Shares in banks.....

markwilkinson

Read a few threads in here from people wondering if its worth buying shares in uk banks at the moment. Clearly none of have a crystal ball so the answer is largely unknown.

Im still wondering whether to buy some or not.

Just wanted to ask if anyone has actually bought lloydstsb etc recently, and if so, why?

Tremour-88

Almost all the banks profit seems to hit the bosses bonus at the moment

brasso

markwilkinson wrote: »

Read a few threads in here from people wondering if its worth buying shares in uk banks at the moment. Clearly none of have a crystal ball so the answer is largely unknown.

Im still wondering whether to buy some or not.

Just wanted to ask if anyone has actually bought lloydstsb etc recently, and if so, why?

Depends.

If you have a trading mentality, and hoping for a good quick profit (say in and out within a month), then chances are against you -- but not impossible. Plenty of people have been doing this.

I've been in and out of bank shares (Lloyds, RBS, Barclays) for 2 or 3 years. Must have bought and sold them all at least a dozen times each. It's easy to get scared when the economic news is bad and it's easy to get over-confident when the news is good, as the bank shares movements tend to be exaggerated in either direction.

The net result of my gambling (which is what it has been) is positive, though if I'd held my nerve on a couple of key occasions I'd have made a fortune. But I got cold feet and sold, missing out on sudden bounces. I've had enough of it -- too stressful -- and am out. I've now returned to a more sedate investment strategy.

But I would still recommend investing (rather than gambling) in bank shares. No dividends being paid by the state-subsidised banks of course but they will creep up again as things improve. The two key questions are -- what is your timeframe? And do you think the banking system will survive the rest of the economic downturn?

If you are confident about the latter, and if you are willing to leave your money in for a while, you are likely to make a decent profit. If it's dividend income you'e after, take a look at banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered rather than RBS, Lloyds etc. You'll sleep better.

As always, DYOR.

marvin

As above have been in and out of both RBS and Lloyds Banking Group

Currently in Lloyds (discounting the ones I have which I bought out of my mothers estate and will be handed on so never sold) I am rarely in in any big way but have so far sold Lloyds a couple of times and made profits c100% and RBS 50%.

I am back in, in a small way with Lloyds but not RBS and with a little push will be back in the black soon on those.

I always buy to get what will eventually be divi paying shares cheap and sell when I think they have been over valued or, as is more likely, I need money to cover other things. So, so far not many cheap future divi paying shares as I keep having to sell them.

see http://www.myportfolio.goodornot.co.uk/ for what I am currently invested in and there is some explanation of why for some of them.

Not invested in a big way do not have pots of money to invest because people keep spending it for me!

markwilkinson

I was being greedy lol.

Looking for dividends primarily, over a 20 year term.

Thrugelmir

Standard Chartered has been the share to be investing in over the past few years.

HelpWhereIcan

Not giving anyone any advice at all but, to give my current experience ...

I have been in RBS and Bank of Ireland (BKIR.L) since September and have done quite well out of them.

However, it is very much a Buy and Hold strategy and I do not expect to make a fortune in the near future. Ultimately I have faith in them long term and hope by a bit of regular investment and pound cost averaging I could do well.

Not sure dividends is the reason to get into most banks in the short term

For your own research you may want to try the likes of http://markets.ft.com/Research//Markets/Tearsheets/Financials?s=62137&subview=Overview&period=a

useful in getting an overview (BKIR left in for illustration only - the choice whether you find them attractive or not is yours - you would have lost over 50% if you'd bought this time last year)

Hope that helps

Ifts

Saw this article over on Bloomberg - HSBC net income set to rise with Standard Chartered fuelled by Asia growth:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-24/hsbc-net-income-set-to-rise-with-standard-chartered-fueled-by-asia-growth.html

opinions4u

I suggested caution a few weeks ago when similar posts were made.

I hope those who wanted a quick buck via LBG ignored me - up around 70% since then.

But I still think caution is king. There's still a lot of toxic left to be cleansed. A lot of Euro to wobble. A lot of economic stagnation to come.

Thrugelmir

opinions4u wrote: »

But I still think caution is king. There's still a lot of toxic left to be cleansed. A lot of Euro to wobble. A lot of economic stagnation to come.

Agree totally. There's a way to go before the nationalised banks emerge out from the shadows fully cleansed. No one knows what the businesses will eventually look like profitability wise. As both are still contracting in size.

lvader

The main problem that I have with some of the banks is that they look very cheap compared to 4 years ago but when you start to look in more detail at the number of shares in issue then you start to understand that they really aren't the bargain that they seem to be.

That said there is always some room for banks in a well balanced share portfolio.