A beginners guide to investing

New to investing? These simple tips will help make your investing experience more comfortable

Irish Life research has shown that just under half of us (47 per cent) have a deposit account – with an average amount of €32,000. Among deposit account holders, 46 per cent are concerned that their money is not working as hard as it could be and over half are not happy with their returns.¹

Despite the amount of money on deposit, less than half of Irish adults claim to have invested money previously. Three in five who have invested their money on deposit for five years or more may need to consider that their money could be working harder if they reviewed their options.¹

Taking some time to develop an understanding of the investments to best suit your financial goals, will get you on the right track.

Are you ready to invest?

Before you begin your journey, explore your investment needs. Ask yourself:

- Find out what kind of investor you are – and how much risk you’re willing to take on

- How much access to your money do you need? The longer you invest your money the better the returns tend to be - however you should consider if you will need access to your funds in the meantime and factor this in

- What are your long-term goals? Consider how comfortable you would be with up and downs in the value of your investment

Irish Life, Ireland’s No.1* company for investments, developed Irish Life MAPS, a range of five multi-asset portfolio funds to suit different types of investors. They are available on Irish Life’s investments plans, and now have over 2.6 billion invested by more than 45,000 Irish Life MAPS customers.

With multi-asset funds money is invested across a range of different asset types including shares, properties, bonds and commodities. It has the potential to grow at a faster rate than inflation, meaning the value of your investment has the opportunity to achieve a higher return for you in the long-term. Naturally, funds with a higher potential for growth, also have a greater potential for loss. So, that’s why Irish Life has a range of options to suit your needs.

Start your investment journey with these three easy steps:

Step one- Get your investor profile

Find out what type of investor you are by visiting irishlife.ie and taking the quick investor profile test. “The online test has straightforward questions,” says Teresa Carolan, Investment Funds Manager at Irish Life. “The results provide a picture of things like your risk appetite and your attitude to investing.”

“This helps to give a more accurate assessment of you as an investor – are you a low risk investor who’s only ever had money on deposit and is more cautious when it comes to your money? Or maybe you’re a bit more adventurous, having invested in the past and knowing a little more.”

Step two - Match to the fund that suits

Once you have discovered your investor profile, you can see the Irish Life MAPS fund that matches your attitude to risk. There are five different fund types in the range. For example, if your Investor Profile is “balanced”, Irish Life MAPS Fund 4 could be right for you. As a balanced investor, you accept that to get a good potential return on your money, you would expect to see some movement up and down in the value of your investment from time to time.

Step three - See the expected range of returns

Once you’ve completed steps one and two, you can then view the estimated range of returns for that fund over different time periods. Investments can fall as well as rise and returns cannot be guaranteed but this may give you an indication of what you could get if the fund performs as expected.

“When you keep your money on deposit, you know what you’re going to get back each year” says Carolan. “People may be reluctant to invest because they don’t know for certain what they may get back. While investment returns cannot be guaranteed, we can help by showing you an estimated range of returns.”

“Once you have followed the three steps, the next key thing is to talk to a financial broker or advisor. They will go through your specific requirements, in terms of all your short term outgoings, longer term financial needs and what you want to achieve, all of which they will take into account in helping you to identify the investment that best suits you.”

Start your journey with Irish Life MAPS today seeirishlife.ie

Warning: The value of your investment may go down as well as up.

Warning: If you invest in these funds you may lose some or all of the money you invest.

Warning: Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance.

Warning: These funds may be affected by changes in currency exchange rates.

*Irish Life is No.1 for investments based on market share for unit-linked investments 2016

¹Irish Life Research October 2016. All other information April 2017.

Irish Life Assurance plc is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.