Stocks and shares ISA/Company shares

Rexxel

Hello,

I used to work for a company that went public whilst i was working there. They gifted all employees at the time with free shares. Unfortunately, after 2.5 years the company made me redundant however, thankfully i was able to retain my shares.

I recently got a letter saying the company who manage the shares need a decision from me to either withdraw or transfer the shares (i think).

Can anyone advise me on what the best thing to do is? It depends on the day what the value is but when the company valued them in October 2017, they were worth £5000.

Please could someone tell me generally how shares work?

If i got a stocks and shares ISA, could i potentially lose it all on a bad investment or is the amount i put in safe but profits can be lost?

Apologies for my total lack of knowledge on the matter.

Thanks

Vortigern

Holding the shares of a single company as your only investment is very risky. You should sell those shares and either put the cash in a savings account, or in a less risky investment.

The company managing the shares may offer a way of selling them. Find out what they will charge you.

It may be cheaper to ask them for a share certificate, which you can then sell cheaply through a broker like XO, who charge £5.95

Rexxel

Vortigern wrote: »

Holding the shares of a single company as your only investment is very risky. You should sell those shares and either put the cash in a savings account, or in a less risky investment.

The company managing the shares may offer a way of selling them. Find out what they will charge you.

It may be cheaper to ask them for a share certificate, which you can then sell cheaply through a broker like XO, who charge £5.95

Thanks for your reply. Does a stocks and shares ISA count as a savings account?

badger09

Rexxel wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. Does a stocks and shares ISA count as a savings account?

No.

A Stocks and Shares ISA is simply a tax wrapper. Think of it as an envelope which holds Stocks and Shares. Buying them inside the S&S ISA wrapper means that any income they generate and any gain in value, is kept free of tax.

Usual advice to a novice investor is not to hold shares in a single company in case that company runs into trouble. Think of the likes of Woolworths, Littlewoods, Somerfield. Instead, look at funds, which pool your money with that of other investors and holds shares in dozens, hundreds or thousands of companies. If one company runs into trouble, the impact on you is much less dramatic.

ValiantSon

Rexxel wrote: »

If i got a stocks and shares ISA, could i potentially lose it all on a bad investment or is the amount i put in safe but profits can be lost?

You could lose all of your money. An S&S ISA only protects you from tax. Investing in stocks and shares is inherently risky: there is no protection against losses. However, if you have a diverse investment strategy then it is extremely unlikely that you would lose all of your money. Holding shares in one company, however, could see just that. Investing in a multi-asset fund is the much safer option.

Tom99

Rexxel wrote: »

Can anyone advise me on what the best thing to do is? It depends on the day what the value is but when the company valued them in October 2017, they were worth £5000.

Is this now a listed company? If so you can look up the share price daily. If it is not a listed company I would definitely take your cash out.