December brings with it all kinds of spending needs. Therefore, not everyone will wonder whether it is worth allocating some free funds to start investing.

But if not December, then when?

January may seem like an obvious deadline, but that means waiting until next year (even if it’s only a few weeks away).

The reality is that even after Christmas is over, there are always spending obligations of one kind or another in life. Thinking about it, it can be too uncomplicated to never start investing, no matter how good our intentions are.

Even if you have a constrained budget, it’s worth starting to buy shares. Here’s how someone could do it now, for a fiver a day.

Developing good habits

Is it worth investing with just a few pounds a day?

I think so.

Relatively diminutive amounts of money add up quickly. £5 a day adds up to over £1,800 a year. Continue this for a few years and you’ll have a five-figure portfolio.

In my opinion, it can also be helpful to develop the habit of investing regularly.

It may start diminutive, but over time someone starting with £5 a day may gain momentum and decide to boost the size of their regular investment.

Choosing how to invest

Of course, it is also worth trying to develop fit habits from the first day.

So before anyone starts investing, I think they should prepare themselves.

Part of this means familiarizing yourself with essential stock market concepts, such as valuing stocks and using diversification as a form of risk management.

This also includes choosing the right investment platform, as each one has its own structure, which also includes cost structure. Starting from £5 a day, minimum fees can soon add up to a lot of money, so it’s essential to make the right choice.

Common approaches include share trading accounts, stocks and shares ISAs, SIPPs and trading apps.

Finding stocks to buy

When preparing to buy, what stocks should someone buy when they actually start investing?

This will depend on the individual investor. Each of them has their own area of ​​expertise, investment goals and risk tolerance.

However, I believe there is one stock that investors should consider FTSE100 asset manager M&G (LSE:MNG).

The company operates in a business area that is relatively plain to understand, although may be hard to implement in practice.

This is a gigantic area with elastic demand, which means M&G could potentially do very well – but also because it faces significant competition.

M&G has some competitive advantages that I believe can aid it stand out from its rivals. The brand is well known and the company’s customer base reaches over 5 million not only in the UK but as far away as Asia, Europe and the Americas.

One risk is that in the case of M&G, customers could take out more money than they put in, which would hurt their profits. Performance in this area has not been consistent over recent years, although there was a net inflow of funds in the first half of 2025.

M&G offers a dividend yield of 7.3% – well over twice the FTSE 100 average. Dividends are never guaranteed, but the company aims to boost its dividend per share every year.