FAT jabs can shrink your waistline but can they turbo-boost your bank balance?
Rookie investor Megan Norman reveals how she made over £600 in 16 days after investing in a weight loss giant – and we take a look at whether you can jump on the fat jab boom.
Aesthetics practitioner Megan Norman, who administers Botox, decided to invest in the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, which manufactures weight loss injections Wegovy and Ozempic, in December last year.
The 30-year old from Bedfordshire noticed a huge rise in interest in the jabs and decided to jump on the trend, investing £3,700.
“I believe these types of industries have the right fundamentals due to their high demand,” she says.
“We have a nation with rising diabetes and obesity due to highly processed foods, combined with a lack of education and affordable access to healthier food.”
But after just 16 days she realised her investment was too risky and feared the share price would fall.
The company has warned on its profits for this year, and in the United States, reports have been circulating that Novo Nordisk has been losing its dominant market share in this class of drugs.
Although the company’s share price has rocketed by 67.57 per cent over five years thanks to the boom in demand for fat jabs, performance has lagged over the past year.
Its share price has dropped 60 per cent over a 12 month period.
Megan’s £3,700 investment had grown to £4,322 – so she decided to cash in and make a quick buck.
“I decided to sell and made a quick profit on it,” says Megan.
“I could see it was in a downtrend so I prefer to look for quick entry and exits when that is the case.”
Instead, Megan has branched out to other companies to invest in and focused on spreading her investments so that she could stash her cash away for at at least five years.
This is a wise investing strategy – locking your cash away for at least five years – as it protects you from any falls in the stock market and gives you time for you investments to grow.
She has invested in eight companies, including the chipmaker ASML, the bitcoin mining company CleanSpark and the cyber security firm Crowdstrike.
“Rather than a ‘get rich quick’ approach, I look for areas that are strong and that I believe in. I want companies that have been around for a while, have good financials, and whose services will always be in demand,” she says.
However, despite selling her initial investment in Novo Nordisk, this week Megan decided to re-invest into the company again – this time, with £7,442.
“People will always require healthcare,” she says. “I now intend to hold my position for a minimum 5 years.”
Megan hasn’t just invested in fat jab companies.
She has invested in seven other companies, including the chipmaker ASML, the bitcoin mining company CleanSpark and the cyber security firm Crowdstrike.
The total value of her investments stand at a whopping £83,000.
“For anyone considering starting, I would say, you need to understand that your money is at risk and be ok with that.
“But I really believe that time in the market, not timing the market, is what works.”
Should YOU invest in fat jabs?
Fat jabs are soaring in popularity – so is now the time to cash in?
Susannah Streeter warns that there is “volatility” in the market right now, due to uncertainty caused over American tariffs and price rises for customers.
But investing in pharmaceutical companies making weight loss injections could still be worth considering. So, which companies are there to invest in?
Firstly, looking at Novo Nordisk, who Megan invested in, Susannah points out that the company has warned on its profits for this year.
Rival Eli Lilly could potentially be a better option. The company is looking into treatments for diabetes which can be used as a weight management tool too.
“Its medications stack up well against the competition, which is helping the company grow its market share,” she says.
Susannah warns that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket and invest solely in weight loss jabs.
The key is to invest in a mix of assets, including not only different company shares, but bonds, property and gold too.
If you want to start investing in weight loss companies, your first step is to open a stocks and shares ISA.
You can open one with a regular high street bank, or with an investment platform like AJ Bell.
Many investing apps let you open an account with £25 or less.
Read reviews and check the fees you will be charged before selecting your ISA.
For example, NatWest charges a fee of 0.55% of the value of your investment, which works out at 55p for every £100 of your investments.
While Barclays charges 0.25%, which works out at 25p for every £100 you invest.
What are the risks?
BEFORE you start investing, you need to understand the risks.
The return you make will depend on how much you invest and where.
As we have seen recently, the stock market can dramatically fall.
The American stock market saw its biggest drop since the start of the Covid pandemic after US President Donald Trump announced plans to introduce punitive tariffs on goods imported to the US from other countries.
The UK’s own stock market, the FTSE 100, fell by more than 10 per cent after the news.
Ideally before investing you should’ve built up some cash savings that you can access. Three months’ worth of salary is the rule to follow.
Then you must be prepared to lose it all – so only invest money you can afford to lose.
You need to be willing to invest cash for at least five years to mitigate any dips and allow your money to recover. If you can’t afford to lock up your money for this long, investing may not be right for you.
It’s usually better to drip feed money into your investments instead of putting down a big chunk of money in one go.
How do you spot a golden investment opportunity?
It’s every investor’s dream to spot an investment trend before it’s happened.
If you invest in a company before it’s share price rockets, you can make thousands of pounds.
So what are the tricks to spotting a golden egg? Susannah says it’s risky to try and time the market, but there are some general rules to follow.
“If you can keep your eye on long-term horizons and keep watch for demographic, health and social trends, you may be able to spot potential for companies,” she says.
“However, in any rapidly growing industry there will be winners and losers.
“Time in the market, rather than timing the market is more important.
“It’s also wise to spread your investment across different companies and sectors to ride out the ups and down.”
How else can you get rich?
Aside from investing in fat jab companies, there are many ways to get your finances in better shape.
Financial expert Ayesha Ofori has revealed her top tips on how you can get rich, whatever your income.
Ayesha Ofori went from being £20k in debt fresh out of uni to building a multi-million pound empire[/caption]
Ayesha, 40, from north west London, spent six years at Goldman Sachs as a City banker, advising clients worth at least £10million how to get even richer.
It’s easy to think that the only way of getting rich is by having a wealthy family – but surprisingly, many of her clients had a rags to riches backstory.
“My clients were ‘ordinary’ people who had built a business and became very wealthy, but still remembered who they were,” Ayesha said.
“One of my clients had been a single mum on benefits, struggling to make ends meet, and then went on to setting up an education business and sold it for tens of millions of pounds – she became wealthy beyond her wildest dreams.”
“It showed me that it’s possible for anyone to build wealth.”
Ayesha put her knowledge to good use and plotted a plan of action to get her money working harder for her.
She built up a portfolio of properties and invested money into a stocks and shares ISA.
She even quit her six-figure salary job to set up her very own investment platform, Propelle, in September last year.
The investment platform now has 45,000 members and is exclusively aimed at women. Her app was even mentioned in Parliament, acknowledging the work she has done getting women into investing.
Between her and her husband, the couple are now worth several millions of pounds – but Ayesha didn’t always have a seven figure bank balance.
In fact, she left university in 2012 after taking an undergraduate and masters degree in Physics with £20,000 of debt hanging over her head from student tuition fee loans and maintenance loans she needed to pay back.
She made money mistakes during her time as a student, and racked up a £2k bill on her credit card.
“I stupidly got out a credit card with Barclays. I think my credit limit was £2,000, and I went to Tiffany’s and bought myself a necklace,” she said.
“I ignored the bills initially because I wasn’t working and had no money, but then it obviously got worse and worse, and then it got to the point where I was like: ‘Oh my god, what am I going to do?’.
“In the end it was my dad who bailed me out. That was my first experience of credit cards and debt.”
She learned from her mistake though – and it became a big turning point for Ayesha.
“It shook me a bit, but made me realise that I wanted to generate decent income to build wealth for myself well I was at uni, so I took up my first job at the Sloane Square department store Peter Jones,” she said.
So how did she go from £20k in debt to being wealthy? Here’s her tips:
Unlock your moneymaking superpower
The key to building wealth is to unlock your moneymaking superpower, Ayesha said.
Everyone has one – you just need to discover what it is.
“There will be something you have lots of knowledge on that other people don’t have, you just need to figure out what it is and leverage it.”
For example, if you work at M&S, you’re bound to know more than anyone about how well the company is doing.
You will know that it is undergoing a huge transformation plan, and overhauling its clothing range.
You may also be aware that the company’s share price is up 250 per cent over five years, currently trading at 349p.
Armed with this knowledge, you might be tempted to invest in the company knowing how well it is performing.
You can invest in a company you work for – in fact, company share schemes positively encourage it.
This is when share option schemes give an employee the right to buy a certain number of shares in the company at a fixed price.
Plus, you’re bound to know lots about the fashion and food industry.
For example, you may notice that shoppers are buying a certain type of product – like sustainable clothes.
You’re in a great place to put this knowledge to good use, research the performance of certain sustainable clothing suppliers, and invest.
It could work for any industry. For example, if you are a builder, you’ll know the rise and fall of construction materials.
For example, if the price of a certain material is very low at the minute but you suspect it could bounce back, you may want to invest in certain manufacturers now while prices may be low in the hope that they’ll make profit in the future.
Ayesha believes her own superpower is being “relentless”. It’s helped her keep on track to achieving her money goals.
“I set a plan and keep going on it,” she says. “There are so many ideas I have about things in the world that need to change, and frankly, money is power.
“It’s important to spot an opportunity everywhere. When I was in my heyday of building a property portfolio, I couldn’t drive five minutes without seeing a building and thinking: ‘There’s an investment opportunity here’.
“My husband was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is ridiculous, a 20 minute journey is taking us 40 minutes because you’re stopping every five minutes!’.”
Remember the golden three month rule
Ayesha has built up a property empire – she is renting out the properties to boost her income[/caption]
Rich people will invest to boost their wealth – this is a key part of any strategy.
But while you may think investing is only for the uber wealthy, you’d be wrong – anyone can do it.
You can actually start with just £1, but how much you can make depends on how much you invest and where.
New investors will usually choose a ready-made fund as the simplest way to dip their toes into investing.
These funds are usually split into different categories, depending on how much risk you want to take on.
“Cautious” funds have a smaller number of investments in the stock market, and more in less risky types of investments, like government bonds and gold.
“Adventurous” funds have more in the stock market, which means greater returns but more risk. “Balanced” funds are a mix of assets, and sit somewhere in the middle.
You don’t need to invest too much to generate a nest egg.
If you invested £50 a month in a “balanced” fund, after 10 years you could have £8,802, according to Moneybox.
And if you put £100 a month into an “adventurous” fund and it could grow to a hefty £18,990 after 10 years.
The best way to start investing is to open a stocks and shares Isa – see below how you can do it.
“Get into a habit of investing on a regular basis,” said Ayesha. “With ISAs, invest on a monthly basis and set up a direct debit so you don’t even think have to think about it.”
There’s an important rule to remember though when investing in the stock market, said Ayesha: never check it more than three months.
We tend to check in on our investments when the market has dropped, or when it rallies, she said.
We are usually more tempted to “tinker” with our investments in situations like these.
If markets have dropped and the value of your investments plummet, you may be tempted to panic sell – but in fact, this is the worst time you could sell while prices are low, as you’ll likely make a loss.
Or, you may be hoping to buy more stock to cash in on lower prices.
But Ayesha warns that trying to time the market like this is virtually impossible.
“I always say the key is to ride out the market – investing is about the long term,” she said. “Only check yours once every three months.”
Beware of the risks – you need to be prepared to lose it all. Experts also advise you to have at least three to six month’s worth of wages in a savings account.
Your essential four step guide to getting richer
KEEP this guide close to hand – it’s your blueprint to building wealth.
STEP 1 – Are you using your ISA allowance?
A great way of growing your money tax-free is to save into an Individual Savings Account (ISA).
There are two main types of ISA: cash, and stocks and shares.
Choosing a stocks and shares ISA and investing your money into the stock market over the long term is the better way of making your money work harder for you.
On average, since 1899 the stock market has delivered an average return of 4.8% a year, compared to an average of 0.5% if you kept your money in cash savings, according to Barclays.
STEP 2 – Sort out your pension
Your pension is just about the most tax-efficient way to save – so don’t forget about it.
You can save up to £60,000 a year into a pension or 100 per cent of your annual earnings, whichever is lower, and most importantly, you can get tax relief on your contributions.
You get tax relief at your income tax rate: basic-rate taxpayers get 20%, higher-rate payers get 40%, and additional-rate payers get 45%.
You won’t be able to access your pension until you are 55 (or 57 form April 2028) so be aware that once you pay into it, the money will be locked away until then.
STEP 3 – Get tax savvy
Rich people never give money away to the taxman that they don’t need to.
A great way of reducing the amount of tax you need to pay is by looking at what tax allowances you can claim.
For example, you can earn up to £1,000 from a side hustle tax-free and you can rent out your spare room for £7,500 a year tax-free.
Plus, take advantage of the marriage allowance by teaming up with your spouse.
It’s available to you if one of you earns less than £12,570 a year and the other earns less than £50,270.
This lets the lower earner transfer 10% of their £12,570 personal allowance to their spouse – which works out at £1,260 – and effectively saves them £252 a year in tax.
STEP 4 – Don’t forget the kids
Give your kids a financial head start in life by building them a nest egg.
Open a Junior ISA, which is a tax-free savings accounts especially for kids, and you can save a maximum of £9,000 a year into them.
A £50,000 pot could be built by your child’s 18th birthday by contributing £150 a month, assuming annualised returns of 5% after charges.
Make a ‘wealth whispers’ goal
Building a wealth empire isn’t about trying to get rich quick to spend your money on diamond rings and plush holidays.
The key is to identify exactly why you want to become wealthy, and build your plan around this goal.
That way, you can keep focused on your goal, and you’ll be more likely to stay on track.
“I fundamentally believe the point of building wealth and having money is not to just show people you have it – it’s about using it to do things,” Ayesha said.
“That could be setting up future generations of your family, go part-time to look after elderly relatives or spend more time with the kids, or trying to do some good in some way.
“If your goal is just to have a fast car or nice house, I personally think this doesn’t work.
“You need to understand what drives you, gives you purpose, and what you find meaningful.”
This type of value-based goal can be thought of as a “wealth whispers” goal.
“Real wealth whispers – it doesn’t scream and it’s not loud.
“People who have real wealth don’t have it to show other people.”
Why you should think more like a woman when investing
Ayesha’s main job now is to help women get into investing.
Not only has she launched her female-only investment platform, Ayesha also hosts talks and workshops to give advice to women on how they can increase their income by investing.
Her aim is to close a huge “gender wealth gap” between men and women. This is the difference between the amount that men have in savings, investments and pensions compared to women.
By the time women hit retirement age, their average wealth is £101,000 lower than men’s, according to Office for National Statistics estimates.
And in the UK, men have £567billion more invested than women, and are twice as likely to invest in stocks and shares, according to research from King’s College London.
Ayesha thinks that women are actually BETTER at investing than men.
Research from Fidelity Investments shows that women earn an average of 0.4% more on their investments per year compared to men.
Experts say that the current benchmark you should aim for on an annual investment return is 5%.
Say if a man earned 5% on his investments, and a woman earned 5.4%.
If they both saved £100 a month, the man would be left with £59,799 after 25 years.
But the woman would be left with £63,523 after the same period – £3,724 more.
“The data shows that when women do invest, they outperform men,” she says.
“We just don’t invest as much, but when we do, we do it better.”
So what do women have that men don’t? Ayesha thinks it comes down to mindset.
“Women have a lot more questions and do a lot more due diligence,” she says. “Our brains think the whole thing through – what’s the risk, what do I need to be mindful of?
“Once we have our questions answered, we’re much more knowledgeable and more prepared – whereas men just jump in.
“I think we’re better at multitasking and doing more things all at once.
“Women are wired differently – I think we are better set up for investing, which is why we do it better.”