Standard Life dividends, reinvest? (drip) and which Broker?

daddy_bro

Hi guys
I have 420 Standard Life shares that I got some years back, I think because it floated or some such but can't remember the exact reason.
Anyway last few months I've been researching buying shares (another story) and noticed that If I had the shares with a Broker I would pay them a fee to reinvest the dividends.
I've just checked the Standard Life site and for my dividend to be reinvested I pay 0.5% fee (minimum £1.50) and 0.5% tax. I think this is fairly cheap for drip but is this a sensible use of the dividend? I'll probably leave them where they are as hopefully they will perform long term and they are harder for me to mess with.
Like I said I have been looking into buying shares and even set up a fantasy portfolio which so far is doing well so I am now looking for a Broker to do it for real. To keep the trading costs down I have opened an account with X-O but was thinking of opening a second account with another broker as each one seems to be better at different things. I have up to £20k to invest but was planning to feed it in slowly over the next few months, depending on how things go.
Any suggestions for a second broker or is using two a silly thing to do?

Cheers all

bigadaj

X-o are cheap and fine for individual shares but it sounds as though you don't have other investments.

Most people would start investing with funds, as they are less risky and volatile than individual shares, to do that you'd need another broker or platform, have a read through the monevator website for soem information and ideas and then post back.

daddy_bro

First apologies to Bigadaj for not replying earlier and thank you for the good advice. I may be stupid for not following it but I forged on and bought some shares. I hit lucky and bought £1k worth of Jersey Oil and Gas just as they were surging up and made around 40% on them in a few weeks. I figured this was a nice cushion for me and have been playing and learning since. I've had a few great performing shares and one or two shockers since, but I'm having great fun and still learning a bit more every day. I currently have £10k invested in 5 companies, two of which have dropped in value but are on their way back up and the other three are even, overall I'm around break even since starting but with some very promising shares. X-O have worked out OK for me so happy to stick with them for now but still might open an account with another broker.
Couple of things I've learned.
1. When you read that a share is a sure thing avoid it. It will probably go down.
2. Many of the guys in the bulletin boards either have an agenda or know less about where share prices are going than I do. They talk complete rot most of the time even though they seem to have a better understanding of the processes and the companies than me.
3. Negative news may or may not effect the share price and often if it does the effect will be short lived.
4. The share price you see in Yahoo or wherever is not the price you will either pay or receive when you go to deal.
5. Unless you're desperate to buy or sell, use limit orders. I still have to tell myself this every time I go to deal as the temptation is always to buy at best.
6. When it stops being fun stop doing it.