I am almost their, just a few questions and advice.

waqas

Hi guys I planned to get into the stock market and have been reading alot into so i know where I stand.

Just some questions: what is an IFA and I read the "Shares: The cheapest way to buy, sell and hold;" Article but it is updated yearly so are their any better guys to use as Stockbrokers as it may be out of date.

I know that its along term investment if you wish to see good returns, if any but the Article stated that Hoodless Brennan was the best suited for me, however I have herd that the following are also good:

Selftrade
Hargreaves Landsdown
iii Interactive Investor
Hoodless Brennan

are they all stockbrokers? I don't wish to be caught by any offers that have Low commission, high annual charge? As I don't know much I would be grateful for your advice.

Which one(s) of the above would you recommend & are any of the above stockbrokers doing offers at the moment?

Thanks in advance guys

Waqas

Lokolo

an IFA is an independant financial advisor. they basically suggest things you could invest your money in for a charge of between 1-3% (dunstonh will correct me in a minute or 2) annually, but with this you are more likely to get a better professional advice. But I don't think they do individual shares (??)

Are you sure you want to go individual shares? This can be very expensive and risky. It will take around £500 each company you invest in, for any decent return on anything if you are lucky.

You should look at funds because these are likely to be a lot less risky. But thats ust me.

However, looking at the list they all look like stockbrokers (although some I don't recognise).

tradetime

Given your particular position as you have stated I would remove Interactive Brokers from your short list. It is Direct Market Access broker geared towards active traders in stocks, derivatives, and fx, and as such you would incur monthly fees in any month you are not trading (these are waived if exceeded in trading fees and subscriptions). There is also I believe a $10,000 minimum opening balance now (used to be much lower). As a broker for active traders it is excellent and should be considered if you find you develop into an active trader in those areas.
The others I don't really know much about.

waqas

OK, thanks for the info so far.

dunstonh

an IFA is an independant financial advisor. they basically suggest things you could invest your money in for a charge of between 1-3% (dunstonh will correct me in a minute or 2) annually,

A bit more than a minute or two this time

The options are for fee, commission or a hybrid where you agree a fee but use the commission to equal that fee (with anything above that rebated). It will actually range from nil commission to 3% typically. The larger the amount, the more the discounting your can expect. Fee basis (or hybrid) is usually cheaper for transactions over 50k typically. That is a one off fee and not annual. However, investment funds tend to pay trail commission of upto 0.75% (0.5% is the typical) and that is paid to the servicing adviser. That is natural commission out of the published annual management charge and not in addition to it.

but with this you are more likely to get a better professional advice. But I don't think they do individual shares (??)

IFAs are authorised to recommend packaged products. Direct investments (such as shares and investment trusts, ETFs etc) fall under the remit of a stockbroker.

Some of the companies listed are fund supermarkets (or IFAs with a fund supermarket) and some are stockbrokers.

waqas

dunstonh wrote: »

Some of the companies listed are fund supermarkets (or IFAs with a fund supermarket) and some are stockbrokers.

Thanks for the info Dunstonh: would you be able to tell me which ones are what and which ones from the list you would recomend in your opinion as a good one.

And have any of them got any offers on at the moment?

Thanks

cheerfulcat

Hi, waqas,

ADVFN is the odd one out - it's purely an information provider with attached forums, no broker service.

Of the rest, it depends on what you are going to invest in, and how. Etrade amongst others offers CFDs, which I don't think Hargreaves Lansdown do. OTOH Hargreaves Lansdown is probably the best for funds, both in the range of funds available and the discounts.

If you are going to want access to your account during very busy times ( like this past week ) then you'll need to spend a few quid extra - the cheap and cheerful brokers have been woeful; no access at all during market hours. Out of your list I have accounts with Selftrade and Hargreaves Lansdown - Selftrade were unavailable, with HL it would have been possible to trade. Others reported problems with iii.

It really depends on what you want from your broker.

waqas

Thanks cheerfulcat.

I plan to invest around a total of £1.5k in about 3/4 companies and then do the odd 2-300 a month trade here and their.

before that all starts i want to get my head around it all. i have been using DigitalLook for a few weeks to play around and see how I do and I found it intresting. They have a 1 hour free market streeming service which I used a few times. hard to use but it gave alot of info on each company etc and real time prices etc.

do Self Trade, Hoodless Brennan and HL provide real time streaming and an area where you can research about each company etc.

As I am only going to play with money I can afford to lose and that to will be invested with alot of research.

thanks

Waqas.

PS I narrowed down to the following 4 know with the advice given.
Selftrade
Hargreaves Landsdown
iii Interactive Investor
Hoodless Brennan

waqas

am thinking of going with HB as they have the best rates as far as I can see. do they have any referal schemes?

waqas

Number of Trades in Previous Quarter / Flat Rate Commission Per Trade
20+ / £6.50
11 to 19 / £7.00
1 to 10 / £8.00

Damo1176

I signed up to H&B and heard nothing from them yet....annoying as I want to buy some xshares in some of the banks. I also know this a nominee account which I'm not too sure about. I want to in total inves around £500-1000 across various companies and looking for the easiest way that won't cost me a bomb. a friend has gone with natwest at £15 a trade which seems ok.