Investors in the United Kingdom have a wide variety of financial vehicles to choose from. However, the choice strictly depends on several factors, including the budget available, monthly needs and income and, of course, the goals. Some of the types of investments particularly popular with UK citizens are government-provided schemes, while others are classic types of investment available to anyone, including non-residents.
Inflation and long or short-term investments
Let us begin by pointing out that certain personal characteristics and needs of an investor lead him or her to prefer certain speculations over others. These characteristics are also related to the expectations and to the reasons for which he or she is driven to invest money. Nowadays, however, inflation in the UK is reaching historic limits, which seemed to belong to the past. In a such scenario, it is therefore important for the citizens to understand which may be the best investments during inflation in the UK, in order to try to counteract the decrease in the value of money, due precisely to this phenomenon, which unfortunately seems to be running more and more in recent months. In addition to inflation, there are those who prefer short-term investments, because they often prefer to shift the capital they have between different options. Other contributors, on the other hand, prefer long-term and relatively low-risk investments; these are often the preferred speculations of those who are trying to prepare some sort of parachute for retirement. In the UK, however, the average investor tends to diversify his or her portfolio in a variable way, so that he or she can partly control the risk that can be taken with specific financial instruments.
Types of investments
But what are the most popular investments among UK citizens? As already mentioned, in the United Kingdom there is a wide variety of investment option, from savings accounts and pension plans to stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. Savings accounts, such as ISAs, are particularly common as they offer some tax benefits to their holders. Interest rated can be fixed or variable and there are different types of ISAs to meet the needs of as many people as possible. Then, self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) are optional pensions that many decide to open to top up other pension schemes such as the workplace pension or the State pension. On the other hand, there are stocks and shares, which involve a buy and sell on the stock market, thus they are high-risk investments, as investors can earn or lose the money depending on the market fluctuations. Bonds are loans investor give to a company or government and they accrue interest over time. When it comes to bonds, it is important to know that they have a pre-determined maturity date: when it matures, the investor gets the initial investment back. Bonds are generally short-term investments as they mature in one to four years. Mutual funds are a collection of stocks and bonds overseen by an investment specialist. As they include a great variety of investments, they are diversified, thus it is possible to reduce the risk. As a matter of fact, if an investment in a particular area performs badly, other ones in different areas will counteract.
