£20 per month stocks and shares ISA investments

Broke_American_Chiquita

According to HBOs you can open a stocks and shares ISA and contribute £25 per month minimum. I am new at stocks/shares and i have done some reading and I don't mind the idea of starting to invest, but i want to start small. Do you need to invest a lump sum initially in order to open an account, or can you just start with small monthly payments? I am not keen on investing in shares via a bank because of limitations and charges associated with it and i have seen some good web based one's like lse. However, i do want some guidance on which shares to invest in. I would probably know which shares and stocks I will be willing to risk money in, (mainly large companies) however it would be nice to get advise beforehand. I dont want to be constantly trading, I think to start with i want to buy a few shares in some large companies and then keep them, whilst I watch the markets. How do i go about doing this and can anyone recommend? I would prefer to buy a few shares and keep, rather then do a monthly thing. Any ideas would be awesome!

alastair_h

I think it would be prudent to see an Independant Financial Advisor in this case as they would be able to go through your personal circumstances in detail and advise accordingly.

Obviously a high street bank would only be interested in selling their own products, so probably worth steering clear of them.

It may be worth using your cash ISA allowance first before investing as there is a risk associated with the investment. A regular saver ISA may be worth looking at as these allow you to build up over time and any interest earned is tax free.

Jonbvn

With such a small amount, I think you would be better off investing in funds (unit trusts), due to dealing costs. I think the minimum you can invest in such funds is £50 per month.

TBH, it is not worth going to an IFA for such small amount of money. I would suggest you read up on the subject before you take the plunge.

Broke_American_Chiquita

Thanks for the advise. I think i have decided to go for unit trust fund, in particular the virgin index tracker fund that charges 1% annually. This might seem like a lot, but otherwise they are very flexible and there are no other charges. They allow you to invest minimum £1 per month. Sounds like a good deal. Any thoughts on this one?

sibot74

If you're an American citizen (as implied by your username) and still file tax returns in the US (as you are required to if you are a citizen) then you need to be very careful about investing in unit trusts/mutual funds - a quick google will give you a lot of reading.

dunstonh

According to HBOs you can open a stocks and shares ISA and contribute £25 per month minimum.

That is HBOS' minimum. It is not the minimum available per product rules and you can go lower.

TBH, it is not worth going to an IFA for such small amount of money.

I agree. Unless there is an existing IFA relationship. Transactions of this size often get put through as goodwill.

Thanks for the advise. I think i have decided to go for unit trust fund, in particular the virgin index tracker fund that charges 1% annually. This might seem like a lot, but otherwise they are very flexible and there are no other charges. They allow you to invest minimum £1 per month. Sounds like a good deal. Any thoughts on this one?

Already covered on your duplicate thread.

Broke_American_Chiquita

sibot74 wrote: »

If you're an American citizen (as implied by your username) and still file tax returns in the US (as you are required to if you are a citizen) then you need to be very careful about investing in unit trusts/mutual funds - a quick google will give you a lot of reading.

I am currently exempt from paying US taxes.

sibot74

Is that a total exemption from reporting/filing or paying on anything? You should be very clear, because as I understand it the normal tax regime for investing in mutual funds outside the US that are considered to be PFICs is punitive - up to 100% of the growth (if they find out, of course, but Obama's administration is quite keen on looking). The reporting requirements and calculations are also horrendous. There are others on this board who will know more about this, I only looked briefly when thinking about a S&S ISA for my partner who has dual citizenship and decided it wasn't worth the hassle.