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I'm 23(in a week :) ) and I finished university recently and earn around 1500£ extra per month that I don't use and have around 5000£ in savings.

What should I do with the extra money? I would like to move into freelancing in few years, so I don't want to buy a house and settle down, however I was thinking to buy a house and just let it. However I have to admit that I don't have much experience in this field and I'm not sure I want to take such a big risk unless it's really the best option.

I have a students loan to repay but I've researched about it and it's not worth it to repay it.

Is there any better type of investment I could make?

Thanks

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  • From your query it seems you are unsure about what you want to do. Get your plans in order and then decide and no actions before deciding on your long term plans. Don't put your money anywhere as of now as investment decisions are long term and it will be very unwise if you want to withdraw your investments tomorrow. buy a house and just let it Not as easy as you mention. Takes up quite a bit of time. it's not worth it to repay it. What do you mean by this ? You don't want to repay ever or just not now ? – DumbCoder Sep 19 '16 at 11:31
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    You could spend all of that extra money on booze. :P – lunchmeat317 Sep 19 '16 at 14:10
  • I actually am unsure about the way I want to invest them, I have these extra money that I'm not using and I would like to invest them. I don't plan to use that money anytime soon (5 years at least), and I have some backup money anyway in case of emergency. I know buying a house is not easy and takes a lot of time and effort but if it worth it I'm ready to do it, if there are better options however I won't have to do it. Regarding the students loan I looked on internet and people suggest that is not worth to repay it now. Ofc I'll have to repay with monthly payment depending on my income. – Faz Sep 19 '16 at 22:13
  • oh and I'm not sure if the booze will return the investment lol – Faz Sep 19 '16 at 22:18
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Invest! Because you are young and have lots of time, I recommend opening an investment account and putting most (1000£?) or all in something like an S&P 500 index fund or ETF. Start building your savings now because compound growth over time will build significant wealth. You can still invest the other 500£/mo in something a bit less volatile if you think you'll need the money in < 5 years.

If you expect your income to continue to grow and you expect to have extra cash every month for the foreseeable future, I'd just put it all in an index fund. You can weather any temporary market swings, and in the worst-case scenario you can always sell a few shares if you need the cash.

The advantage of an index fund is that it has very low fees and it's an "invest-and-forget" approach. You don't have to watch the market every day because your money will simply match the market. And in the long term the market does much better than most managed funds or ETFs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_fund

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