Some basic questions on investing

Hi all. I have 10k sitting in a savings account which is earning 0 right now. Obviously there's a risk by investing this instead of leaving it there, but I'm happy to take that risk. In terms of risk tolerance, I'm thinking of splitting my investment between long-term and short-term stocks (70/30) so it would be high for that 30%. The reason for this is to try and take advantage of the CGT allowance each year, if it comes to that.

• Do most people make use of the annual allowance each year? Let's say your portfolio is made up mostly of long-term investments, does it make sense to supplement it with some attempts at making short-term gains? Or do people tend to sell some of their long-term stocks to get that 1.2k each year?
• How frequently do people here tend to buy and sell? Is it a bit of a nightmare in terms of tracking and then filing the CG1 at the end of the year?
• Somewhat linked to the above, how much should I be looking at in terms of fees per month? What stocks should I be looking at? IE stocks are €2 + 0.05% and US stocks are €0.50 + $0.004 per share. So should I be focusing on the latter and investing in those listed on the NSY only? Does it matter picking NSY/NDG/TDG etc?
• My initital investment will be 10k. What's the general consensus in terms of splitting a sum like that? I will be adding to it each month afterwards but I'm wondering if I should be looking at 2,3 or 5 companies initially.
• For the short-term investments, am I wasting my time looking at high valued shares (e.g. $300+) if I'm going to invest 1k?

Thanks.

For a first time investor, some general good advice, would be to choose 1 broadly diversified fund. Put all 10K in there and forget about it. You only need to report capital gains, if you make a profit, when you actually sell the fund. Plus there the first 1,200 euro of profit is tax free.

F&C Investment Trust (FCIT), Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust plc (SMT) and Monks Investment Trust (MNKS) are some examples of broadly diversified funds, but do your own research. Morningstar.co.uk is a good site for researching funds.

Also you should be maxing out your pension before you think about investing after tax money.

Thanks, AJAM. Those trusts seem to be a good alternative to an ETF. I'll have a look into them.

My pension is maxed out too.

Thanks. Timeline is 10-15 years.