Investments made easy
See our top tips on making the most of your investments, from fees to funds, we’ve got you covered. Investment values can rise and fall.
Key points
- Clarify your financial goals before investing to ensure your choices match what you want to achieve.
- Spread investments across different asset types to reduce risk and create a balanced portfolio.
- Review your investments regularly to keep them aligned with your objectives and changing circumstances.
- Consider professional advice if you’re unsure about decisions or need extra confidence in your approach.
Investing is like a rollercoaster, some days there are ups, some days there are downs, not only with your money but also with the overall performance. There is also the possibility you could get back less than you originally invested.
We carried out a survey Footnote [1] to find out what people were doing to help try and ride out those highs and lows of the market.
Diversify
Making sure you scatter your seeds wisely when diversifying your portfolio can help to ensure you're spreading your risk across different funds or shares and risk profiles. Investing across different things should mean that even if one investment goes down, another may stay stable or could even go up. When asked we found out that only around 15% of people were invested in a diversified portfolio.
Keep an eye on fees
When you use an investment platform, you’ll usually be charged a fee; fees could include transaction, withdrawal and platform fees. You may only be charged some of these but equally you could be charged all of them. The lower the fee, the more of your investment returns you’ll get to keep, so it’s important to shop around to compare services and fees. Out of those asked around 8% of people said they didn't know how much they currently paid in fees and charges on their investments.
Stay in it for the long haul
Riding the waves of investments can sometimes be quite daunting. When asked, around 8% of people said that when their investments go down, they would transfer to another provider. But the performance of the investment isn’t determined by the provider, it’s determined by fund performance and what's happening in the economy, and often in the world in general.
Sometimes, making the most out of an investment means keeping it where it is. Some investments will weather the dips in the market and recover from the lows.
Invest little and often
When we asked people about investing, around 32% of the people we asked said they didn’t think they had enough money to invest. In our current climate spare cash is celebrated. You could think about it like this though.
You have £1,000 to invest (lucky you). You could either put it into a portfolio of funds, all at once, and hope that the market performs consistently well to increase your investment month on month. Or you could drip feed that £1,000 into the portfolio over the course of a year (or more).
This second approach is known as pound cost averaging, and it's a way to try to cushion your investment against market falls. It works because some months your investments will be more expensive if the market is doing well, but sometimes they will be cheaper if the market is down. So, the cost of your investments will average out over time. Pound cost averaging is also a great way to instil good investing behaviour: investing little and often and not trying to time the market. Whether you want to be hands-on with your investments or just monitor how they're doing from time to time, MyAviva allows you to check your Aviva Pension, Stocks & Shares ISA or Investment Account whenever you like.
In this video, Alistair McQueen, Head of Savings & Retirement at Aviva explains different ways you can invest and the main types of investment products, helping you understand how they work and their purpose.
Ways to invest and types of products
Transcript for video Ways to invest and types of products
Chapter 1: Ways to invest and types of products
This video is for educational purposes only. This should not be viewed as advice or a recommendation to invest.
Let's start by taking a closer look at some of the investment products that can hold your money, and how each might suit your goals. There are many products you could consider, and so to keep things simple in this short video I'll focus on three of the most common products. Stocks and Shares ISA's, pensions, and general investment accounts.
The value of an investment may go down as well as up and you could get back less than invested. Tax benefits are based on personal circumstances and are subject to change.
We'll begin with the Stocks and Shares ISA, or the Individual Savings Account. One of the most popular investment products in the UK.
Tax benefits are based on personal circumstances and are subject to change. Correct as of October 2025.
You can invest up to £20,000 each year into an ISA's in total, and the best part, any growth in an ISA is completely tax-free.
Then you've got pensions. In simple terms, if you're employed you can probably choose to invest in a workplace pension provided by your employer.
This usually includes employer contributions too. If you're self-employed or seeking an additional pension beyond your workplace pension, you can also consider a personal pension, often called a self-invested personal pension, or a SIPP. The principles underpinning all pensions are pretty much the same.
They're designed for longer term growth, so they're a powerful way to invest for your longer-term future. And as with ISA's, pensions carry tax advantages, such as tax relief on your pension contributions.
As with ISA's there's a limit on how much you can invest in pensions, and this is currently up to a maximum of £60,000 per tax year.
Tax benefits are based on personal circumstances and are subject to change. Correct as of October 2025.
A general investment account, as its name suggests, is an investment product that gives you general access to a wide range of underlying investments.
Unlike ISA's and pensions, however, it has no tax perks.
But the upside, there is no limit to how much you can invest in this general investment account. This flexibility can be handy for example, if you've maximised your ISA or pension allowances, or if you wanted to use wider investment options.
This video is for educational purposes only. This should not be viewed as advice or recommendation to invest. Investing offers the potential for better returns than cash savings over the long term (5+ years).
But there are risks, the value of your investments may go down as well as up, and you may get back less than invested. If you want advice on investment choices, then we’d recommend speaking to a financial adviser. There may be a charge for advice.
This video is part of our wider Each chapter is designed to work alone, so you can jump in wherever you like.
Make the most of your allowances
When you invest in a pension or an ISA you are given a limit on the amount you can put in. This is because you will get a tax benefit with these types of investment products. Tax benefits are subject to change, interpretation and depend on the individual's circumstances.
ISA allowance
With ISAs, you can pay in up to £20,000 a tax year (or £4,000 if paying into a Lifetime ISA). You can spread this allowance across all the different types of ISA products. You don't pay UK tax on any interest, capital growth or income your money earns in an ISA.
Pension allowances
Pension annual allowance
Now this one can be a bit more confusing because this has a few different conditions.
The annual allowance, which takes into account all pension savings built up for your benefit, is £60,000. This includes contributions paid by your employer, for example into a workplace pension.
You can only get tax relief on personal contributions up to your earnings. If you have no earnings, you can still put in £2,880 and get tax relief to bring the value up to £3,600.
The tapered annual allowance
A tapered annual allowance relates to those who are higher earners; if your threshold income is more than £200,000 and your adjusted income is more than £260,000 then your annual allowance begins to fall. For every £2 of income above the threshold, the annual allowance decreases by £1, up to a minimum limit. Find out more here.
Money purchase annual allowance
The money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) is a limit on the amount you can contribute to your pension once you've received taxable income from benefits you've accessed flexibly (e.g., through income drawdown). MPAA allows you to benefit from £10,000 of contributions - both personal and employer contributions count - before paying a tax charge. Don't forget you can still only get tax relief on personal contributions up to 100% of your earnings, even if they come to less than £10,000.
Pension carry forward
A carry forward allows you to use any unused annual allowance for the previous three tax years. It lets you optimise any previous allowance you hadn’t used before so you can make a larger contribution. This can only be used once you have used all of that year’s annual allowance.
It’s also important to remember that tax relief on your personal contributions is limited to your earnings in the current tax year. Carry forward cannot be used to increase the amount of tax relief you receive. Additionally, some pension schemes only accept contributions that qualify for tax relief. If so, you may not be able to use carry forward—for example, if you receive a non‑earnings lump sum and want to contribute it to your pension.
Lump sum allowance and lump sum and death benefit allowance
The lump sum allowance is how much you can be paid from all your pensions tax-free during your lifetime, and in 2026/2027 it’s £268,275. The lump sum and death benefit allowance is the tax-free limit for payments during your lifetime and on death – it’s currently £1,073,100. UK Income Tax is payable on any benefits taken above these limits.
The value of an investment can go down as well as up. You could get back less than invested.
If you’re unsure make sure you speak to your financial adviser to tailor your portfolio to your needs. If you don’t have one, did you know Aviva have financial advisers? They’ll sit down with you and help create a personal plan for you, focused on your investment goals. There will be a charge for advice.
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