Home » Forums

[MSE Dan]

This thread is specifically to discuss the content of the

'Cheapest Way To Buy and Sell Shares' article

To discuss or ask a question about this article: click reply

IMPORTANT: This is not for the discussion of how to choose shares (for that go here) but just for talking about brokers and dealing costs.

[PennyForYourThoughts]

I'm a little confused by the table showing costs of share dealing where it seems to imply that if you buy/sell £1000 worth of shares you will pay £800 in costs over the year. Can this be correct or have I completely mis-interpreted the article at Yeah, that one

[rde]

Interesting article, Martin. But you didn't mention that some companies do not allow the perks for shareholders to be passed on thgough nominee accounts. By companies I mean the brokers and the companies whose shares are dealt.

[Aark]

I'm a little confused by the table showing costs of share dealing where it seems to imply that if you buy/sell £1000 worth of shares you will pay £800 in costs over the year.

That figure is based on 5 buys & sells per quarter, mean value £1000 - not just one trade.

[MSE Martin]

Hiya

Aarks right - if you look at the key to the table it says 5 buys & sells per quarter, mean value £1000. In other words thats 40 seperate trades worth 1000 over a year.

As for Rde - i certainly do - i think you may've missed it. It's right up the top in the explanation of nominee accounts. As it happens hoodless B will allow perks upon requests (if companies permit it)

[HRS]

Does anyone have a list of which companies offer perks/benefits if you hold shares in them?

I know that Avis give you discounts/preferential rates on booking with them and also send a couple of vouchers for renting their cars, and if you were lucky enough to have bought Debenhams shares a few years back then you still get a 12.5% discount (as long as you pay on their gold credit card).

Would be nice to have a list somewhere!

[cheerfulcat]

Originally Posted by HRS

Does anyone have a list of which companies offer perks/benefits if you hold shares in them?

Yup, Hargreaves Lansdown has such a list -

http://www.hargreaveslansdown.co.uk/...erks/index.asp

Just make sure that you are fully aware of how many shares you are required to hold to qualify for perks. Some companies don't have a minimum ( well,minimum one share, but you know what I mean :-) ) whereas others expect you to hold a few hundred. And of course, never buy shares for the perks only, unless the perks more than cover the cost of the shares...

HTH

Cheerfulcat

[brian57]

If you have a reasonably sized portfolio and you wish to take market views which mean that you may spend some time in cash, then be careful to avoid, if possible, those brokers (nearly all) who give lousy rates on cash balances. A poor rate can have much more effect on performance than levels of commission.

[plumb1]

see my offer here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...ead.html?t=235

[brodev]

I have about 4 holdings in cos. worth under £300, all in paper shares. My reading of this article suggests that I can join Hoodless B, send them my paper shares, have them convert them into E-shares and then sell them all for free if I do this in the first month. Am I correct? If so, I join tomorrow.

[Scooby_Man]

How do companies pay their shareholders dividends when using brokers such as Hoodless B? Do you get a cheque through the post? Do the companies credit your account with more shares (i.e. distribute to Hoodless?)

What are the best times to buy generally? Tuesday mornings? Friday afternoons seems less favorable....

[cheerfulcat]

If you hold your shares in a nominee account, the dividend will be paid to the broker and credited to your dealing account. You can reinvest into shares either by agreement with your broker or by DRIP plan, if the company provides one.

The times to avoid buying shares - or rather, the times when they are most volatile - are Mondays and Fridays and all weekday mornings first thing.

[EdInvestor]

Wednesday is the day shares usually go ex-dividend, so that may be a good day to buy, as prices usually fall when this happens.\

On the other hand, if you were counting on getting the divi, be sure to buy before the ex-div date.

[Scooby_Man]

Thanks guys...So how do you know when the dividends are paid? I thought these were on a 6 month basis and not once a week!

[cheerfulcat]

Most dividends *are* paid on a roughly six monthly basis. It's just that Wednesday is almost always the ex-dividend day for any given stock. You might be interested in this document, which outlines the procedure for companies -

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/N...CEDURE2005.pdf

As you can see, the dates are quite fluid, though usually you can go by last year's ex-div date to get a rough idea. I have a list of this year's expected ex-div dates; if I can remember where I got it I'll post a link, or Editor might have it?

Cheerfulcat

Edit : ex-divs expected shortly - http://harber.us/typo/stockchallenge/dividends.php

Divis expected + likely pay date - http://investorease.com/exdiv.html

More on dividends -

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp...=whole#7898744

If you are interested in high yield investing this is invaluable; it is a subscription service but at £10 a year for the monthly e-mail it's well worth it

- http://www.itpaysdividends.co.uk/new_index.htm

[Scooby_Man]

Excellent - I'm going to subscribe to that - in addition to the 'Value Investor' from Motley fool...It's getting exciting now! I am going to play with £1000 now and just opened an account with hoodless brenan. Let's see what I can do...

Any good sites where you can share your portfolios (I know Motely Fool's site is good)?

[cheerfulcat]

TBH, Scooby_Man, I don't think you'll find a better place than the Fool for discussing portfolios and investing!

ADVFN can be informative for certain types of shares but it is so full of rampers, clowns and schoolboys from the planet Destructo that it can become very wearing to wade through. Good portfolio tool, though, and probably a better source than TMF for share price info and the like. You have to register but the basic registration level is free. The bulletin boards are the top right hand tab, where it says FreeBB/PBB

http://www.advfn.com/

Another popular site is iii -

http://www.iii.co.uk/community/


I don't look at Shares Forum much - it's nowhere near as busy as TMF - but there is some useful information and there are some very helpful posters. Here's an incredibly useful thread about sites for investors -

http://www.sharesforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=36

Cheerfulcat

[brodev]

The link to Hoodless Brennan seems to be broken. Also when I go direct to there site there appears to be nothing about 1st month free. Perhaps i am too late. Boo Hoo!

[tony2toes]

Does anyone know the cheapest online or telephone broker to buy US shares, particuarly ones traded in the NASDAQ? Cheapest online quote I have seen is £15 by III (Interactive Investor?) online.

Cheers

[petec]

I have company paper shares worth almost £6,000.

What is the cheapest way to sell them?

This will be my one and only transaction.

Thanks in advance.

Petec