New to shares/stocks (interactive investor)

ses6jwg

It would be better to invest those sort of sums reguarly into a fund as they will have lower charges.

I have used III for about 2 years since Hoodless Brennan went up the swanny.

I find them very good very pretty website and the £1.50 portfolio builder works well.

The only downside compared to HB is that they charge £2 for limit orders where as HB did not charge.

edinburgher

It would be better to invest those sort of sums reguarly into a fund as they will have lower charges.

Completely agree. If you're new to the world of investing a fund (either a low-cost tracker or a managed fund if you want to try and beat the market, depending upon your attitude to risk) seems a much better idea. It will give you a taste of how investments work, keep it simple and perhaps whet your appetite for learning more.

In my humble opinion, starting your investing with individual shares is a sure-fire way to lose money fast Also, if I was buying individual shares with a lump sum I'd probably be starting with £1000 minimum, £100-400 seems too low.

Hen_Step

I use iii for research only and buy through Halifax. Be very sceptical with some of the posters on the bulletin boards, as there are many people who deliberately talk up or down shares for their own gains. Sounds ridiculous that someone would buy or sell shares on the basis of one persons comments, but it does happen.
Also, and it is not just on iii, trades are often quoted as buys when they are actually sells, and vice versa.

My advice would be to set up a fund and spread the risk, but as previous posts have said a few hundred pounds is not likely to make much.

Theyarv1

I agree with the last few posts.

Firstly for big returns, you need to be willing to take the risks. Even if you think you can find a share that will make a 10% gain in a year, and ignoring the spread.
With £300, you will spend
£1.50 minimum on share builder with no price guarantee (and £10ish for a normal buy)
£2.50 stamp duty
£10 to sell
so that is 4.67% of your capital spent on transactions no matter what happens, hence my buy and hold strategy.

hbakhshi

I agree with most of the previous comments, however I also think you are doing the right thing.

I suggest you look at at Investment Trusts (IT) and ETFs, both of which can be traded like shares. IT's have the advantage of holding a basket of companies and so reducing your risk to one stock. They were originally set up in Britain for exactly your situation, to allow people to regularly save small amounts using the stock market. Some have a history stretching back nearly a century and some pay dividends. You will have to choose a suitable IT in a sector your are comfortable with. Trustnet is the place to start looking. If you invest into the same IT every month, you will minimise costs, it will cost your £1.50 each month and then you can sell all the shares in one tranche costing your £10 at the end. ITs are subject to Stamp Duty.

ETFs allow you set up your own DIY tracker with no charges, as you would get from a Unit Trust or IT. For example, if you wanted to track the FTSE 100, you could by shares in a FTSE 100 ETF from Lyxor or iShares or others. Similarly for the FTSE 250 or any other index you care to mention. You do not pay stamp duty on an ETF, so this may be a good way to go as it saves you 0.5% up front. You can also get sector specific ETFs which may suit if there is a particular sector you want to invest into.

Oldbiggles

j124 wrote: »

Hi,

I recently decided to open an ISA shares&stocks account with Interactive Investor (iii.co.uk), so that the other half of my ISA allowance would be open up to use. I've never bought stock before and only really have rudimentary knowledge of investing. .....

My plan was to invest a one-off sum of about 150-400 pounds in 'safe' (like National Grid?) and/or dividend paying stock, and then leave them for a few months and see where it goes from there. Possibly leave them for a year or longer.

thanks for all your advice

J124

My advice would be to stick with your ISA until you have enough to invest something like £1000 in a particular share. Deal with a firm such as Hargeaves Lansdown and get a share certificate which you put away somewhere safe until you are ready to sell. Over the years you can build up a nice little portfolio of your own.
The problem with investing in Funds, is that you are constantly paying annual charges and management fees, and this will eat into any savings you think you are making by investing in a Share ISA. Whereas if you have a share certificate and you elect to have dividends paid directly into your bank account, apart from the buying fees, you pay no other charges whatsoever until you sell.
Some of the Company’s listed on the FTSE have interests all over the world and are probably as safe as the so called Funds. If you watch the financial news you can quickly identify these companies
For example: Warren Buffet (the multi billionaire) has recently invested a hell of a lot more than £1000 in Tesco. And I say if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.

chris_m

Oldbiggles wrote: »

For example: Warren Buffet (the multi billionaire) has recently invested a hell of a lot more than £1000 in Tesco.

Well, every little helps :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

black_taxi_2

HSBC FTSE All Share Index Fund Institutional A Accum Shares(0.27%ter)
HSBC American Index Accum Units

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(0.25%ter)
HSBC European Index Accum Units

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(0.31%ter)
HSBC Pacific Index Accum Units

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(0.37%ter)

heres 4 low-cost trackers you can put in isa

£50 a monthly savings available

Rollinghome

Lokolo wrote: »

That's all well and fine. iii are (or were) owned by Halifax.

I understood that Interactive Investor Trading Limited is owned by Capital Accumulation Ltd, a private company, and that they acquired it from AMP Ltd in 2004. I wasn't aware that it was ever owned by Halifax (nor HBOS)?

On the original question, buying shares a few hundred pounds at a time really isn't worth the hassle from an investment point of view; certainly not if you do a decent amount of research, both initial and ongoing, as you should. If you make a tenner on that size of investment you'll be lucky. To make it worthwhile starting with £20k minimum would make more sense and if you wanted a decent return for the effort involved then several times that.

If you just want a fun hobby then a virtual portfolio would probably be a better option.