With the pandemic continuing to affect businesses on a global scale, and many people unable to go about their lives in a normal way, it’s important that we think of innovative ways to save and invest money remotely.
As we continue to head into 2021, investors are having to pivot and rethink their strategies from home, and those thinking about getting better control of their finances might think that now is not a great time. However, provided you work smart and in the right way, there are plenty of opportunities out there currently. To help inspire those looking to make a change with their finances in 2021, here are a few quick tips for starting out with investment, outlining some of the do’s and don’ts in the process. Read on to find out more!
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Sorting out your finances
Before thinking about how you can proactively build up your finances by investing and putting your money back to work for you, you need to make sure that your general financial situation is in order. After all, it’s no good putting money into a strategy that you may not be able to access right away if you have existing financial commitments that you can’t afford to cover. Sit down and budget the amount that you can afford to put away into an investment, and if you haven’t yet built up a savings pot to play around with, then that should be your first priority. Remember, it’s always good to have something to fall back on should an emergency payment rear its ugly head.
Working on your finances remotely, there are a bunch of different apps and services that you can take advantage of, from simple tools such as online banking and tracking apps to keep an eye on your spending, to smart AI and bots that give you advice and reccomendations based on your habits. If you want to make the most of this sort of technology to help you keep your finances water-tight, take a look at the guide from The Big Investment that goes into detail on some interesting options for those starting out.
Doing your research
Once you’ve got your finances in order, doing your research is key. You want to start thinking about the type of investment that is right for you, and figure out what sorts of things ensure that the investment is going to come up good down the line.
As an example, property investment is a market that is presenting plenty of opportunities currently. Not only are many investors moving their capital out of more volatile investment assets such as stocks and shares and into property for its typically longer-standing resilience, but with forward-thinking companies such as RWinvest offering remote viewings and walkthroughs, it’s still easy to look into these strategies from home.
if you’ve got a decent amount of capital saved away and decide that you want to look into property investment, the sorts of things that you’d want to research would be the likes of area, capital growth potential, and tenant demand, as these are what ensure success in the long-run. In the UK, Northern cities like Liverpool and Manchester are amongst the best the country has to offer.
Checking your sources
There is a wide range of different investment information out there online, and a bunch of different investment companies, firms, and services that you can take advantage of in order to help you to get your foot on the financial ladder and hopefully reach your investment potential. However, as with most other things in life, some investments services and companies are more reputable and secure that others, and it’s important that you make sure you’re confident in an investment decision before going ahead with it.
Using property investment again as an example, if you were looking into areas to invest in for the future and wanted to make the right decision, it’s important that you look at a developer’s track records and history, to get an idea of the projects that they’ve worked on in the past. This way, you can find out crucial pieces of information such as if they finish projects within the planned timeframe, and you can also look at images of prior developments to make sure that they work to a certain standard and level of quality.
As a rule of thumb, if you can’t find much evidence or positive buzz around a project/developer that you’re looking into, then you should air on the side of caution. This is particularly the case with an off-plan development – a property investment type where the property in question has not yet been completed and is still in the development/planning stages. Again, RWinvest feature a wealth of information on their site showing construction updates and track record information for their past developments, and always work with trusted developers.
Remember – Even if an investment strategy is secure and looking positive, with others having been successful in the past, your situation (both personally and financially) is unique. Only you know for sure whether it’s viable to go ahead with an investment strategy, so make sure you’re confident before going ahead, and good luck!
