Shares--whats the point?

Linton

C_Mababejive wrote: »

So if iwant to trade ITs,via a platform,the only charges are dealing charges?

Yes + stamp duty and ongoing platform charges, exactly the same as individual shares in BP or whatever, but I dont think ITs are things to trade. As they cant stray too far from the value of their assets you arent going to get the large fluctuations to make the profits. In my view you should be thinking more about buy and hold.

talexuser

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Have we ever had a government shut down in the UK?

Unfortunately not. Judging by the money wasted on "reforms" that end up costing more than they were supposed to save (DWP IT failures, Aircraft carrier cost over-runs, appeals against wrong ATOS decisions, G4S and Serco sub-contractors leaching the taxpayer etc), you wonder if a period of non-interference might be a good thing!

grey_gym_sock

talexuser wrote: »

Unfortunately not.

that's a bit like saying that the banks have messed up so many things that they should be shut down for a while ... and then complaining when you can't get cash out of ATMs.

Thrugelmir

C_Mababejive wrote: »

If you hang on to what you thought was a safe share for income,what if something dramatic happens (BP)..and this wipes out past divi income benefits?

What's safe about BP and the nature of much of it's business?

Hanson, BTR, Trafalgar House, Maxwell Publishing, Polly Peck, were all good investments in their time. All for one reason or another had there day. So there's no need to be a day trader however the warning signs are clear enough if you follow financial news.

Nor is BP out of the woods until the spillage settlement is agreed.

Glen_Clark

Good point. Its hard to imagine anything riskier than oil. It all depends on the price of a barrel of oil which is completely unpredictable. You have to spend $billions on exploration which may yield a fortune or nothing at all. And to top it all a Macondo disaster could happen at any time. The big companies can spread some of the risks through diversification. But any one of them could still lose all your money.

Glen_Clark

You don't pay stamp duty when buying ETFs because the broker pays for them with shares on which he has paid stamp duty.
When I buy shares I enter them straight on to my spreadsheet which shows an immediate drop of up to 1% due to stamp duty, commissions and spreads. But when I buy Vanguard ETFs there is hardly any drop at all, maybe a tenth of that. The buying costs must be a lot lower, as well as the running costs (only about 0.1% per year)

C_Mababejive

Hi thanks all..when i said trade i really meant buy and hold for long term growth and hopefully low(er) volatility.

Any recommendations for low med risk?
ta

talexuser

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

that's a bit like saying that the banks have messed up so many things that they should be shut down for a while ... and then complaining when you can't get cash out of ATMs.

Perhaps you missed the ? The serious point is the hype that we are reducing the debt when really it is increasing partly due to inefficient or poorly thought out policies with no real cost/benefit analysis.

Linton

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Hi thanks all..when i said trade i really meant buy and hold for long term growth and hopefully low(er) volatility.

Any recommendations for low med risk?
ta

The key for reducing risk is diversification. The details depend on what risk you want to be low/medium - volatility? chance of losing everything? chance of not getting sufficient return? and no doubt others.

Dont say all risks - you cant have all risks low/medium unless your return requirements are very low, in which case put the money in a bank account.

C_Mababejive

PS if the only expenses i pay are purchase price plus stamp duty etc..why does it mention fees in the reports for these ITs?