Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
The 5-Minute Investing Starter Checklist You Need in 2026
Ruby Layram
9th Jun 2026
Most people don’t fail to invest because they don’t understand investing. They fail to invest because they never get around to starting.
I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve spoken to who have spent months (or even years) reading about investing, listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos, yet still haven’t actually invested a single pound.
The truth is that getting started is often much simpler than people think.
If you’ve already done a bit of research and understand the basics, this five-minute checklist can help you stop overthinking and take action.
Step 1: Decide Why You’re Investing
Before you invest a penny, ask yourself one simple question:
What am I investing for?
Your answer doesn’t need to be complicated.
Perhaps you’re investing to:
- Build long-term wealth
- Retire comfortably
- Create a second income
- Beat inflation
- Give your children a financial head start
Having a goal helps you stay focused when markets inevitably become volatile.
Because trust me, at some point they will.
When that happens, it’s much easier to stay invested if you know why you started in the first place.
Also read: How to get into investing in 2026
Step 2: Open an Investment Account
You don’t need a financial adviser to start investing.
Today, opening an investment account can take less time than ordering a takeaway.
Popular UK platforms include:
For many beginners, a Stocks and Shares ISA is a great starting point because any growth and income can be free from UK tax.
Don’t spend weeks trying to find the “perfect” platform.
The best investing account is often the one you actually open.
Step 3: Choose One Simple Investment
This is where many people get stuck.
They think they need to build a portfolio of 20 different investments before they can begin.
You don’t.
Many successful investors start with a single broad-market index fund.
For example:
- An S&P 500 ETF
- A Global Index Fund
- An All-World ETF
These funds instantly give you exposure to hundreds or even thousands of companies.
Instead of trying to pick tomorrow’s winning stock, you’re investing in the market as a whole.
Simple often beats complicated.
Step 4: Invest an Amount You’re Comfortable With
A surprising number of people think they need thousands of pounds to start investing.
You don’t.
The most important thing isn’t how much you start with.
It’s that you start.
Whether it’s:
- £100
- £500
- £1,000
The goal is to get your money working for you.
Investing a smaller amount today is usually better than waiting six months for the “perfect” moment.
Because that perfect moment rarely arrives.
Read: How to start investing with little money
Step 5: Set Up a Monthly Investment
This is the step that can make the biggest difference over time.
Once you’ve made your first investment, set up an automatic monthly contribution.
Even £100 per month can add up surprisingly quickly over the years.
Regular investing offers several benefits:
- Builds consistency
- Removes emotion from investing
- Helps smooth out market ups and downs
- Turns investing into a habit
Think of it like paying your future self first.
The less you have to think about investing, the more likely you are to stick with it.
The Biggest Mistake New Investors Make
It’s not choosing the wrong investment.
It’s waiting.
Many people spend months trying to:
- Predict the next market crash
- Find the perfect stock
- Time the market
- Read every investing book ever written
Meanwhile, investors who simply got started are already building wealth.
You don’t need perfect knowledge to begin investing.
You just need enough knowledge to take the first step.
The rest can be learned along the way.
My Personal Investing Starter Formula
If I were starting from scratch today, I’d keep things incredibly simple:
- Open a Stocks and Shares ISA
- Invest around £500 to get started
- Put most of it into a broad index fund
- Set up a £100 monthly contribution
- Ignore the daily market noise
That’s it.
No complicated trading strategies.
No constant monitoring.
No trying to predict what the market will do next.
Just a straightforward plan designed to benefit from long-term growth.
Final Thoughts
Investing often feels intimidating because we tend to focus on everything that could go wrong.
But the reality is that most successful investors aren’t doing anything particularly complicated.
If you’ve been thinking about investing for a while, use this checklist as your cue to stop researching and start doing.
Five minutes from now, you could have taken the first step towards building long-term wealth.
And future you will probably be very glad that you did.
MoneyMagpie is not a financial adviser. Investments can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. Always do your own research before investing.
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