I was about to post close to the exact same thing so I am glad to see it already mentioned. IMHO £5k is too little to be worth investing in anything if you don

I was about to post close to the exact same thing so I am glad to see it already mentioned. IMHO £5k is too little to be worth investing in anything if you don't have the three things you mentioned in order. Personally if I came into £5k and didn't need to clear any debts or top up my safety net I would treat myself to some new clothes, a new computer, a holiday or some other good experience before I think about investing it. Then again I have learnt the hard way that a lot of the time investing is just setting money on fire. These days I rather enjoy money when I get a little bit extra :)