Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
5 Investing Habits to Become a Smarter Investor in 2025
Ruby Layram
12th Dec 2024
At MoneyMagpie, we’re passionate about helping our readers become informed investors who can make confident decisions.
Luckily, becoming an intelligent investor doesn’t always require a degree in finance! Instead, adopting the right investing habits can help anyone improve their skills and make better decisions about where to put their money.
Here are 6 investing habits that you should try to adopt in 2025 to become a smarter investor.
1. Dollar cost averaging
Dollar-cost averaging is a popular investment strategy where you consistently invest a fixed amount of money at regular intervals, regardless of what the market is doing.
This approach helps to reduce the impact of market volatility (a fancy term for instability) on your investments, as you spread your investments throughout the year rather than putting all of your money on the line at once.
By spreading out your investments over time, you can lower your average cost per share and minimize the risk of making poor investment decisions based on short-term market fluctuations.
Moreover, dollar cost averaging can help to reduce the stress that often comes with investing. We’ve all been there, finger hovering over the ‘BUY’ wondering whether or not we should take the leap!
With dollar cost averaging, you don’t need to worry about timing the market perfectly, you just invest on autopilot at predetermined intervals.
2. Reading the news
I know, the news can be dull (sorry to anyone who is a fan of The Economic Times!). However, it can also be incredibly useful for us investors.
A great trick to make financial news more digestible is to copy it into ChatGPT and ask the AI to “summarize this news post in an easy-to-understand way”. You get an output that highlights the key takeaways from the news post without needing to spend hours unpicking it yourself.
Of course, it’s always wise to act with caution when it comes to AI. However, I have found this trick to be pretty brilliant!
By keeping up with the news, you can spot opportunities before they arise and protect your portfolio from sudden movements.
In 2025, why not start a habit of reading 3 financial news articles a day? Reuters and Bloomberg are pretty reliable sources.
3. Invest when you shop
One of my favourite habits, that I started in 2024, is to invest a little bit of money each time that you go on a shopping spree.
This isn’t a scientifically proven strategy. However, it is a great way to get into the habit of investing money regularly (especially if you like shopping as much as I do!). Since starting this habit, I’ve also found myself thinking more about my purchases which has turned me into a more conscious consumer.
Where possible, try to match the investments that you make with your purchases. For example, if you’re tempted by a new pair of shoes, consider putting money behind a retailer such as Marks and Spencer or Next.
I recommend using an investment platform that offers a low minimum investment – such as IG which offers a minimum of £3 per share for UK shares. This will make it easy for you to keep up with the habit over time.
4. Follow an economic calendar
Keeping up with an economic calendar is like having a backstage pass to the concert of the financial world—you’re in the know before the crowd goes wild!
By tracking key events like interest rate announcements and employment reports, you can anticipate market movements and make informed investment decisions.
Think of it as your personal investment GPS, guiding you through the twists and turns of the economy.
You can find a few free economic calendars online. My favourites are Investing.com and the eToro economic calendar.
These tools can seem a bit overwhelming at first. I recommend filtering out the noise and focusing on the most impactful events.
5. Revisit your portfolio
As a beginner, it’s easy to make one investment decision and then leave things sitting for years.
Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with holding assets for the long-term (this actually gives your money more time to grow!). However, it’s also important to know when to let things go and have a bit of a reshuffle.
Make it a habit to review your portfolio once every few weeks. This doesn’t have to be a huge job. But, it’s wise to assess how your investments are doing and whether or not they align with your long-term goals.
Here’s a brief overview of how to do it:
- Set a schedule: Make it a habit to review your portfolio every few weeks or at least quarterly. Consistency is key!
- Evaluate performance: Look at how each investment has performed. Are they meeting your expectations? Identify any underperformers that may need to be sold.
- Align with goals: Check if your current investments align with your long-term financial goals. If your goals have changed, your portfolio may need to change too.
- Diversification check: Ensure your portfolio is diversified across different asset classes (stocks, bonds, real estate, etc.) to minimize risk.
- Rebalance as needed: If certain investments have grown significantly, they may take up a larger portion of your portfolio than intended. Consider selling some of these to reinvest in underrepresented areas.
By following these steps, you can ensure your investment portfolio remains aligned with your financial goals and market conditions!
Building investing habits is an excellent way to set yourself up as a smart investor and make well-informed decisions. I recommend starting with one habit and gradually building up – this makes the process a bit less overwhelming!
If you’re looking for good investment opportunities to kickstart your 2025, have you considered a stocks and share’s ISA? This is a great way to get started with investing without having to worry too much and picking out stocks.
Are you interested in learning more about investing? Why not sign up to the MoneyMagpie bi-weekly Investing Newsletter? It’s free and you can unsubscribe at any time if you find it isn’t for you.
Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence. When investing your capital is at risk.
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