Investing in an index fund now?

So, would it be worth it to start now? I guess the short answer is yes! The younger you start the more the money grows. However, my main fear is that I'm going to dabble into the fund for odd payments I need when I'm getting set-up in life. So that makes me consider a savings account just so I can avoid the platform and fund fees in case I do need to take a lot of the money for deposits and what not for when I'm out of university. What would you do if you were in my boat?

So I love the idea of compound interest and so far I'm on board with index tracker funds. Statistically they've out performed managed mutual funds and the fees are next to nothing.

Now, I'm 17 and I turn 18 in two weeks. I have a job at Tesco whilst I'm doing a BTEC in computing (Don't judge, it's a no effort way to do computer science, plus I messed up selecting A levels so I kind of got forced to do the BTEC.). Now currently, for 12 hours a week I earn around £320 a month, however I think I will be able to get a load of overtime so I can increase that to around £600-£1000 (It's non-term times and the rules for under 18's will go away in two weeks anyway!).

So as I don't have to pay any rent or other bills, would it be smart to just invest as much as I can into a single index tracker fund? Most are around £500/£1000 for the initial investment and have a minimum of £50 per month that you have to invest. So let's say I get £800 a month (I can do the same hours during college times, as it's only 3 days a week and the course work can be done quickly... Plus, night shift premiums!), I would contribute £500 a month and have £300 for myself. Of course, whilst it's small amounts I'm going with a 100% equity fund, but if I can keep the contributions up throughout university and another 5 or so years after that, it should have grown to a considerable amount. Okay, so even if I can't keep up with the £500 a month payments, I still believe I could manage £200 a month if I was for some reason stuck on a minimum wage job after university.

So, would it be worth it to start now? I guess the short answer is yes! The younger you start the more the money grows. However, my main fear is that I'm going to dabble into the fund for odd payments I need when I'm getting set-up in life. So that makes me consider a savings account just so I can avoid the platform and fund fees in case I do need to take a lot of the money for deposits and what not for when I'm out of university. What would you do if you were in my boat?

Standard advice is to pay off all debts, then save up a suitable cash buffer, then being investing.

Have you completed the first 2?

Ditto what the posters above me said.

First, pay off debts,

Second cash buffer

Third invest the rest

In that order i'm afraid.

My only view with going with high equity, is that whilst it is a higher risk, it offers the better returns; whilst I'm young and investing small amounts of money, I generally have many years ahead of me to ride out all the downs and the ups; so overall I still should be on the up. As I get older though, I would then plan to move to less equity and more fixed income.

End of the day your choice, I've been through this.