For many individuals, the thought of investing in the stock market can feel intimidating, especially if they believe it requires substantial wealth.

However, investing is accessible to everyone, and you don’t need a hefty sum to begin your journey in the stock market.

Even starting with a modest contribution of £25 monthly can gradually grow into an investment fund of over £10,000, as long as you remain committed over time.

Investing offers a far greater chance of accumulating wealth compared to simply saving, and the earlier you start, the more advantageous it can be. Despite this, some savers may hesitate to risk their finances in the stock market.

To assist those considering their first step into investing, we consulted experts in the field for their advice on getting started.

Discover how a small monthly investment of £25 can evolve into a £10,000 portfolio, along with expert recommendations on where to allocate your funds initially.

How to get started

Opening a stocks and shares Isa is your starting point. It allows you to take full advantage of any gains you make from investing without paying any tax.

They are an ‘easy access’ account, because there are no restrictions on when and how often you can access your money – though it is usually best to leave your shares, bonds and funds untouched until you actually need the money.

New investors are more likely to put small amounts like £25 away every month, but if you have a large sum available there is plenty of time to open an investing Isa and put in as much of this year’s £20,000 allowance as you can afford before the April 5 deadline for the 2025/26 tax year.

If you don’t have a lump sum but can spare some money out of your income every month, regular contributions into an investing Isa are the best approach.

When investing over a long period, you can promise yourself to keep this up without regard to whether financial markets are up or down in a given month or even year.

If you are investing for the long term, financial market upsets are an opportunity to pick up stocks on the cheap, so holding your nerve and sticking with regular investing can really pay off.

How quickly will your money grow?

Your money will typically grow far faster invested in the stock market than it would in a savings account.

Since 2010, £100 in the average cash Isa would have grown to £130, but the same amount in the typical stocks and shares Isa would have swelled to £233, according to recent analysis from Moneyfacts Compare.

Even modest investments, so long as they are made on a regular basis over a long period of time, can snowball. It is wise to clear debts and have an emergency fund saved first, and then you will need to have the patience to leave your investment nest egg untouched.

We asked online investing firm AJ Bell how quickly your Isa might grow to £10,000.

It worked out that by saving £25 a month – something that can be done out of a relatively modest household budget – you would build up a £10,000 pot after 19 years and ten months if your investments returned 5pc a year.

Over the 19 years, you would have only had to pay £5,950 into your Isa to amass £10,000 thanks to investment returns.

Time is your great ally when it comes to riding out stock market upsets and watching your returns compound over the years.

In a more optimistic scenario, or one where you invest more shrewdly, if you achieved investment returns of 7pc after charges, you would get a £10,000 pot after 17 years and five months.

If you want a ‘real life’ version of that calculation, you could have got close to that £10,000 target based on recent global market performance even faster.

AJ Bell says if you had saved £25 a month starting from January 1, 2013 into the Fidelity Index World, a popular global market tracker fund charging a relatively cheap 0.12pc fee, you’d have £9,584 sitting in your Isa today – just 13 years later.

How to choose an investment platform

You will need to decide which company you want to open a stocks and shares Isa with. There is a huge range of options depending on whether you want a ready-made plan or intend to take more of a DIY approach as you get familiar with investing.

Some are more cost effective for people putting away small regular sums, while others structure their charges in a way more suitable for people who already have large investment funds.

Don’t just look at price. Some investing platforms offer a wealth of information and tools that can be invaluable, particularly when you are just starting out and want to lean on their expertise and recommendations.

For help read our full guide to the best stocks and shares Isas and our guide to the best investment platforms.

In this guide we also feature the best investment platforms for beginners, chosen by our expert guides writer Sam Bromley. He has identified those that are both easy to use and offer good value for new investors.

Investing tips for beginners

Your time horizon is one of the most important things to think about when you start out. The sooner you might want to get your money out, the greater the risk that you get caught out in a market squall before you’ve had a chance to build a big enough fund.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, says: ‘Investing is generally only suitable for money that you don’t plan to spend for five years or more.

‘Make sure you’ve got three to six months’ essential living expenses in cash for emergencies, as well as any money you’ll need in the next five years – for a big holiday, or a new car, for example.’

He adds: ‘Make sure you’ve paid down any pricey debt, otherwise the interest you’re racking up on your credit card or overdraft could more than wipe out the gains you make by investing.’

You will need to get your head around what ‘risk’ means in terms of investing, according to Bestinvest’s managing director Jason Hollands.

He says: ‘Most people are conditioned to think of “risk” as a bad thing, but in the world of investing you need to take risk to achieve reward. The key thing is to take an appropriate, measured amount of risk.

‘If you are aiming to invest for decades, you should be prepared to tolerate periods when prices might fall back because there is plenty of time for a recovery.’

Hollands also notes that professional investors spend a lot of time focusing on making sure they are invested across a broad range of markets, geographies and industries, so you should too.

He says: ‘Novice investors often overlook this and start diving in head-first, picking funds or shares they like the sound of, are being tipped or have performed well of late. This is a very risky approach.’

Where should you invest

You can invest in individual company shares, investment funds, investment trusts and bonds through your Isa if you want. But the rule of thumb for beginners is to start with a fund or two and build out from there.

A global tracker or index fund, which clones the world markets and their performance, is often chosen to form the core of a starter portfolio. But bear in mind that it won’t ever outperform the market – it will just match it – and that it will be heavily weighted towards the US, which will make up about two-thirds of it.

US markets in turn are heavily dominated by the big tech companies, the likes of Meta and Nvidia and so on. This might turn out to be a great play on future wealth from Artificial Intelligence, which these companies are piling cash into right now, but needless to say it is risky and you won’t be well diversified.

If you prefer not to be so heavily exposed to the US, you can look for a fund with investments that are more evenly spread around the world.

If you want to outperform markets you will need to invest in actively managed funds that are run by a fund manager who hand-picks investments. However, these will charge a higher fee than tracker funds – and there’s no guarantee that you will get a better return.

It’s also worth having a look at multi-asset funds, which may invest in company and government debt, commercial property and commodities such as gold in addition to stocks.

But be aware that if you are young or simply plan to stay invested for decades, shares have historically outperformed other assets, so in this scenario being 100pc in stock markets is perfectly acceptable, and indeed often recommended by seasoned experts.

Many platforms have a range of ‘ready-made’ portfolios for different kinds of investors – adventurous, cautious, balanced and so on. It is worth having a look at these but check beyond the blurb to see where exactly they are invested, in terms of assets and geography.

Again, don’t assume taking the middle road when choosing among such options is sensible. It is worth taking more risk if you start to invest early in life or plan to leave your investments untouched for at least ten, or many more years.

Fund ideas for beginners

A strong core fund and an excellent starting point for a long-term investor is Jupiter Merian Global Equity (ongoing charge: 1pc), says Darius McDermott of investment research agency FundCalibre.

He says: ‘Crucially, the fund has avoided long periods of sharp underperformance thanks to its risk controls, making it a dependable foundation for a first portfolio.’

The fund has returned 17.4pc over the past year and 102.8pc over the past five years.

He also tips Orbis Global Balanced as an ‘oven-ready’ multi-asset fund for investors who want diversification from day one. The fund returned 24.8pc over the past year.

McDermott says: ‘It invests across company shares, bonds and other assets like commodities, giving the manager flexibility to adapt as markets change. Orbis has a strong track record and takes a bottom-up, contrarian approach – often backing unloved areas of the market that later recover.’

McDermott says a standout feature is the fund’s investor-friendly fee structure – you only pay when the fund outperforms and fees are refunded after periods of underperformance, so the manager’s interests are closely aligned with those of investors.

He adds that Orbis Global Cautious follows a similar philosophy but with significantly less exposure to shares and a greater focus on bonds.

Kate Marshall, lead investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, suggests Legal & General Future World ESG Tilted and Optimised Developed Index (ongoing charge 0.31pc), a fund mindful of ethical issues with exposure to a range of large and medium sized companies in developed markets such as the US, Japan and Europe.

‘It won’t invest in tobacco companies, pure coal producers, manufacturers of armaments or persistent violators of the UN Global Compact Principles,’ she says. The fund has returned 12pc over one year and 79.5pc over five years.

‘An index tracker fund is one of the simplest ways to invest, and this one could be a good addition to a broader investment portfolio aiming to deliver long-term growth in a responsible way.’

Marshall says Artemis Income (0.8pc) is a conventional UK equity income fund focused on companies with robust cashflows.

She says: ‘An equity income fund can be a great addition to an Isa portfolio for different reasons. You can take the pay-outs to supplement your income and have a bit of extra cash in your back pocket.

‘Or if you’re targeting growth and aiming to build your portfolio for longer, reinvesting dividends can help grow your pot thanks to the beneficial effect of compounding.’

Troy Trojan (0.86pc) is a ‘total return’ fund – meaning it aims to make money no matter the financial market weather – tipped as suitable for first-time investors by both Marshall and Jason Hollands, managing director of Bestinvest,

Marshall says it invests in a mix of inflation-linked bonds, gold, currencies and shares, including some of the world’s best-known companies with highly recognisable brands and can bring some stability to a more adventurous portfolio, or provide some long-term growth potential to a more conservative one.

Hollands says: ‘The team behind it at Troy Asset Management place a strong emphasis on capital preservation while also seeking to deliver inflation beating returns.

‘It won’t shoot the lights out during periods when stock markets are rocketing, but historically it has been successful in mitigating losses during tougher periods. It should be regarded as a Steady Eddie option.’

Hollands also suggests low-cost tracker Fidelity Index World (0.12pc) for those willing to take a view of several years of more.

He explains that it follows the performance of the MSCI World Index, made up of over 1,300 of the largest developed market companies globally, but these are weighted based on their size so it has significant exposure to the mega-sized US tech giants, which account for around 27pc of the fund.

Meanwhile, Hollands says F&C Investment Trust (0.49pc) – formerly known as the Foreign and Colonial Investment Trust – has been enabling novices to invest globally for 158 years and is still going strong today.

He says: ‘It was launched in 1868 as the first ever investment trust to enable investors of moderate means the same advantages as the large capitalist.’

The fund invests globally across developed and emerging markets such as China, India and Latin America, but also has 11pc exposure to unquoted companies through private equity funds, says Hollands.

He adds: ‘This is the trust I have saved into a monthly basis for my children’s Child Trust Funds.’