Where to start

mattih5

Hi to all,

Basically I would like to get into investing. I have some spare cash wwish has just been sitting in an Abbey Flexi Saver for the last year and I would like it work harder for me.

I would like to get into investing in shares. Im quite happy to leave this money for years and accumulate.

Could any one provide me with advice on where to start, how to invest, what to invest in etc. I'm a real novice and would like to learn more.

Thanks

Deemy

research investment trusts and self select ISA's

Then put say £4k, £1.3k in each IT trust away for several years... there are some previous threads on recommeneded Long-term investments.
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....ducks for cover from the Unit Trust .... commission seeking brigade

dunstonh

....ducks for cover from the Unit Trust brigade

Yes. Stick a novice right in at the deep end by directing them to higher risk ITs compared with the lower risk UTs (on like for like sectors).

mattih5

Hi dunstonh, what would you suggest. For starters I would prefer to have something low risk where I could put my money and steadily gain on it, preferably more than what a savings account would give me.

Deemy

dunstonh wrote:

Yes. Stick a novice right in at the deep end by directing them to higher risk ITs compared with the lower risk UTs (on like for like sectors).

LOL... and you would not get a penny commission as an IFA on a IT bought through a broker ... whereas UT are cashcows ! .... so keep milking them

dunstonh

We cannot give financial advice here as the site is not FSA registered.

If you want a dabble yourself without advice, then the internet is full of sites giving info on unit trusts, individual shares etc. Both of which can be held in an ISA to avoid tax.

Some people prefer shares, others prefer unit trusts. Neither is right or wrong. Its personal choice. Unit trusts do include areas which are lower risk than shares and that may be the area to look into first.

cheerfulcat

Hello, mattih5,

You need to have an idea of what you're doing before you start - well-meaning people on t'internet may give you all sorts of suggestions but unless you know what they're talking about the advice is not much use...

I would look first at a few books explaining the basics. There is an excellent list of recommended books here, though with a bias toward the US. My own picks would include How to Read the Financial Pages by Michael Brett, Winning with Shares by Alvin Hall, the Motley Fool UK Investment Guide, Which? Way to Save and Invest, Be Your Own Financial Advisor, Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis and One Up on Wall Street and Beating the Street by Peter Lynch. The two I haven't links for are out of print but should be available at your local library.Oh, and I found Bernice Cohen's books quite useful, too.

There are a few good websites; Incademy is pretty good on the basics and the Motley Fool is invaluable. MF has some excellent articles in Fool School and Investment Strategies,( sorry, can only find Value Investing right now but it's a great place to start! ) as well as getting started in investing, but the boards are the best place to learn because you can ask questions. The Association of Investment Trust Companies, AITC, has some useful information, as do several stock brokers' sites such as squaregain.

That should get you started, anyway...

Cheerfulcat

mattih5

Thanks for the advice, im going to look more into it.