How to Invest in Index Funds on InvestEngine

This guide will take you through the process of investing in funds on InvestEngine.

We’ll explain and simplify every step so that it makes sense even if you’re a complete beginner to index funds.

We’re going to sign up, create a Stocks & Shares ISA, set up a portfolio, and then invest in it.

Finally, we’ll show you how to set up a recurring monthly investment, something InvestEngine calls a ‘Savings Plan’.

Please note: the fund we invested in is shown for example purposes only – it’s not a fund recommendation.

1. Claim up to £50 in free cash

You can get up to £50 in free cash when you join InvestEngine via our link and invest at least £100. Terms apply. Investments have risk.

2. Click ‘Get started’

On the InvestEngine home page, click ‘Get started’.

3. Select your investor type

Select ‘Individual’ as your investor type unless you’re investing on behalf of a business.

4. Add and verify your email

Next, you’ll need to enter an email and set a password for your account.

Then, check your email inbox and click on the verification link.

5. Complete the registration process

After verifying your email, click ‘Finish registration to start investing’ if the registration fields don’t automatically open.

Fill out your gender, name, date of birth, phone number, address, citizenship (type ‘United Kingdom’ if you live in the UK), and National Insurance number to verify your identity.

Then, enter your bank’s sort code and account number to enable deposits and withdrawals.

Next, add your source of wealth information.

Finally, read and choose whether you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Risk Disclosure Statement.

6. Under ‘ISA’, click ‘Open an ISA’

After clicking ‘Open an ISA’ you’ll have to read and agree to the ISA declaration if you wish to continue.

This is a legal declaration – ensure you have read and understood it before deciding to proceed.

7. Under ‘ISA’, click ‘Create ISA portfolio’

8. Choose ‘Do it yourself’ or ‘Managed for you’

In this guide, we’re focusing on the ‘Do it yourself’ investment service. Selecting this option means you’ll choose your own funds to invest in.

The ‘Managed for you’ service is a paid option offered by InvestEngine, where they build and manage your portfolio on your behalf. As we don’t use this service, we can’t give further instructions for this method. If you have any questions about this option, contact InvestEngine or speak with a qualified financial advisor. We’re not financial advisors and do not provide financial advice.

9. Choose the fund(s) you wish to invest in

The next thing you’re going to do is choose the fund (or funds) you wish to invest in.

There are hundreds of options to search through; you will need to research to ensure you’re picking the right funds for you.

There are several filters to help narrow down your choices.

For example, if you’re not interested in bonds or commodities (like gold and silver), and only want to invest in the stock market, you can filter to ‘Equities’.

If you know you want a Vanguard fund, you can filter by ‘Provider’ and select ‘Vanguard’.

For the purpose of this example, we’re going to choose the iShares S&P 500 fund, which has the ticker ‘CSP1’.

Because this is an example investment, we’re not going to talk about the fund we chose in any further detail. Do your own research, reach your own decisions, and consult a qualified financial advisor if you’re unsure.

At this stage, you can choose to ‘Invest now’ or ‘Add to portfolio’.

Select ‘Add to portfolio’ to start building your portfolio that invests in multiple funds.

Then, click ‘Create new portfolio’.

Next, select any other funds you wish to invest in. Do this by repeating the same process as when selecting your first fund.

When you’re happy with the funds you’ve added, click ‘Continue’.

10. Set portfolio weights

After clicking ‘Continue’, InvestEngine will prompt you to set your portfolio weights.

This allows you to set how much of your investment you wish to go to each fund when depositing cash.

As we’ve only selected one fund in our example, the weight can only be 100%.

The total weight of your investments must always add up to 100%. For example, you could have three funds in your portfolio split as 40% / 30% / 30%, or any other combination that adds up to 100%.

Click ‘Review and continue’, ensure you’re happy with your portfolio breakdown, then click ‘Save and continue’.

Congratulations, you’re now ready to start investing!

11. Deposit funds

Click Invest on your portfolio, then click ‘Add cash’.

If you already added a bank account during the sign-up process, you can select the account and complete an ‘Instant Transfer’.

Enter the amount you wish to add; we’re using £100 in this example as it’s the minimum required to qualify for InvestEngine’s £50 cash offer.

12. Decide if you want to ‘AutoInvest’

If you activate AutoInvest, your deposit will automatically be invested into the fund(s) you selected in your portfolio. It will be invested based on the portfolio weighting you assigned earlier.

If you turn AutoInvest on, you just need to complete your deposit and your funds will automatically be purchased. This process happens once per day, so purchases won’t show up immediately.

If you don’t want to use the AutoInvest feature, you’ll need to manually complete the buy order on the fund (follow the remaining steps below). You’ll also need to manually complete buy orders every time you deposit.

13. Complete deposit

Next, complete the steps on screen to deposit.

If using a PC, you might have to scan a QR code with your phone to connect your mobile banking app.

After this, it will take up to a minute to complete your deposit.

Click ‘Continue’.

If you chose to use AutoInvest, you can now skip to step 16.

14. Click ‘Invest’

If you chose not to use the AutoInvest feature, you can invest the cash you deposited by clicking ‘Invest’ within your portfolio.

Enter the amount you wish to invest across your portfolio. We’re using our entire £100 deposit, but you can invest as much as you’d like. Then click ‘Review order’.

If you didn’t set a name for your portfolio yet, a generic name like ‘DIY 1’ might appear – this is normal and you can change the name later.

15. Review & confirm

Check the information on screen, ensure you’ve selected the fund you wished to buy, then click ‘Confirm’ once you’re happy with everything.

Remember, all investments have risk and can decrease in value. We’re not financial advisors.

16. Set up a Savings Plan

If you chose to invest with a lump sum earlier on, you still have the option to set up an ongoing investment on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.

If you wish to do this, click onto your portfolio within the InvestEngine Dashboard.

Next, click ‘Options’.

Then, click ‘Set up a Savings Plan’.

Finally, set the amount you wish to invest and how often you wish to do so.

And that’s it! That concludes the process of signing up with InvestEngine, creating a portfolio, purchasing index funds*, and setting up an ongoing investment.

*InvestEngine only offers ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds). These are slightly different to index funds because of the way they’re traded, but they’re similar overall. We’ve used the two terms interchangeably to keep this guide beginner-friendly.

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