Investment Ideas in the UK - Best Long and Short Term Ideas (2024)

If you’re considering investing here in the UK, you first need to consider whether short-term investments are your goal or would long-term investments be more appropriate. The place to start is by defining what your investor profile looks like. Once you know that, you can begin exploring the investment opportunities UK investors can access, to find the right combination to create a suitable investment portfolio.

Why are you investing in the first place?

People invest for many different reasons. For example, you can decide to save money for a holiday, a new car, or a property deposit, or simply put money aside for unexpected bills, emergencies, and rainy days in general. You may also want to start investing for your retirement.

Having funds set aside for emergencies means having easy, rapid access to money, and many people tend to save money for this purpose rather than investing. Easy-access savings accounts are one type of vehicle that is often used for this purpose.

The Express newspaper recently published an article entitled, “Top 10 easy access savings accounts with high-interest rates now.” The top easy-access account was Al Rayan Bank’s Everyday Saver, which offers an AER of 2.35%. All of the others offered AERs around the 2% mark.

While these accounts and others, like current accounts and regular savings accounts, are great for easy access (not so much notice accounts, because you have to give notice before accessing your savings), and they provide you with interest, that interest is way below inflation.

They are fine for holding your emergency cash, but that’s about it. If you would like your savings to keep pace or even beat the inflation rate, you need to look at investment opportunities in the UK which can be short or long-term.

So, we need to look at some investment ideas for UK residents, but before we do so, you need to think about your views on risk.

What investment risk is and ways of minimising it

You’ll get a good understanding of investment risk (also referred to as financial risk) from this article. The type of risk it encompasses includes business, inflation, interest, liquidity, and volatility.

When all is said and done, investment risk is unavoidable, and you have to decide your risk tolerance, bearing in mind that it is likely to change as you age. Once you’ve decided how risk-averse you are, you can start thinking about an investment strategy to meet your targets.

Investment ideas for 2023

There is no shortage of investment opportunities. They include business investment opportunities and property investment opportunities.

Small business investment opportunities in the UK

If you are an entrepreneur, you will probably invest in yourself by starting a business venture or two. But this is not for the faint-hearted. Of course, it would help if you had an original business idea and a certain amount of business acumen unless you opt for a ready-made setup like Shopify. Still, with this last option, you will not likely become rich quickly.

For those of us that are not entrepreneur material, it’s best to invest in established businesses, and some people like to do this by dabbling in the stock market. But share prices are notoriously volatile.

Not only do share prices rise, but they also fall. All is well and good if you buy and sell at the right time. However, if you don’t, you can lose money overnight. If you decide to dabble, start with small sums of money. Get to know how the stock market works and how to read trends.

Successfully trading individual stocks and shares requires know-how. So it’s not something to consider lightly. But there are plenty of other small investment opportunities in the UK, particularly emerging markets via ETFs, which may be a better approach.

According to investingreviews.co.uk, some exciting funds worth your consideration include:

• iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG)
• iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ)
• iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI)
• iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA)

The initials “ETF” stand for Exchange Traded Fund for those new to investing. They allow the opportunity of investing in a diverse basket of assets, such as shares, in dozens of different companies. This type of diversification is seen as an essential step in trying to minimise investment risk.

Another alternative investment that investors are now considering is metaverse investment opportunities.

Property investment opportunities UK

Real estate property opportunities also appeal to UK investors. Buy-to-let opportunities were very popular. But since the end of the September 2022 mini-budget, which has resulted in the withdrawal of many mortgage products and initiated a steep rise in current mortgage interest rates, including buy-to-let mortgages, people are now understandably wary of the property investment market.

Another product hit hard by the mini-budget is the UK REIT market. It, too, is plunging in value in the wake of the mini-budget. But how to invest money to the best effect means different things to different people, and the current state of the property market may present what is known as countercyclical opportunities. It is, however, likely to be foreign investors who will capitalise on the property market. With a weak pound currency, they will hope for long-term gains when the property market recovers in the long term.

Are ISAs an answer to the short-term versus long-term investment dilemma?

ISAs attract a lot of interest. There are different types of ISAs that UK investors can access. They include:

• Cash ISAs
• Innovative Finance ISAs
• Junior ISAs
• Lifetime ISAs
• Stocks and Shares ISAs – also known as investment ISAs.

They are all tax wrappers, which means your savings are protected from the ravages of the tax man. Cash ISAs offer low-interest rates when compared to stocks and shares ISAs. On the other hand, innovative finance ISAs are a little too risky for some investors. Junior ISAs are about investing for your children, while Lifetime ISAs have penalties if you withdraw money for anything other than the first deposit on a property.

However, all ISAs work with compound returns, which can be highly significant if you invest long-term. But they are also relevant when it comes to short-term investing, which is why a stocks and shares ISA is such an interesting proposition.

Not only is there the possibility to earn returns on your investments, but you can withdraw money as and when you need it without facing any penalty. It makes stocks and shares ISAs ideal for short- and long-term investing.

But it would be best if you never forgot that there is an element of risk when taking investment opportunities in the stock market – even with stocks and shares ISAs. However, the risk can be lessened if you have a diversified portfolio.

Many investors prefer to go down the route of opening a general investment account. They offer unlimited deposits, low fees, and fee-free withdrawals, but you also enjoy compound interest when you have funds in your account. You can even choose the level of risk with which you feel comfortable, but you must always remember that investments can fall in value and rise.

The other key factor in investing is taking advice from a reputable financial services company you feel you can trust. Whomever you decide to approach, make sure they are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

FAQ

What questions should I ask myself before investing?

The questions you should ask yourself before investing include, what level of risk am I comfortable with and can I afford to lose my money? Do I have knowledge of the investment, and can I withdraw my money easily? Are my investments regulated by FSCS or FOS? Are my investments protected if my investment provider goes bankrupt, and should I consider getting financial advice?

What first steps should I take before investing?

Firstly, before you start investing you should first settle any debts you may have. Before investing, it makes sense to prepare financially for potential setbacks, so setting up an emergency fund is important. Lastly, be sure to make regular contributions to your retirement fund before investing in anything else.

What are the methods of investing?

You can make regular (monthly) contributions to an investment account. You gradually increase your investment total over the long term and if the prices of investments fluctuate significantly from one period to the next, this may help improve your returns.

You could use another approach: You can also make lump sum payments or commit all the funds you plan to use for investment purposes at once. For example, if you receive unexpected cash, you might want to put it all into an investment account.