Opinions on this new investing app

puppey

Hi guys,
My friend from Australia told me about this website, http://simplywall.st/.

I like the visual look of it as I am a beginner investor and have had some trouble trying to work out what stocks to purchase.

Wondering if someone that has invested before could have a look at it and let me know what you think?

RobCR_2

Hi, I have my own share portfolio and this site really intrigues me. I will have more of a play and let you know my thoughts.

jimjames

If you're a beginner investor then maybe you shouldn't be buying any stocks? Most people starting out with small portfolios would use funds instead.

RobCR_2

Hi again,

I've took a more detailed look at this last night and am really impressed. There is a fair amount of detail in the analysis and the way it is presented would be good for a first timer.

Saying that I agree with jimjames in that you should probably consider starting out with an index fund first. Unless you are in the situation where you can start to build your own portfolio. One off stock picking is a terrible idea. However if you can commit to building a portfolio over time (and holding it) then there is lots of evidence to show this can give great returns. It is also a great to learn about the markets and investing in companies which you don't get with a fund.

Financial_Saddler

It's an interesting site.
However, it currently seems to have the odd glitch in its data e.g. Berkeley Group is classified as being part of the "Consumer Apparel" industry, which makes the fair value and industry comparison analysis a total nonsense.

puppey

Hi all,

Thanks for your thoughts, I am keen to learn about stocks so will continue to use this site and let you know how it goes.

puppey

So I have been exploring the app and Bovis Homes looks like it could be a good stock to start with. It says the dividend yield is 4.47%, is that pretty good?

Generali

puppey wrote: »

Hi guys,
My friend from Australia told me about this website, http://simplywall.st/.

I like the visual look of it as I am a beginner investor and have had some trouble trying to work out what stocks to purchase.

Wondering if someone that has invested before could have a look at it and let me know what you think?

It looks simple and fun. I doubt its value as a stock picking tool but it might help as a portfolio management tool. I would be quite concerned by such a basic error as outlined above and looking at the screening, I honestly can't see how they'd come to some of their conclusions and they aren't telling.

I found Google Finance worked well as a basic portfolio management tool to the extent that I even tested it as a disaster recovery back-up for the hedge fund I worked for!

If you're having trouble deciding what to buy then I'd steer well clear of individual shares for now. Start off with some nice cheap trackers. For example, Vanguard does a FTSE100 tracker for 0.1% of the value of your investment (10 basis points or bps in the jargon) and a S&P500 tracker for 7bps. If you can hold then in an ISA, pension or other tax advantageous wrapper then so much the better.

IronWolf

Maybe Im alone here, but I dont really like these modern 'infographics', they take a huge amount of space for only limited information.

Give me detailed a granular information condensed to a single page over this.

ACF95

While I like and use this app on my laptop at home I wouldn't have this on my phone where the information is constantly accessible. Once it has a trading feature I think it will be too tempting for most people and they'll over trade.

TCA

puppey wrote: »

I like the visual look of it as I am a beginner investor and have had some trouble trying to work out what stocks to purchase.

jimjames wrote: »

If you're a beginner investor then maybe you shouldn't be buying any stocks? Most people starting out with small portfolios would use funds instead.

puppey wrote: »

So I have been exploring the app and Bovis Homes looks like it could be a good stock to start with. It says the dividend yield is 4.47%, is that pretty good?

As jimjames said above, if you're new to investing then you probably shouldn't be buying individual shares. And with all due respect, selecting an individual stock and asking if a yield is pretty good, sounds quite naive.

Either that or you're spamming the website.