Over ten or twenty years, money invested has usually grown. It also falls along the way, sometimes hard, and the falls are the part people underestimate.
More risk can mean more growth, and it can equally mean a bigger drop. What advice does is make sure the risk you end up carrying is the risk you meant to carry, and that none of it is there by accident.
How much you invest is your call. Ours is to make sure you are deciding with the full picture in front of you.
Three separate things go into the answer, and a questionnaire only measures one of them.
Money you may need within five years generally does not belong in the market at all. Money for a goal twenty years out can accept a great deal more movement in exchange for the chance of stronger growth.
A plan you can stay invested in through a bad year is worth more than a theoretically better one you abandon. We take time over this.
Capacity for loss is the practical side. If a 20% fall would delay your retirement or force you to cut essential spending, that is different from one that feels uncomfortable but changes nothing.
The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Less than most people assume, and investing a regular monthly amount is often more effective than waiting to accumulate a lump sum. The time horizon matters more than the starting figure.
Often both, in a particular order. Pensions give tax relief going in but lock the money away until at least 55. ISAs are accessible at any time and tax-free coming out.
Which allowance to fill first depends on your tax position now, your likely tax position in retirement, and when you might need the money.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme protects eligible claims against authorised firms and certain investment failures, subject to limits. It does not protect you against investment losses. A fund falling in value is a market outcome, and the scheme does not cover it. We will explain exactly what is and is not covered.
Yes, and that is usually where we begin. You will see what you are actually paying, what risk you are genuinely taking, and whether either matches what you thought.
No, and it is worth being suspicious of anyone who implies otherwise. What good advice does is make the risk deliberate, proportionate to the goal, and small enough that you can stay invested through a bad year.
Longer answers to the questions that come up most on this subject.
Tell us what is on your mind: a pension you have lost track of, a fixed rate ending, a will you keep meaning to write. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.