While the following content is intended to be educational, it does contain promotional material for Kaldi.

Yes, you can start investing with less than £100. Genuinely, properly, actually yes. In fact in many places (ahem, Kaldi) you can start from as little as £1.

This surprises many people because for decades, investing really did require serious money. Walk into a financial advisor's office in the 1990s with £100 and you'd have been politely shown the door. Minimum deposits sat at £1,000, sometimes £5,000. The entire system seemed designed to keep ordinary savers locked out.

The world of investing has grown beyond that.

How we got here

Old investment platforms were built for a different era. Brokers operated by phone, believe it or not. Share certificates arrived in the post. If you wanted shares, you bought whole ones – there were no fractions or flexibility.

Then something called the internet happened and technology caught up. Fractional shares let you own 0.05 of something expensive rather than saving for years to afford the full thing. Index funds became accessible, spreading tiny amounts across hundreds of companies. The machinery of modern finance was rebuilt, and the old barriers vanished.

What can I get for £100?

Look, £100 won't change your life overnight. But it breaks the seal, and that’s important. 

Put that money into a global index fund and you own small slices of thousands of businesses across dozens of countries. You're not betting on one company, but buying a tiny stake in a broad selection of the global economy. Oh, and the global econamy, historically, trends upward despite all the noise.

What’s more valuable than the financial return is that you’ll learn what investing feels like. Markets drop by 5% and you see your £100 become £95. Then they recover and you're back at £102. These experiences teach you the emotions involved that a book never could, and it's far less painful learning with £100 than with £10,000.

But £100 is just the starting point, the part where you get your foot through the door. Keep going, and you’ll meet your friend compounding. Let’s take a look at an example using a higher risk index fund investing £50 monthly over five years with an annual return between 7.57% - 11.49%.

After 5 years it could become £3,610 - £3,968. With only £3,000 of your own money investing. Keep it up for 10 years and it could become £8,810 - £10,801 with only £6,000 of your own money invested. More importantly, the habit becomes ingrained.

When you invest your capital is at risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Figures shown show a range of possible outcomes based on historical performance of Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Acc fund. Total returns are listed after fees. Please go to kaldiapp.co.uk/example-fund for more information on this calculation.

Why people dismiss small amounts (but shouldn't)

"What's the point of investing £100?" you might ask, right before ordering a £25 takeaway that’s forgotten about by tomorrow. We're oddly dismissive of amounts that could grow while being comfortable spending similar sums on things that vanish almost immediately.

Starting small gives you room to explore and even make mistakes without consequences that have a serious impact. It’s better to learn when your entire portfolio is £100 than when you've committed serious money.

Most people never invest because they're waiting for the "right moment" or the "right amount." They'll start when they have £1,000 saved. Then £1,000 becomes £2,000, which becomes "after I've done more research," which becomes never. The account that never opens returns exactly 0%.

When your spending does double duty

Finding £100 to invest feels all the more difficult when you're already stretched, and it’s not like the cost of living is cheap. It’s why some platforms (not naming any names but starts with a K and ends with i) have gotten smart about where that money comes from.

Okay, it’s us. We’re the smart platform. For instance, we give you cashback on everyday purchases (think 1% at Amazon, 3% at M&S, 7.5% at Starbucks and up to 10% at some retailers) and funnel it straight into investments. Your weekly shop, coffee runs, online orders and everything in between all generate returns that add to your portfolio. The app does this automatically by investing in index funds, so you're not manually transferring cashback or remembering to invest it. It just happens in the background while you get on with life.

You're not choosing between enjoying life now and saving for later, as both happen simultaneously. That £100 suddenly feels achievable when part of it is coming from rewards off the back of spending you were doing anyway.

Where to put it

If you’re starting small, tax efficiency matters more than trying to outsmart the market. A Stocks and Shares ISA shelters it from the taxman, including growth, dividends and any profits you make along the way.

Most people use these ISAs to hold more than one broad, diversified investment funds that track the market rather than individual stocks. That means your money is spread across many companies and grows with the market over time, instead of relying on picking winners.

You can invest up to £20,000 a year tax free, though if you’re starting with £100 that limit probably isn’t your immediate concern. What matters is that your first £100 and any future contributions all sit in the same tax-efficient wrapper, so growth compounds without being chipped away as your balance builds.

As ever, tax treatment depends on personal circumstances and is subject to change in the future.

Don’t look at the numbers

Can you start investing with less than £100? Obviously yes. Should you? Well, that depends on your circumstances and not some arbitrary threshold.

If you've got debts charging 20% interest, pay those first. If you've literally nothing saved for emergencies, build a small buffer before investing anything. But once you've covered the basics and have money you won't need to touch for five years? Then a small start beats waiting indefinitely for conditions to be perfect.

Markets care about time rather than timing. They don't distinguish between the person who invested £50 ten years ago and the person who waited for the "right moment" that never came. One of them has returns. The other has excuses.

Whether it's £50, £100, or cashback from your regular shopping, starting beats waiting. Always has, always will.

Just remember, when you invest your capital is at risk. The value of investments can go up or down and you may get back less than you put in. Tax treatment depends on personal circumstances and is subject to change in the future. Investing may not be suitable for everyone. Consider your own financial situation and investment goals, and seek independent financial advice if needed.

Take control of your financial future and start investing with £100 or less