Small amount for invesment - should i stay with funds or more to shares?

capital0ne

Eco_Miser wrote: »

Higher returns generally implies higher risk (but a 5% bank account is the same risk as a .05% bank account), however higher risk investments can still have low returns (even when they don't fail).

Not True - the same rules apply - banks do go bust (Barings) and those that offer interest above the norm for that niche could well go bust.

capital0ne

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Well, my 'pot' is more than 100,000 and I do not think it is enough to make individual shares worthwhile.

A pot of 100,000 - 100,000 what - peanuts - this is meaningless unless you define the units.

ChesterDog

Dazza_a89 wrote: »

Hello All,
I hope everyone's Christmas was great!
Just a quick question, i have a small amount invested with HL (£6k at the moment but i will add more over the coming months) in a mixture of funds and i have been told from a friend a friend that i should be moving these into individual stocks (IE HSBC, barclays etc) for a greater return.
Should i be doing this? I have a good return from my funds but i obviously want to maximise my returns.
I will have to check but i think its £12.95 per trade with HL.
Thanks in advance.

No.

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Eco_Miser

capital0ne wrote: »

Not True - the same rules apply - banks do go bust (Barings) and those that offer interest above the norm for that niche could well go bust.

Banks may go bust (Northern Rock is closer to home), but deposits (up to £85,000) are guaranteed by the FSCS, so effectively no risk, and certainly the same risk whatever the interest rate.

elephantrosie

capital0ne wrote: »

Not True - the same rules apply - banks do go bust (Barings) and those that offer interest above the norm for that niche could well go bust.

international banks like HSBC very unlikely to go bust....

small banks like tesco... yeah, of course

ColdIron

elephantrosie wrote: »

international banks like HSBC very unlikely to go bust....

small banks like tesco... yeah, of course

But which one would the FSCS find it easy to cover and which one would present a somewhat larger problem?

elephantrosie

i much rather go with hsbc anytime of the day, whatever your answer is.

Thrugelmir

capital0ne wrote: »

banks do go bust (Barings)

That was for a very particular reason and the actions of one individual. Regulation has moved on in the intervening years.

Alexland

There's no amount of money I would would want to invest in individual shares again. Unless I had enough money to start my own fund and even then there would be others with better economies of scale.

BananaRepublic

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Sadly, higher risk does not necessarily mean higher returns.

Exactly. To reduce risk you need to buy shares in a decent number of companies, and unless you know what you are doing, you could lose a lot of money. Shares take time and effort, you need to research lots of companies, and have selection criteria that work well enough to make it worthwhile. I’m lazy, I stick to funds.