Why buy shares?
You've set up your online account and are ready to go.
So what's it all about?
Why invest in the stock market when the cash might be safer in a high interest savings account?
Well, despite what you may have heard to the contrary, the stock market still outperforms most other forms of saving.
And until recently that included ploughing cash into property.
The researchers have found that shares have returned 7pc annually over the past 50 years compared with around 2pc for more traditional forms of saving.
Why Buy Shares? Well, the FTSE 100 has almost doubled in value over the past ten years
BUT, and I can't stress this enough, the above is only true if you have a balanced share portfolio and you hold those shares over the long run - five to seven years say.
Doing that will iron out the up's and down's of the market - kinks such as the grand market correction of 2000 when stock market bubble burst.
'Ah,' I hear you cry. 'If stock market is such a canny investment, then why are the big pension funds moving their assets out of shares and into property and bonds?'
Good question.
As the market rollercoastered after 2000, it became apparent, belatedly some would say, that big pension funds should spread their risk.
That said, pension fund cash is still heavily invested in the London stock market.
But this rush into government bonds, or gilts as they are known, has come at a price.
The rate of interest received from bonds is now minuscule.