. Do you have any major change in your 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.720 life? Are you getting married? Do you have kids? Have 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.840 you changed job? Are you now an entrepreneur? This will 0:15:30.990 --> 0:15:33.840 all have an impact on how much money you make, 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:35.940 how much money you save, and you may want to 0:15:35.940 --> 0:15:38.820 change your allocation. Maybe your goals have changed. So that's 0:15:38.820 --> 0:15:42.090 really important, to take the time and look at your 0:15:42.090 --> 0:15:45.240 investments and look at your whole financial life. At Vestpod, 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.550 we love the term of having a little money date 0:15:47.580 --> 0:15:50.490 with yourself, so maybe once a month, taking the time. 0:15:50.790 --> 0:15:52.440 It could be different things. It could be listening to 0:15:52.770 --> 0:15:55.830 a podcast about money and investing, but it could also 0:15:55.830 --> 0:15:59.640 be looking at your investments, looking at your pension, calculating 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.970 your net worth, looking at your budget, but really having 0:16:02.970 --> 0:16:06.780 in your calendar this time to review regularly your investments. 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.690 Money dates won't feel as romantic as real dates, but 0:16:09.690 --> 0:16:13.350 you will feel a hell of a lot better after 0:16:13.350 --> 0:16:16.740 you've had a money date, that's for sure. So what tools or 0:16:16.740 --> 0:16:20.700 approaches do you like personally from managing investments? 0:16:20.790 --> 0:16:24.510 I think that could be quite simple. Your investment app 0:16:24.510 --> 0:16:27.540 or your investment platform is already doing a lot of 0:16:27.540 --> 0:16:31.080 this for you, so I think what you need to 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.780 check is that you're still matching your goals. That's really 0:16:33.780 --> 0:16:37.050 important. You need to check the performance of your investments. 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.420 We've said, and we're going to say it again and 0:16:39.420 --> 0:16:43.500 again, that investments go up and down over time and that 0:16:43.860 --> 0:16:47.100 your capital could be at risk, so it's really checking 0:16:47.220 --> 0:16:50.820 what has been performing, what has been underperforming, and trying 0:16:50.820 --> 0:16:53.220 to think about, " Okay, what do I do going forward 0:16:53.220 --> 0:16:57.300 with these investments?" It's the diversification, so checking what have 0:16:57.300 --> 0:17:00.450 you been investing in sometimes. You can also check the 0:17:00.510 --> 0:17:03.900 diversification. So sometimes we've been investing in funds and we 0:17:03.900 --> 0:17:07.950 start adding maybe a few stocks, and then we realize 0:17:07.950 --> 0:17:10.830 that we have maybe the same investments in two different 0:17:10.890 --> 0:17:13.200 pockets or in two different vehicles, so it's making sure 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:16.530 we're still happy with that. Looking at the fees, how 0:17:16.530 --> 0:17:19.020 much have you been paying to the platform or how 0:17:19.020 --> 0:17:21.629 much are you paying to buy and sell your investments, 0:17:22.050 --> 0:17:26.070 and looking for duplicate investments. So I would say it's 0:17:26.130 --> 0:17:30.959 really about declaratory sometimes, because as you add up and maybe a 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:34.200 lot of your investments are automated, you may not realize 0:17:34.470 --> 0:17:36.449 that you're adding a little bit of complexity in your portfolio. 0:17:37.050 --> 0:17:40.080 So it's maybe taking a step back and cleaning a 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:41.490 little bit your portfolios. 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.720 So lots to think about there. And again, people will 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:47.880 probably want to digest all of this over a cup 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:52.230 of tea or coffee. So what's one quick thing that 0:17:52.230 --> 0:17:55.320 people could do whilst they wait for their cuppa to boil? 0:17:56.460 --> 0:17:57.990 If you have a little bit of time, you should 0:17:57.990 --> 0:18:02.730 think about automating your investments. Boring investing is actually quite 0:18:02.730 --> 0:18:05.219 good, and knowing that every month there's a little bit 0:18:05.220 --> 0:18:08.940 of money going into a saving account and an investing 0:18:08.940 --> 0:18:11.850 account for your future self is actually super valuable. 0:18:12.030 --> 0:18:13.801 Yeah. So start that process today and ... 0:18:13.801 --> 0:18:13.802 Start small. 0:18:13.802 --> 0:18:17.940 ... reap the benefits. Yeah. Start small. Absolutely. Thank you so 0:18:17.940 --> 0:18:18.449 much, Emilie. 0:18:18.450 --> 0:18:19.320 Thank you very much. 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.130 Well, that brings us to the end of our investing 0:18:23.130 --> 0:18:26.340 series. I hope it's empowered you to make that next 0:18:26.340 --> 0:18:30.270 step in your investing journey, and to remember it's all 0:18:30.270 --> 0:18:33.900 about creating wealth for future you. Of course, your investments 0:18:33.900 --> 0:18:35.910 can go up as well as down and there are 0:18:35.910 --> 0:18:39.030 risks involved. Thank you so much for listening to A 0:18:39.030 --> 0:18:42.180 Little Bit Richer. If you find this helpful, feel free 0:18:42.180 --> 0:18:44.670 to share it with someone who might need a boost 0:18:44.820 --> 0:18:48.359 in their investing confidence. This podcast is brought to you 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.119 by L& G. You can keep up with the show 0:18:51.330 --> 0:18:56.970 on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram @ legalandgeneral. If you have a 0:18:56.970 --> 0:18:59.730 question or a topic that you would like answered on 0:18:59.730 --> 0:19:01.859 the show, then you can get in touch on our 0:19:01.859 --> 0:19:05.129 socials. Until next time, see you soon, and thank you 0:19:05.130 --> 0:19:06.570 for watching and listening.