Shares Advice

Richiet

Hi all, my names Richard, and whilst this is my first post I've been a long time lurker on these pages, so good to finally join the forum.

I've got a spare £1k that I would like to invest in shares. I've long followed shares since helping update my dads spreadsheet and am now in a place where I can consider buying some but don't really know how to go about doing it. Realistically I'm not going to be a regular buyer / seller so wondered what's the most cost effective / 'easy' method of doing s! to make very one off purchases or sales (probably less than 10 a year)

Thanks for your time and any advice will be well received

bigfreddiel

Why not ask your dad?

fj

Superscrooge

Are you sure you want to invest in individual shares rather than investment funds which would be far less risky?

To avoid all your profits being swallowed up in dealing charges I wouldn't recommend investing less than £500 in each company (and many people would say that was too low!) so that would only give you a portfolio of two different companies which would be very risky.

I would advise you to read up on passive investing as that could be your best solution

http://monevator.com/category/investing/passive-investing-investing/

snowqueen555

Cheapest for UK shares is x-o.co.uk, £5.95 per trade. Overseas shares only a few deal them, and typically cost nearer to £10+ per trade

Richiet

Thank you both snow queen and superscrooge. I appreciate it's not the most risk averse action, however I've long wanted to invest in some specific shares and to experience the feeling of making financial decisions myself.

All of my other money is in very safe funds, savings accounts etc. and after having spent the rest of this savings pot on wedding costs and managed to spend under budget thought why not!

Many thanks

lawriejones1

In my humble opinion single share dealing isnt for the amateur. Beyond the risk, on a £500 share deal you'll be paying anywhere between £9 - £12 for a trade, that's 1 - 3%, payable when you sell it too, so you'll need to make at least a 6% profit before covering your nose.

It may sound exciting, but it isn't, it's just a quick and easy way to lose your hard earned money.

geoffken

You could use Halifax sharebuilder £20 or more per month and you can stop start at any time.
Sales at £2.50 every so often.

Dird

Richiet wrote: »

I appreciate it's not the most risk averse action, however I've long wanted to invest in some specific shares and to experience the feeling of making financial decisions myself

You could always look to see what companies each fund is investing in & choose a fund based on whether you like the companies they're investing in or not

Superscrooge

Richiet wrote: »

Thank you both snow queen and superscrooge. I appreciate it's not the most risk averse action, however I've long wanted to invest in some specific shares and to experience the feeling of making financial decisions myself.

All of my other money is in very safe funds, savings accounts etc. and after having spent the rest of this savings pot on wedding costs and managed to spend under budget thought why not!

Many thanks

Richard,

There's nothing wrong with investing in individual shares if that is what you want to do as long as you understand the risks. Pick the right shares and you can make spectacular gains. Pick the wrong share and you can lose all your money in that share. There is no such thing as a totally safe share.

As an example I started investing in the 1980's when Margaret Thatcher was privatising everything.

Lots of my shares did very well (stock markets were fairly buoyant during much of the 80's and 90's). One share I remember was Railtrack because it doubled in value and. I decided to buy some more because I saw it as a very safe share. No competitors (there's only one national rail network, guaranteed cash flow etc) What could go wrong? After the share price doubled I decided to buy some more shares and the share price doubled again. Wow I was a genius!

However for anyone that doesn't know the history of Railtrack there was a fatal train accident where defects in the rail network were responsible and it was found that £Billions needed to be spent bringing the whole rail network up to standard. Railtrack became insolvent and shareholders lost virtually all their money.

In more recent times think VW. - Worlds largest car manufacturer, with a fantastic reputation for reliability. What could possibly go wrong?

2010

If you really want to buy a share and only got £1k.
Wait for the Lloyds Bank government public issue in a few months.

http://news.tddirectinvesting.co.uk/economic-update/spring-offer-for-lloyds-banking-group/

Dird

2010 wrote: »

Wait for the Lloyds Bank government public issue in a few months.

Will people be able to buy from the gov website or be forced to use one of the other sites charging an annual fee & a purchase charge? I missed the Royal Mail sell off