Hey Everyone,
I have to admit I have personally never invested any money in stocks. Since joining Emma I have read a bit about it but I would still like to learn more about the benefits of investing with these sort of apps.
I asked the other week about advice for investing but can you guys please tell me what I need to know about freetrade and where to begin?
Thanks
Lilli
Hi Lilli,
I can’t provide much information unfortunately. I started investing with Freetrade when the beta rolled out on Android in April. There’s so much to learn about investing and I know so little thus far, but Freetrade as an app and service makes it incredibly simple, and improvements are coming all the time.
As Freetrade is mobile first, it’s all done through the app, so to get up and running, there is very little that you need to do, just follow the steps.
I made my decision to go for stocks and ETFs that pay dividends, as if I can build up enough of these, I can use it as a second income in retirement.
You should sign up to Freetrade! It’s this app you can use to invest for free. Plus, when you sign up, we both get a free share - might be Apple or Tesla!
https://api.freetrade.io/freeshare/?code=STVVLEGJXC&sender=1jMDA7zK
Thanks @KarlD89! As the first person to reply I will use your link to sign up.
Might be a stupid question but what do you mean they pay dividends?
Thank you 
Dividends is when a company pays a portion of their profits to stockholders. Upon starting this investment method, I did a little research, and there is a lot to be wary of.
Freetrade’s blog and community has plenty of information and that is where I have learned most of what I know, they also have a list of good sources to read/listen to that I will try to find
This is a Google spreadsheet that contains many sources for research, should teach you plenty
Ah okay that makes sense. That’s what I am worried about, I don’t want to invest too much and then lose it. I want to make sure it is worth my time in the long run…
Thanks I will definitely check this out
That’s my worry too. I have only been investing small amounts each month.
The piece of advice that seems to appear everywhere is ‘time in the market beats timing the market’. With investing it will obviously go up and down, but rather than trying to time any purchases, making regular purchases and leaving it seems to be the best method.
I’m only starting myself, so that’s the extent of what I know really, I’m sure there are many other helpful members of this community that will know a lot more than I do
Thanks @KarlD89 I really appreciate it have you invested in several different companies? How do you decide who to go for?
I have tried to invest is many different companies, in many different industries, to avoid too much of my portfolio being at risk if one industry has an issue, so I have attempted to limit the percentage of my portfolio each individual company and industry has.
Freetrade released a Google Spreadsheet of high dividend stocks that are available on their platform, that I used to find the stocks that I purchased. The spreadsheet is barebones though, it only shows what the dividend was as of the end of may, so it does require some research in to the health of the company, to ensure it is sustainable and not likely to drop.
This is really helpful thank you! Definitely going to have a look into this!
Heya @lilli
As mentioned dividends are when shareholders get a little kickback when companies make profit.
Basically how it works is any money made needs to be given back to shareholders somehow, this can be done in 2 ways:
The latter is much more preferred by companies without much room for mass expansion (like Coca-Cola etc, massive companies)
Personally if you want some pretty safe advice, keep maybe 3-6 months of savings and then work out the maximum you can afford to invest and invest that monthly. Leave it there. Don’t touch it. You should be playing for the long game. Not 1-2 years but 5-10.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask
Freetrade is basically stockpicking for the uninitiated. Unless you’ve got money to play with, I’d go for Vanguard Lifestrategy every time. Set up once and forget
Vanguard also sell through Freetrade though, so you can get all of your stuff in one place.
They sell their ETFs, but the Lifestrategy is a much more advanced product!
Is it now? 
can I get a link?!
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-lifestrategy-funds
Choose your bond/equity split to suit your risk level, then let Vanguard rebalance and manage
It does a lot of the legwork for you
I’m pretty happy managing what I invest into myself so i’ll Give it a pass, but thanks for the link!
Thanks for your help and advice !
Freetrade have created a living post of all the indexes available on Freetrade.
An index is a great way to create a diverse portfolio as they invest across a large variety of industries, without you having to do anything, you just invest in the ETF