Just been given shares - what to do now?

KittyKate

Hi all, my place of work (Cable And Wireless PLC) have just given each employee 604 shares. Since they were allocated they've gone up 25p, and most of the staff I know plan to keep them. But I'm particularly interested in getting into share dealing and am wondering if this is the best place to keep my money? Am I better off keeping these and waiting to see if they go up or selling them and going with another company? I know there is risk involved but as the shares were a gift it's money I can afford to gamble (and I can add a few hundred to if needsbe).

I know nearly nothing about share dealing other than how to sell these shares as a one-off through Lloyds. Can anyone give me any advice/point me in the right direction? Thanks

Rikki

I was give shares when my building society became a bank. I use the twice yearly dividend payout to reinvest in more shares.

steady__eddie

Isn't that a bit costly on the dealing front or do they do a scrip issue and you're allowed to take your dividend in the form of shares rather than readies ?

KittyKate

To be honest I don't really want to wait for whatever small dividend I will recieve in order to buy more shares. I'd like to branch out and buy some more.

cheerfulcat

Hi, KittyKate,

I know there is risk involved but as the shares were a gift it's money I can afford to gamble (and I can add a few hundred to if needsbe).

There are actually several risks here. There is the normal risk of losing money when investing in equities; but there is extra risk associated with holding shares in only one company and more again because you work for that company. Also, I would not regard this as a gift but as salary/bonus.

I know nearly nothing about share dealing other than how to sell these shares as a one-off through Lloyds. Can anyone give me any advice/point me in the right direction? Thanks

Is it just dealing that you want to know about? That's easy; just open an account with a broker and away you go.

EdInvestor

Try a Halifax Sharebuilder account - these have very low dealing fees for purchases and are ideal for people starting out buying shares with fairly small sums.

NigeWick

KittyKate wrote:

I'd like to branch out and buy some more.

I went on a Tony Robbins seminar last September and there was quite a bit on shares, options etc. One of the speakers was AJ Monte from https://www.themarketguys.com Another was Chuck Mellon https://www.chuckmellon.com and both had strategies for making profits. I have also read "Mutiple Streams of Income" by Robert G. Allen and his recommended shares guru is Dr Stephen Cooper https://www.onlineoption.com who does a free newsletter. I do not have any affiliation with any of these people.

Chuck Mellon recommends Worden Telechart for information and E*Trade for dealing. I have just found https://www.trade-smart.co.uk that has a forum for learning and discussing this subject. I had some bother with E*Trade, took my money out and spent it. But, I gather any problems have been sorted out and I am saving hard to start trading again.

My advice would be to get all the free on line information you can find and go to the library to get books on the subject. One recommended (but huge) book is Security Analysis by Graham & Dodd, ISBN 0-07-141228X. It was written some time ago, but has the unchanging fundamentals in it.

Nigel.