In 2019 I was standing in my local library holding a book about money, feeling slightly ridiculous.
I was in my late forties. I had a career, a family, a mortgage, and absolutely no idea whether I would ever be able to retire. Investing was something other people did. People with finance degrees. People who understood the acronyms. Men in gilets who talked about the markets at dinner parties.
The book was The Wealth Chef by Ann Wilson. I took it home, read it, and did something that genuinely scared me: I opened an investment account and put real money into an index fund.
That was seven years ago.
Today I manage five accounts on one platform: a SIPP I built by tracking down and consolidating three old pensions I had almost forgotten existed, a stocks and shares ISA, a trading account, and two Junior ISAs for my children after their grandfather gifted them money and trusted me to do something sensible with it.
I am not a financial adviser. I am not a finance professional. I am an online marketing consultant who spent years believing investing was not for people like me, found out that was rubbish, and cannot quite keep that discovery to myself.
Why this site exists
Investing Adventures is the site I needed in 2019.
Not a comparison table built by a company earning commission on every click. Not a finance bro on YouTube shouting about crypto. A real woman, a bit further down the path, saying: here is what I actually did, here is what it cost, here is what I got wrong, and here is how you can start.
I write detailed, honest reviews of UK investment platforms, including the one I have used for seven years and the ones I researched and chose not to use. I write guides for women who are starting later than they would have liked and quietly wondering if they have missed the boat.
You have not missed the boat. I promise you that. I started at an age most guides pretend doesn’t exist, and the single biggest difference between the woman I was in that library and the woman writing this page is not knowledge, or confidence, or spare cash.
It’s that I started.
What you will find here
Honest platform reviews based on real research and, where I have it, real personal experience. Beginner guides written in plain English, unapologetically with no jargon and no shame. The occasional hard truth about fees, because the difference between a good platform and an expensive one compounds over decades.
What you will not find: get rich quick schemes, crypto tips, stock picks, or anything I would not say to a friend across my kitchen table.
Where to start
If you are brand new, start with my guide on how to start investing in the UK. If you are ready to choose a platform, my best stocks and shares ISA comparison walks you through the decision properly.
And if you are standing where I stood in 2019, feeling slightly ridiculous and slightly terrified, come with me.
If I can do this, so can you.
I am not a financial adviser and nothing on this site constitutes financial advice. All investments carry risk and the value of your investments can go down as well as up. Please do your own research and consider seeking independent financial advice before making any investment decisions.