Having a terrible history in personal finances I recently ended up moving house and using the spare cash raised to pay off all my debts/credit cards and finally after years I'm in a position where I have some spare cash every month (approx 500quid spare)
I'm now interested in doing something useful and learning about saving and investing... has anyone resently started from scratch like myself and where did you begin?
I'd like to:
a) Save a portion of my spare cash b) Risk some of it on something maybe like Penny Stocks etc.
I did log onto my bank (First Direct) to check out share dealing but they seem to open your account with 10,000 of share dealing money... not something I want (too risky for me to spend on credit!)
So...
a) If I want a high return on simple savings, where should I look? b) If I'm willing to risk say 250 a month in learning Penny Stocks where do I start out/limit losses, whose services do I use, what software do I use to track things? Any ideal reads, online books etc. I should read?
All a bit vague I guess but maybe someone else out there has been on the beginning line and made it??? Its a culture shock having any money left at all so I'm keen to begin learning and have my money earning :)