Is investing really for people like me?

Sponsored by Wombat

Is investing for people like me? That's a question we hear a lot. So many people want to invest but they don’t feel like it is for them.

Why is that?

Well, sometimes they see investing as something that is only for the ‘wealthy’, and so they are worried they don’t have enough money.

Or they think that it is only for experts with deep market knowledge and technical understanding.

But we firmly believe that investing can be for pretty much anyone. As long as you’re in a financially stable position, can live with the ups and downs of the market, and don’t risk more than you can afford – bearing in mind investing is for the long term – putting your money in the stock market is normally a smart choice.

Even so, if you’re new to investing it can be reassuring to know that other people similar to you are setting out on the same journey.

We’ve spoken to the team at Wombat for this article too. Their aim is to make investing less complex and easier to access, with tools like Wombat’s Learning Hub designed to educate people about investing, so that they can then apply those lessons themselves.

We hope that by showing you which types of people are investing today, and giving you some tips about how to get started, you’ll be able to see that investing can be for you too.

A lack of confidence shouldn’t hold you back

It is common for people to keep their money in cash because they don’t feel confident enough to invest.

But that need not hold you back. In fact, our research shows that 40% of investors today actually give themselves a low confidence score of 5 or less out of 10.

That means that among the millions of people already investing, nearly half of them actually aren’t very confident. It’s OK not to feel especially confident about investing. If you feel that way then you certainly aren’t alone!

But what can you do about it?

Try to learn some of the basics first. The Boring Money site has lots of guides to explain some of the jargon and help you to get to grips with simple products, like stocks and shares ISAs. Diving in at the deep end is likely to be off-putting. So try learning some of the basic terminology first, and get familiar with the principles behind long-term investing before you get into anything more complex.

It is also a good idea to start small

Invest a little bit of money until you get a feel for it. This can be a useful way to learn, before you decide whether to invest more.

Wombat found that many of their customers feel more confident in their financial knowledge after using the investing app for a while. Before using the app just 52% rated their knowledge above a 5 out of 10 , but that figure rose to 75% after using it, indicating people gain confidence as they go along.

Join the ranks of new investors

When you hear the ‘experts’ talking about investing, it can all seem pretty intimidating. The language is complex, and there is often an implied assumption everyone should know about technical investing principles.

But where do the rookies get started?

A lot of what we do is about helping investing newbies learn the ropes. And thanks to a massive surge in public appetite for investing recently, new investors now account for a huge portion of the UK investor population.

Our research shows that nearly 1 in 10 (9%) of all investors have been doing so for 12 months or less. Not every investor has decades of experience.

A lot of Wombat users fall into this group

In fact, almost two thirds say they’ve been investing for under a year

Wombat's mobile-first approach is likely to appeal to this new breed of investors, who often want to invest through an app, rather than a web-based platform.

This is not to say that every new investor is young or only wants to use an app to manage their portfolio. But everyone has to start somewhere, and it is important when you’re starting out to pick a provider with a system you find easy to use.

Investing for the first time can be daunting

It feels like there’s a lot to learn and so many obstacles for new investors to overcome. So don’t make it harder by using a system you struggle to get along with, because it will only make your first steps into investing feel like more of a drain.

So what next?

We’ve got lots of resources to help you get to grips with investing:

• You can check out our investing guides to learn more.

• Ask a question to our panel of advisers.

• You can find out more about Wombat here.