Kanye West gave wife Kim Kardashian a present of shares that have already made £23k – here’s how you can invest like him from as little as £100
IT'S not a bad Christmas present - or a bad little earner either.
Kanye West splashed the cash and bought wife Kim Kardashian almost £100,000 worth of shares in some of the world's biggest companies in December.
And just two months later, the 37-year-old reality star has already made a tidy £23,000 thanks to the performance of two of her stocks - Amazon and Adidas - while Disney and Apple have dipped in value.
But you don't need to be as rich as Kanye and Kim to play the market - in fact you can start investing and growing your money for a small amount each month.
The Sun Online has teamed-up with investment expert Anthony Morrow of online platform evestor to find out what you need to know.
He said: "Everyone has the opportunity to be like Kanye and Kim and invest their cash, whether you've got £100 or £1million to play with.
"But for first timers, there are some simple rules that should be followed."
Know the risks
It's called playing the market for a reason - you can win and lose and if you invest there is no guarantee you'll get your money back.
Make sure you can afford to part with your cash and remember that unlike with normal savings accounts, you most likely won't be able to withdraw your money at any time.
It's for the long term
Even though Kim has made a whopping profit on her shares in a short space of time, you also need to remember that investing is for the long-term - we're talking as long as 10 or 20 years to let your money grow and hopefully make a nice profit.
In the investing world, there's something called a time horizon, which is the period you've set aside to be invested for you to meet your financial goal.
So if you're happy to invest for 20 years, you'll want to think about putting your money in riskier investments as you have the chance to ride-out any losses over such a long time.
If you're serious about saving for your future, it'll be worth you seeking professional advice about the best way to meet your goal as well.
If you can't or don't want to tie your money up for that amount of time, then you could well be better off sticking your money in a top-paying savings account instead.
Beginner investing: what you need to know
The world of stocks and shares can be an exciting - and profitable. Here's what you need to know.
There are no guarantees - It's worth repeating. Investing is risky and you could lose all your money, so only invest if you're sure you can do without the money.
Think long-term - Don't think you'll be walking off with a fortune as soon as you start investing. It's recommended you invest for at least 10 years in order to give your money the best chance of growing and riding out any short-term crashes in the market.
Know your attitude towards risk and diversify - If you're invested for the long-term you can afford to choose higher-risk investments. Professional and amateur investors all choose from a range of different sectors and assets to make sure that if one stock crashes badly, the other investments aren't affected.
Watch out for charges - Always make sure you know how much you'll be charged by providers for them managing your money. If you're only investing small amounts, your returns could be eaten into dramatically so shop around and make sure you're clear about what you'll pay.
What investment is right for you?
You can invest in pretty much anything.
The main starting point for most beginner investors is to put their money into an account called a Stocks and Shares Isa.
This type of account let you put up to £20,000 a year into the stock market and lets you invest in range of things like individual companies (shares), and corporate or government bonds (where your money is lent to a company or a government in return for interest) and typically funds.
Funds are a popular choice for investors - they pool together money from lots of different people and are run by professional investment managers.
They're made-up of different "assets" - like bonds and shares - and as they're run by a professional, it takes away the pressure from picking and choosing your own investments.
If you fancy yourself as an expert and want to choose individual shares you can set up an account with an online broker to begin dealing - make sure you know how much you'll be charged by your provider to trade.
How much do I need to invest and how much can I make?
One of the most well-known financial providers, , will let you open a Stocks and Shares Isa with as little as £100 or with a direct debit of £25 a month.
It's virtually impossible to answer how much you can make investing as it's totally dependent on how your choices perform in the market.
But if you put £100 away each month into an Isa and your picks - known as your "portfolio" - achieve a 5 per cent growth, after five years your total pot will be worth £6,809 - with your £6,000 savings earning £809.
If you put in £50 a month, you'll have paid in £3,000 over five years and earn £404 on five per cent growth.
Too highlight how important long-term thinking is too, the graph above shows how much you could make if invested £100 a month for 22 years.
You would save £26,400 over that length of time - but your investment with assumed 5 per cent growth - would mean your pot is worth a massive £47,448.
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