Enough to get started? Share Buying

Judderman_2

Just wondering if anyone could help me. I know it's not a lot of money but I'm hoping to invest a lump sum of £500, followed by monthly investments of £100, as being a student this is all I can allocate at the present time.

I'm wanting to get into buying shares; and being new to the game, have been looking at the differences between taking it cautiously (low risk) via trusts, or going more towards the higher risks that come with individual companies.

I'm not relying on the money in anyway, it's just some spare money i have accumulated, but I was just wanting to know whether it's enough to get started? and whether anyone had any advice on how to make the most of it? I'm looking more to the long-term, and at the moment it's more about just building up a portfolio and getting a feel for the market.

Edit: Also any opinions on the best company to go through? I've got a colleague at work who uses iii.co.uk, anyone had any experience with them?

Stavros_3

You have to decide what your risk profile is first. Investing in individual shares is pretty much high risk at the moment, you need to do lots of researching of companys, reports, etc etc etc. Have a look at the motley fool, investors chronicle, then after you have done that, read some more. Its not a place for the faint hearted at the moment, and stockpicking is a bloody hard thing to do, even for the experts, of which I am not

tradetime

If you really want to put money into the stockmarket at the moment, then I'd probably say steer clear of picking individual stocks, unless you know what you are doing, you may have heard the expression lately, "It's a stock pickers market." that only applies to people who know what their way around companies.
If you are inexperienced, I'd say some sort of managed fund is the best way to go, there are plenty of folks on here who are familiar with those, next to that, I'd say some sort of ETF which gives you exposure to a basket of stocks rather than just one company, though for the money you are looking at that probably isn't the most officiant use of your capital.

greenface

tradetime wrote: »

If you really want to put money into the stockmarket at the moment, then I'd probably say steer clear of picking individual stocks, unless you know what you are doing, you may have heard the expression lately, "It's a stock pickers market." that only applies to people who know what their way around companies.
If you are inexperienced, I'd say some sort of managed fund is the best way to go, there are plenty of folks on here who are familiar with those, next to that, I'd say some sort of ETF which gives you exposure to a basket of stocks rather than just one company, though for the money you are looking at that probably isn't the most officiant use of your capital.

never heard that saying in 40+ years of breathing sorry
little pickers wear big knickers yes