Buying bank shares at the mo'

moonrakermagpie

Hi, and good morn'

Since the start of the banking crisis I have been looking ay buying bank shares, hopefully when they were at there lowest.

As with HBOS for example, £0.58 a few weeks ago and £0.89 today, I have obviously missed one of the earlier boats!!!!

What would be your thoughts on buying bank shares today???

And in your opinion, which would be the most interesting at the moment?

Are there any other areas that are particularly interesting at the moment?

Many thanks Steve

cheekykid

I remember someone mentioned here who bought 10 million pounds of HBOS shares for 28p. Next day they fell even further and he was laughed about. Now we know he was right

jebervic

moonrakermagpie wrote: »

Hi, and good morn'

Since the start of the banking crisis I have been looking ay buying bank shares, hopefully when they were at there lowest.

As with HBOS for example, £0.58 a few weeks ago and £0.89 today, I have obviously missed one of the earlier boats!!!!

What would be your thoughts on buying bank shares today???

And in your opinion, which would be the most interesting at the moment?

Are there any other areas that are particularly interesting at the moment?

Many thanks Steve

Bank shares

Hbos better than lloy, as when the merge you will get more for your money

Barc best UK bank

RBS - OK

To be honest, now is a fantastic time to buy bank shares, I would imagine you will quadruple your money in two years time.

Farway

"interesting" shares may be commercial property, expect some troubles as high street & offices go bust or merge [hbos / llloyds, woolies & mfi for instance] but some will prosper and the rent will continue to be paid

pizzagirl

jebervic wrote: »

To be honest, now is a fantastic time to buy bank shares, I would imagine you will quadruple your money in two years time.

Highly optimistic. They're just as likely to be a quarter of their current value; the share price doesn't lie.

fullstop

pizzagirl wrote: »

Highly optimistic. They're just as likely to be a quarter of their current value; the share price doesn't lie.

I think the only bank share worth buying at the moment is Standard Chartered, but they are not cheap, not sure how much further they can go.

Hungerdunger

jebervic wrote: »

To be honest, now is a fantastic time to buy bank shares, I would imagine you will quadruple your money in two years time.

If it was such a fantastic time to buy bank shares, don't you think they would all have already been snapped up by people who know more about these things than you or I?

opinions4u

It's about your attitude to risk.

Logical theory says the banks will return to profitability, buy back shares that the government has taken on and zoom up in value in the longer term (unless you consider less reliance on wholesale funding = less lending = less growth potential for the businesses and ultimately their shareprices).

These are illogical times though.

The banks are up the proverbial creek even before houses have started being repossessed at the rate seen in the early nineties.

If more people lose there jobs (an absolute certainty), fewer mortgages are paid on time (highly likely), house prices slump further (more than possible) and more negative equity properties are repossessed then the pressure on bank balance sheets will become even higher.

If the negative situations above become extreme, then there is more than an outside chance of nationialisation of those banks (and building societies) that have made the bad lending decisions.

This would mean shareholders left with nothing or as good as nothing.

If you like high risk long term investments, go for it. But know the risks!

cloud_dog

moonrakermagpie wrote: »

Hi, and good morn'

Since the start of the banking crisis I have been looking ay buying bank shares, hopefully when they were at there lowest.

As with HBOS for example, £0.58 a few weeks ago and £0.89 today, I have obviously missed one of the earlier boats!!!!

What would be your thoughts on buying bank shares today???

And in your opinion, which would be the most interesting at the moment?

Are there any other areas that are particularly interesting at the moment?

Many thanks Steve

OP, am not sure where the end is and, possibly even more importantly when financial institutions are going to start to reporting/making decent earnings.

One thing I am fairly sure about is that the economies of the world will not start to grow again unless the financial institutions start their wheels rolling, and so I have started to drip (monthy) invest in to a couple of fincical based funds (slightly different focus).

Hopefully at some point in the future fortunes will turn and finance co.'s will again start to prosper.

cloud_dog

Blah99

opinions4u wrote: »

If the negative situations above become extreme, then there is more than an outside chance of nationialisation of those banks (and building societies) that have made the bad lending decisions.

This would mean shareholders left with nothing or as good as nothing.

And that's not the only threat to the banks. Remember that earlier this week Mervyn King categorically stated (I'll paraphrase) that unless the banks start lending money to consumers and small businesses again the only option may be for the Government to step in and nationalise them anyway.

Yes, bank shares look cheap if you only look at the share price. The problem is that the risk and volatility is enormous. Buying bank shares at the moment is a definite gamble - if you have a small bit of cash lying around that you can afford to lose then maybe, just maybe some of the big players are a speculative buy and long term hold. But personally I'm steering well clear.

moonrakermagpie

HBOS......good time to buy or not??????

Yes / No !!