Investment 101

Clodz6

Hi, I've just gotten my first job out of college and want to start investing a portion of my salary immediately.

I know absolutely nothing about stocks, shares or investments and it seems to be an absolute mindfield to learn anything.

Ideally what I want is a direct debit from my account each month and for the money to be automatically invested by an expert for me. Where can I go to find something like this?

I was looking at Paul's investment club, has anyone used this?

bs2014

I'm in a similar position myself. Did you make contact with Ask Paul for a consultation? He seems to plug the zurich dynamic fund but I'm not able to research is it good bad or indifferent. Does he manage the fund on your behalf or train you to manage it yourself?

cronos

Does your company provide a match? Are they putting doing a PRSA for you?

Shedite27

I’ve just posted about Paul in another Ask Paul thread.

I get started on a pension straight away. That will get you savings before tax, so more money going in. You can even pick the same fund as that Zurich fund.

Once Paul sets you up with the Zurich fund, his work is down really. You’ll have a DD to Zurich each month, they put it in the fund and have their own fund managers who will decide what stocks they buy with the fund

Clodz6

Shedite27 wrote: »

I’ve just posted about Paul in another Ask Paul thread.

I get started on a pension straight away. That will get you savings before tax, so more money going in. You can even pick the same fund as that Zurich fund.

Once Paul sets you up with the Zurich fund, his work is down really. You’ll have a DD to Zurich each month, they put it in the fund and have their own fund managers who will decide what stocks they buy with the fund

I have set up a pension through work already, but as I'm only 24 don't want to lock all my money away in a pension so wanna set up some monthly investments alongside this.
Would I be as well to just go to Zurich directly and invest in their Prisma 4 or the dynamic fund the club is investing in? What's the advantage of going with the club rather than just through Zurich myself?

Atlas_IRL

Clodz6 wrote: »

I have set up a pension through work already, but as I'm only 24 don't want to lock all my money away in a pension so wanna set up some monthly investments alongside this.
Would I be as well to just go to Zurich directly and invest in their Prisma 4 or the dynamic fund the club is investing in? What's the advantage of going with the club rather than just through Zurich myself?

The younger you invest in a pension the better. (compound interest) they should really drill this stuff in school.
If I could be in the 20's again I would get the pension ASAP working then save for real estate I.e your home. But I drank it lol

Shedite27

Clodz6 wrote: »

I have set up a pension through work already, but as I'm only 24 don't want to lock all my money away in a pension so wanna set up some monthly investments alongside this.
Would I be as well to just go to Zurich directly and invest in their Prisma 4 or the dynamic fund the club is investing in? What's the advantage of going with the club rather than just through Zurich myself?

To be honest, the "club" is just his way of advertising it. It's just a savings policy he sets up on your behalf.

In theory he keeps an eye on the performance of the fund, and if it's not performing or something changes, he'll move you to a better fund over time. Doing it yourself, you wouldn't get that advice.

With all these things, you're not paying 150 for the time he's taking to chat you through it and set up the policy, the 150 is for his years of learning the ropes and knowing what funds are right for you. First example, you mention Prisma 4, I suspect if you talk it through with him, he'd advise a 24 year old to go for Prisma 5 or Max. Going stright to Zurich won't give you that advice.

Clodz6

Shedite27 wrote: »

To be honest, the "club" is just his way of advertising it. It's just a savings policy he sets up on your behalf.

In theory he keeps an eye on the performance of the fund, and if it's not performing or something changes, he'll move you to a better fund over time. Doing it yourself, you wouldn't get that advice.

With all these things, you're not paying 150 for the time he's taking to chat you through it and set up the policy, the 150 is for his years of learning the ropes and knowing what funds are right for you. First example, you mention Prisma 4, I suspect if you talk it through with him, he'd advise a 24 year old to go for Prisma 5 or Max. Going straight to Zurich won't give you that advice.

In your opinion so, would you say going through his club is one of the better options out there?

BailMeOut

Bext advice I would give you is to pay a good financial advisor to help you put a plan together. I am not talking about a broker or someone who is making a commission selling you stuff. I am talking about someone who charges for their time and where you do all the trades and decisions by yourself.

It is however not that difficult and as others say pumping as much money you can into your pension at your young age is the best thing you can do right now.

I can PM you a great expert who will charge you by the hour but well worth it.

Shedite27

Clodz6 wrote: »

In your opinion so, would you say going through his club is one of the better options out there?

It's an easy option, and his returns are fairly proven at this stage.

There's more complex approaches (like BailMeOut suggests) which might return more, but as savings funds go, it's a good idea he sells.

FrankC21

BailMeOut wrote: »

Bext advice I would give you is to pay a good financial advisor to help you put a plan together. I am not talking about a broker or someone who is making a commission selling you stuff. I am talking about someone who charges for their time and where you do all the trades and decisions by yourself.

It is however not that difficult and as others say pumping as much money you can into your pension at your young age is the best thing you can do right now.

I can PM you a great expert who will charge you by the hour but well worth it.

Can you pm me this expert?

bs2014

FrankC21 wrote: »

Can you pm me this expert?

Can you PM me also your person you recommend. thanks.

The_B_Man

I rang the bank there to ask for financial advice for putting money away. They basically said they'd ring me about putting money into Irish Life, which is a minimum of 20k for 5 years.

Does anyone have experience of this? I know the banks get a commission from Irish Life, but obviously if this Zurich fund is better, I'd throw money into that instead.

Shedite27

The_B_Man wrote: »

I rang the bank there to ask for financial advice for putting money away. They basically said they'd ring me about putting money into Irish Life, which is a minimum of 20k for 5 years.

Does anyone have experience of this? I know the banks get a commission from Irish Life, but obviously if this Zurich fund is better, I'd throw money into that instead.

All the funds have different attributes, costs, performance.

You can compare past performance here (http://funds.irishtimes.com/) but that changes year to year. All the funds have an equal chance of being successful over the years.

Ring both up and get quotes basically. Firstly ask them both "what type of ESMA fund is it (should be 5/6 - make sure you're comparing like with like),then the things you need to know
1. How much of each €100 you save goes to your fund (ie how much levy, commission etc)
2. What charge are they gonna take from it every year after that.