Before you start investing, assess your personal financial situation. Add up your income, your everyday and essential expenses and your existing financial commitments. The share of income you set aside for investing should not change even when unexpected expenses arise.

Set aside an easily accessible reserve. Adjust its size as your expenses, income and family needs change. If you lose your source of income, your reserve should cover at least six months of essential expenses. Access to the money matters: when markets fall, you should not have to sell investments to pay your bills.

If you have expensive consumer debt, compare its interest rate with the potential return on investments. Reducing debt can often be financially more beneficial than a risky investment.

Name a specific investment goal, such as a home deposit, your children’s education, retirement or long-term growth of wealth. Set a target amount and the date when you will start using the accumulated investments or return. Different goals require suitable financial instruments.

When investing for a shorter period (1–3 years), the priority is to preserve capital and keep sufficient liquidity – the ability to use your money. A longer period (5–10 years) allows you to invest in riskier and more volatile instruments, but a longer horizon by itself does not guarantee a profit.

Beginner investors should also consider how much time they can devote to investing. Passive long-term investing in diversified instruments, such as broadly diversified ETFs, takes far less time than active trading.

Before investing, consider how large a loss you could bear without undermining your financial stability. Investment risk includes not only price fluctuations but also the possibility of not getting your money back, not being able to sell the instrument when needed, or losing money due to exchange rate movements.

Also try to assess how you might react to a fall in the value of an investment. Even when investing for the long term, you must be prepared to tolerate larger swings in the value of your investment portfolio. If you needed the invested money in the short term, realised short-term losses could prevent you from reaching your long-term goal, regardless of your attitude to risk.

Choose instruments whose mechanics and risks you understand. Financial leverage can magnify both profits and losses, and if risk is not managed properly and minimum margin requirements are not met, the broker may forcibly close positions.

An investment portfolio is all the investments you hold. Build it around your investment goal, time horizon and acceptable risk. The fact that particular stocks or funds have recently risen does not show whether they suit your plan.

Spread your investments across different companies, sectors, countries and, if it fits your goal, asset classes. This is called diversification. It reduces dependence on a single investment but does not eliminate the possibility of loss. Also check whether the same companies appear in several of the funds you choose.

Learn the principles of one-, two- and three-fund portfolios. A single broadly diversified equity ETF can cover many companies but remains exposed to stock market movements. If you combine stocks and bonds, choose their proportions according to when you need the money and the swings you can accept.

Once you have chosen an asset class, examine the specific financial instrument. If you plan to buy stocks, assess the company’s business, financial position and share price. When choosing a bond, look at the issuer’s ability to repay, the maturity, the yield and the terms of the issue.

Before buying ETF units, check the fund’s holdings, the index it tracks, its investment strategy, management costs and how fund income (dividends, interest) is distributed. Consider the fund’s size, the trading liquidity of its units and currency risk. The fact that fund units trade in euros does not mean its investments are only in euros or protected against movements in other currencies.

Identify the chosen instrument by its ISIN code. On different exchanges its ticker symbol may differ, and similar names may be used for different instruments. On the fund manager’s website, read the key information document (KID) and other fund documents (prospectus, rules, etc.). The performance scenarios they present do not guarantee a return.

Before opening a securities account, check the licence of your chosen financial intermediary and the authority that supervises it. Learn which financial instruments are available and how client funds and securities are safeguarded. Compare fees for transactions, currency exchange, custody, account maintenance, securities transfers and other services.

Calculate your investment costs based on the amount you plan to invest and how often you plan to trade. For example, a €2 commission on €100 is 2%, and on €1,000 it is 0.2%. Also consider other costs, i.e. fund management costs, the difference between buying and selling prices, etc.

Securities account and the investment account regime

Separate opening an account from choosing a tax treatment. A securities account with an intermediary lets you invest, while the investment account regime is a separate tax treatment for permanent residents of Lithuania. To apply it, you must declare an eligible account to the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) and comply with the conditions of the investment account regime.

Under the investment account tax regime, tax on income from eligible investments is deferred until withdrawals exceed the contribution balance on the day of withdrawal. Earlier withdrawals reduce this balance. Dividends are taxed separately. Keep account statements and records of contributions and withdrawals.

Once you have opened a securities account, transfer funds for investing according to the intermediary’s instructions. Before making the transfer, check the beneficiary details and the payment reference. In the investment app or platform, find your chosen financial instrument by its ISIN code and check on which exchange it is traded.

Before confirming a buy order, review the quantity, the trade currency, the expected purchase value, commissions and the order validity period. Check whether the price data shown on the platform is delayed. After submitting the order, check its status: submitting an order alone does not confirm that you have bought the instrument.

Regular investing means investing a chosen amount at a set frequency, for example every month. Set the contribution amount and purchase date based on your income and expenses. Regular, automatic purchases make it easier to stick to a plan set in advance.

If you want to automate investing, combine two steps. In your bank, set up a standing transfer to the securities account opened with Myriad capital, and in the app, set up a recurring purchase of a suitable financial instrument (“Recurring Investment”). Choose the purchase date so that the transferred funds have time to reach the investment account.

Before enabling automatic purchases, make sure the chosen instrument supports this feature, what the minimum purchase amount is and which trading commissions apply. Afterwards, regularly check that the account has sufficient funds and that the planned purchases go through.

Decide in advance when you will review your investments, for example every six months or once a year, and when your financial situation changes. When reviewing your investment portfolio, assess whether your original investment goal is still relevant, how much time is left until the end of your planned investment horizon and the use of the invested money, and whether the current portfolio risk is still acceptable to you.

When the prices of the financial instruments in your portfolio change, their shares (weights) in the portfolio may change too. If you want to restore the proportions set in your investment strategy, rebalance the portfolio. Before selling or buying instruments, consider transaction costs and tax consequences. In some cases you can return to the target proportions by directing new contributions to the instruments that make up a smaller share of the portfolio.

When assessing results, separate your own contributions from the return earned by your investments. For example, if you add €2,000 to a portfolio worth €10,000 and its value immediately rises to €12,000, the increase is a new contribution, not a gain. Before changing your investments, identify what has changed in your goals, financial situation or the instrument itself.