A good start, but keep it simple

"I am hoping to be able to save a few thousand annually, within the Isa wrapper. The intention is for it to grow to a decent sized nest egg and out-do my savings account, which pays 3 per cent a year." She says she is open to risk and tends to invest in small lump sums rather than through regular contributions.

Rebecca Moule's portfolio

Patrick Connolly, certified financial planner with AWD Chase de Vere, says:

It is to your credit that you are focused on long-term saving at such a young age. You're making good progress after two years.

You seem to have considered what you want to achieve, how long you want to take and at what level of risk - all key decisions in long-term investing. Also, you are being realistic about how much you can afford to invest, while investing through an Isa is also a sensible strategy.

While you have some good quality fund holdings such as Invesco Perpetual Income, Newton Global Higher Income, Aberdeen Emerging Markets and M&G Optimal Income - all of which we hold in our client portfolios - I fear you are making investment more complicated than it needs to be.

That's because you have a relatively large number of holdings, some of which are very small in size. Even if they perform well, such small lots won't make much difference to the overall portfolio's performance. Also, having a large number of small holdings will make it difficult to control and administer the portfolio effectively.

In particular, there seems little merit in having a shareholding in Tesco worth about £100 - they will need to perform incredibly well just for you to recoup the stockbroker commission on purchase and sale.

Those who buy individual shares can do very well. However, this approach is higher risk than buying collective funds and so is really only suitable for those who accept these risks and have portfolios large enough to be adequately diversified. I'm not sure this applies to you just yet.

With a portfolio of this size, I would suggest you hold a maximum of four or five collective funds; you could get away with even less if you select diversified holdings.

Based on your current investments, your age and stated objectives, an 80/20 split between equities and fixed-interest would seem appropriate. You could retain the M&G Optimal Income fund for the fixed-interest exposure. Of the equities element, consider putting 40 per cent in UK shares, 20 per cent in emerging markets, and 10 per cent each in the US and Europe.

Again, some of your existing holdings can help achieve this. Invesco Perpetual Income is a top quality UK holding, while Finsbury Growth & Income Trust is run by an excellent fund manager with a strong track record. Aberdeen is one of the very best emerging markets franchises and while we don’t recommend the JO Hambro European Select Value fund, it is still a reasonable product. For the US, we suggest a passive choice like that BlackRock North American Equity Tracker. Active managers struggle to beat a very developed market like the US.

This approach would retain five of your holdings and entail selling the other five. Rather than add more holdings, you should simply top up these holdings as and when you can afford to do so. Regular savings into all five funds would ease administration. I wouldn't advise making any more changes until there is at least £20,000 in the portfolio.

Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers says:

We would be the first congratulate Rebecca for getting started early. Time is the friend of the good investor. As usual, we would highlight a number of assumptions made: that an emergency or 'rainy day' fund has been established and that no near term requirements for cash are forecast. We also assume that you've no significant debts (other than a mortgage, perhaps) and that you've started paying into a pension scheme and made a will.

Conventional wisdom has it that because you are young, you can afford to take more risk. Well yes, but only up to a point. As a relatively new investor, we believe that it is better to be too cautious than too gung ho. The preservation of capital should be a key priority for investors of any age - after all, the easiest way to make money is not to lose it.

Your portfolio is made up mostly of managed funds. These are a good starting point for the majority of investors looking to invest in the stock market over the long term, since they allow proper diversification even with relatively small portfolio sizes plus the chance that the fund manager may beat the market.

The average fund manager does not beat the market, so it's important to make sure you pick an above-average one! On that score, I note that several of your holdings are on our preferred list of funds, and it's also to your credit that many of them are focused on income-generation.

Even for a young-ish investor with an eye on capital growth, income is vital. The vast majority of long-term investment returns come from the reinvestment of dividend income and the compounding power it unleashes; it was with good reason that Albert Einstein described compound interest as "the eighth wonder of the world." Focusing on income generation also gives you a fighting chance of beating the return on your cash savings.

I'd urge you to consider saving via regular monthly contributions. Many funds - both open-ended unit trusts and closed-ended investment trusts - offer this facility. Not only does it remove the temptation to try and 'time the market', it also makes sure you build up wealth in small but regular increments. More units or shares are purchased when prices are low and fewer units or shares are purchased when prices are high, thus lowering the total average cost per share of the investment.

All in all, you look to have made a good start on your journey to accumulating a nest egg. A focused portfolio of funds has been established, with the importance of income appearing to be appreciated, along with the need to shelter investments from the tax man (via the commendable use of tax-free investment wrappers) where possible."