Couple of Qs re: using a H&L Stocks and Shares ISA

[decadent]

Hi guys,

I am new to this stocks and shares investing game and have just opened a Hargreaves and Lansdown Vantage S&S ISA. I am only putting £50 in a month for now as I don’t really know enough about it to risk any more of my money. It’s highly unlikely I’d invest or make from investments more than £11K (or anywhere near) over a year.

I’ve got a couple of process type questions that the more experienced might be able to help me with:

1. I was hoping to just pick a balanced fund to invest my nominal £50 a month in, something like the H&L balanced fund is my initial thought. At the moment my money is just sitting in the “cash” section of the account. I’m planning on using a fund for this regular £50 as I’m under the impression it’s not cost effective to buy £50 lumps of stocks/shares due to dealing charges?
2. My next thought once the balanced fund is set up was to invest “spare” £500+ into companies I liked the look of, maybe picked up from reading the share dealing tips thread on here. I thought I would do this by either adding £500 into the ISA from elsewhere or taking from accumulated value of the £50/mths in time.

I understand I should only put in what I am prepared to lose at this early stage of my learning and I’m choosing the balanced fund to limit my inexperience risk but still have a small slice of the pie, but am hoping to use the Vantage ISA to enable me to deal stocks and shares. Are there any glaring holes in my plans before I begin this journey?!

Thanks,
Matt