You should only invest what you can afford. You may want to:

• Use a one-off payment.
• Pay money regularly into a plan.

Lump Sum – Make sure you won’t need any of this cash for anything else. Investment plans should be seen as long term. If you are unsure, don’t invest the whole of your lump sum. You could put part of into a deposit account that you can use for other things.

Regular Payments – These would usually be monthly or annually. Check that you can keep up the payments. It’s easy to over commit yourself at the start and then find you can’t keep up the level that you have chosen. If you are not sure about how much you’ll be able to pay in the future, then go for a flexible plan that allows you to vary the payments.