What is the minimum amount I can invest?

The smallest amount you can invest depends on what you are investing in, not on a single national rule. Investment trusts and many funds accept regular contributions from around £50 a month, and a lump sum from about £100¹. Some platforms have no set minimum for shares beyond the cost of the individual share⁴. NS&I goes lower still: its Junior ISA starts at £1⁵.

What you are choosing between is a minimum contribution and a minimum holding. A fund or trust sets the smallest amount it will accept, either monthly or as a one-off. A platform sets the smallest amount it will let you open an account with. Those two numbers are often different, and the one that matters is whichever is higher for the product you want.

The other number people confuse with a minimum is the ISA allowance. That is a ceiling, not a floor: £20,000 a year across your ISAs⁶. You can put in far less, or nothing at all, and the allowance simply resets each tax year.

Many investments start from £1 to £100

The floor for most stock market investing sits between £1 and £100, and which end you land on depends on the product rather than the provider's size.

At the low end, NS&I's Junior ISA accepts from £1 up to £9,000 in the tax year 2026/27⁵. NS&I's Direct Saver also starts from £1, with a maximum of £2 million¹¹. These are savings products rather than investments, so the money does not rise and fall with markets.

For funds and investment trusts, the common entry point is around £50 a month or £100 as a lump sum¹. Hargreaves Lansdown's Fund and Share Account says you can start from £100 as a lump sum or £25 if you invest monthly³, and its fund guidance puts the usual range at £100 as a lump sum or £25 per month¹². Bestinvest asks for a minimum of £50 to open an account, so there is something in it once you log in¹³, and £50 for most investments¹⁴.

Some products set the bar much higher. J.P. Morgan's Income Investing option asks for £10,000 or more¹. That is not a platform minimum but a product one, and it reflects the strategy rather than the account.

Minimums by type: funds, shares, ISAs and pensions

Each type of investment sets its own floor, and they are not comparable with each other.

Funds. A fund pools money from many investors, so you buy a slice of a large portfolio rather than a whole share. Regular contributions commonly start from around £50 a month, depending on the fund². Hargreaves Lansdown puts the usual range at £100 as a lump sum or £25 per month¹². Because you are buying into a pool, the minimum is set by the fund manager and can be as low as the platform allows.

Shares. Buying shares directly works differently, because the smallest purchase is one share. Bestinvest, Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor do not have a set minimum investment for shares, beyond the cost of the individual share⁴. If a share trades at a low price, that is your minimum. If it trades high, your minimum is that price.

ISAs. A stocks and shares ISA is a wrapper around investments, not a product in itself, so the minimum comes from the provider. Barclays says you can open its Stocks and Shares ISA from as little as £50¹⁵. Fidelity says you can set up a regular savings plan from £25 or invest a lump sum from £1,000¹⁶. Bestinvest's Stocks and Shares ISA allows monthly savings from £50¹⁷. Both figures are given here because the sources have not been reconciled.

Pensions. A self-invested personal pension follows the same pattern as an ISA: the minimum is set by the provider, and regular contributions are usually lower than lump sums.

Regular monthly investing versus a lump sum

Almost every provider offers both routes, and the monthly minimum is usually lower than the lump sum minimum. That is deliberate: regular contributions spread your entry over time rather than committing a single amount on one day.

The figures are consistent across the market. Investment trusts can be bought from as little as £50 a month¹. The Association of Investment Companies puts regular investing at as little as £50 per month¹⁸. Bestinvest's minimum monthly investment into most funds is £50²⁰. HSBC says you can start investing with £50, whether as a lump sum, regular payments, or both²¹. Aegon's guidance makes the same point in plain terms: you do not need a big lump sum to get started, and any money you invest regularly gives your savings a chance to grow²².

On the lump sum side, the numbers cluster around £100. Hargreaves Lansdown's Fund and Share Account starts from £100 as a lump sum³, and its fund guidance gives the same figure¹². Fidelity's Investment Account asks for £1,000 as a lump sum, or £25 a month with a regular savings plan¹⁶.

There is a trade-off worth knowing about. Investing a lump sum puts all your money to work immediately, but at whatever price the market happens to be on that day. Investing monthly spreads the purchase price over time, which smooths the effect of a market that falls just after you buy. Neither is better in every case; they behave differently when markets move.

Stocks and shares ISA or Junior ISA: how little you can put in

The ISA allowance is the number most people know, but it is a maximum. You can open a stocks and shares ISA with far less than £20,000, and many providers let you start with a small monthly amount²³.

The allowance itself is £20,000 a year, which is the most you can save or invest across your ISAs in a tax year⁶. For a Junior ISA the allowance is £9,000 a year⁷. NS&I's Junior ISA accepts from £1 up to £9,000 in the tax year 2026/27⁵.

Provider minimums for a Junior ISA vary. RBS says you can invest an initial amount of £50 or set up a regular monthly payment from just £10²⁴. Interactive Investor describes Junior ISAs as coming in two types, including stocks and shares Junior ISAs that give access to stock market investments²⁵, and gives a minimum of £25 a month or a £100 lump sum²⁶. The two figures for the same provider's Junior ISA, £10 and £50, are both given here because the sources have not been reconciled.

One change is coming that affects how people use the full allowance. From April 2027, anyone wanting to use their full ISA allowance will need to invest at least £8,000 in a stocks and shares ISA²⁷. That is a rule about the split between cash and stocks and shares ISAs, not a minimum to open one.

High-risk investments with low minimums

A low minimum does not mean low risk, and some of the products with the smallest entry points carry the largest chance of losing money.

Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms often set minimums of £100. Crowd2Fund's Smart-Invest lets you set investment goals and invest as little as £100²⁸. These are not covered by the same protections as mainstream investments, and the FCA has published guidance explaining what high-risk investments are and the risks they carry since 28 October 2021²⁹.

Cryptoassets sit at the far end. You could lose all your money, and you may not be protected by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if something goes wrong³⁰. A low minimum makes it easy to start and equally easy to lose the whole amount.

Fixed-rate savings bonds are a different case: they are savings, not investments, and the minimum deposit is usually £100, with a maximum typically of £1,000,000³¹. NS&I's Green Savings Bonds start at £100 and run to £100,000³². These carry deposit protection rather than investment risk, so a low minimum here does not carry the same warning.

The pattern to notice is that the smallest minimums appear both at the safest end (government-backed savings) and the riskiest (crypto and crowdfunding). The minimum tells you nothing about the risk.

Where to get free help before you invest

Free, impartial guidance is available before you commit any money, and it costs nothing to use.

The Association of Investment Companies publishes a guide covering the ground a new investor needs: before you invest, top tips for investment planning, common mistakes, risk versus reward, what funds are and why to invest in them, the different types of investment trust, costs, getting financial advice, platforms, and ISAs, SIPPs and saving for children³³. Its new-to-investing section covers the same territory in more detail¹.

MoneyHelper, the government-backed service, explains savings products including cash savings bonds³¹. For anyone whose finances are stretched, StepChange's guidance on considering a payday loan sets out alternatives, and notes that the smallest amount you can borrow through a budgeting loan is £100³⁴. The government's own guidance on checking what financial help you can get from HMRC covers the same ground³⁵.

Before investing, it is worth asking a provider two questions the FSCS suggests: whether the product is covered by FSCS, and how much of your money is protected³⁶. If you are paying for advice, the FSCS suggests asking whether FSCS protects financial advice, what happens if the firm gives bad advice and fails, and whether advised products are FSCS protected if the provider fails³⁶.

What happens if an investment platform fails

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers investments up to £85,000 per eligible person, per firm, for a valid claim against a firm that has failed⁸. If the firm failed before 1 April 2019, the limit was £50,000³⁷. Older claims were handled differently again: for a firm that failed before 1 January 2010, the scheme covered 100% of the first £30,000 and 90% of the next £20,000, up to £48,000 per eligible person, per firm⁸.

This protection applies to the firm failing, not to your investments performing badly. If a fund you hold falls in value, the FSCS does not step in. It covers the situation where the platform or provider itself goes bust and cannot return your money.

For a stocks and shares ISA, the same limit applies: should your stocks and shares provider collapse, up to £85,000 of your investments will be protected²³. If you invested through a well-known platform such as Hargreaves Lansdown and it went bust, you would be covered by the FSCS³⁸.

There is a separate limit for bank deposits, which is up to £120,000 per eligible person, per bank, building society or credit union if the provider fails⁹. For a joint account, that is £240,000 for two holders⁹. Negligent investment advice and fraud are also covered up to £85,000, but only if the adviser or firm who gave the advice is unable to meet the claim³⁷.

What happens to money in a Child Trust Fund when it matures

Child Trust Funds were a government scheme for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011³⁵. Each eligible child received an initial government deposit of at least £250¹⁰, and the legislation set the initial contribution at £250 for children born from September 2002³¹. A later provision set the amount at £100 for a child who became eligible on or after the relevant 2010 date³². The two figures come from different provisions of the same legislation and have not been reconciled here.

The savings limit was initially £1,200 a year in non-government contributions³¹. The money belongs to the child and can only be taken out when they turn 18, though they can take control of the account at 16¹⁰.

If a child with a Child Trust Fund dies, the money in the account passes to the person entitled to inherit the child's estate, usually the parents, and no notification is required³³.