By default, i.e. unless you change this, all the money you pay into your savings account will be invested into the iShares S&P500 Index tracker. This is a great option to start with, and incidentally is the recommendation of Warren Buffet, the world’s most successful investment manager ever, for anyone who is not an expert investment manager. The average return over several decades is just under 10% per year, and because is gives you a little slice of ownership in 500 of the largest companies worldwide, is very diversified, relatively low-risk, and inflation-proofed by virtue of being linked to the earnings of those 500 companies. Additionally, Investors Trust provide suggested strategies for all three currency denominations, for conservative, balanced, and aggressive (growth) investors. You can see these, along with the past performance over several years, here: https://www.investors-trust.com/products/fund-platform/fund-strategies/
When you first open your account, start having a play around with the portfolio analysis tools from Morningstar, which are included in your online access. Consider it an investment – not a monetary investment, but a time investment, which will increase your own financial skillset – when you come across a word or phrase you don’t understand, look it up. There is a lot of information available online for all of the 300+ investment funds available to invest in via your savings plan – try to stick to the objective information rather than the random opinions of people, although of course it’s always worth listening to all opinions – just remember they are opinions, not necessarily facts.
In addition to the S&P500 Index tracker, there are other index trackers available if you want a different base currency (i.e. EUR or GBP, as the S&P is denominated in USD) – although we are very comfortable investing into the S&P500 Index with any base currency, because almost all of the 500 companies included in the index are global, and therefore have the currency risks mitigated in their own financial results, even though they’re mostly reported in USD.
If you would like to build up your own financial skillset over time, make sure to check out www.DestinyForNomads.com and stick your email address in the box in the footer. Our objective is to help you optimise your finances as a nomad, and whilst investment management is only one part of that, it will be covered, and we’ll be highlighting some of the resources we like and use to keep our own financial knowledge up-to-date, as well as providing lots of original thought-leading content.
We currently don’t offer personalised portfolio management services, but please don’t hesitate to ask us if you have any questions – we’re here to help! And in the meantime, if you’re not sure what to invest into – stick with the S&P500 tracker. It’s tried and tested, ultra-low-cost, has a very strong track record, and is an ideal place to invest your money whilst you’re learning new financial skillsets!