Hi, I live in the UK. would you think it’s wise to invest 5k into S&P 500 at the moment - hoping to leave the investment in there for a good few years.
There are lots of S&P 500 options on trade 212 which one would you recommend?
Thanks
you may want to consider cost averaging monthly rather that a lump sum, due to recession risks in the US and trump changing his mind everyday, there is a 3 month hold on tariffs not the end, plus a trade war with china.
US sentiment is low at the moment with people boycotting US goods, so it may need to play out before we know where this is going.
on the plus side the s&p 500 index is down close the 20% from all time high, pound is stronger against the dollar
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I would be very careful about delaying investment.
Remember time in the market is generally better than timing the market especially if you are a long term investor.
If you have the lump sum available then going for investing monthly would mean you would have to look at the interest/gain that you will get on the cash that you have not yet invested. Obviously if you have a regular income then a steady investment is better.
Reguarding the S&P 500 options. Assuming that you wish to invest in the whole of the S&P index (rather than a section of it) then, essentially, you choices are:
Accumulation or Distribution - that depends on what you wish to invest any distribution is. If you are going to reinvest it in the S&P 500 fund then in most situations accumulation is better.
Hedged or unhedged - effectively you are betting on how the value of GBP to USD is going to change. Generally ETFs which are unhedged have a lower TER.
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Why do you want S&P500, vs anything else.. we do not understand what your goals are so how can we comment?
If you have already allocated monies for this or any other long term investment, you should go ahead and invest. Most of the S&P500 ETFs listed in T212 has more than enough liquidity to not consider that aspect, go for the lowest cost option.
This is demonstrably the wrong approach and if you try to time your entrance you will most definitely fail. like most retail investors do. There are only a handful of examples of money managers that are consistently able to time the market, but I suspect if you were one of them you should not seek financial advice from random people on internet anyway 
This is the rule of the thumb.
Imagine if you had sold when the market dipped the other week, make sure your emergency fund pile is decent you don’t need to dip into investments!
so you would advocate putting all your savings into the US, instead of regular monthly payments, when there is risk of recession and the on going trade war with china, who could easily crash US economy by off loading a large amount of US debt (bonds) they hold. unlikely as it would crash their investment in US bonds, but we are talking about the egos of two individuals who nothing would surprise me.
further the tariff war trump started is only on a 3 month suspension, this needs to play out.
yes time in the market is better than timing the market, but there are also terrible moments to enter. trump could change his mind tomorrow and the market recovers, proving to be the right suggestion, there are serious risks of the opposite happening at the moment as well
Time in the market generally trumps timing the market(unless your one of Trump’s pals). That said you can earn what 4.5% right now and drip more in over time.
Just ensure you don’t drip in anything you might need access to in say the near 5 years or so.
As you imply no one knows what is going to happen, so why worry about it. Ultimately you have to invest according to the risks that you are prepared to stomach.
Regarding lump sum v regular savings. Yes, regular savings are better because you will money-average the investments. However, the original question was when to make those investments. The question is how much interest/gain will you make on the lump sum that you have delayed investing. If you think that the market is about to collapse then put almost everything into cash and drip-feed monthly payments. However, if you think that you can make more gain than from cash then make a lump sum now.
Almost no one can time the market, so please do not try. If you have a lump sum available now then put it into the investment that you think will produce the highest gain/interest that matches your risk. Diversity is a good strategy.
Have a look at https://monevator.com/low-cost-index-trackers/ for some suggestions
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