Share Dealing Discussion Area

gt94sss2

Kamran wrote: »

I've been wanting to play at the stock market and saved a small amount of money that I'm comfortable I'd like to use. I've been using NATWEST STOCK BROKERS as my share dealing service, simply because they're my bank, but their system isn't too great.

Can anyone reccomment a share dealing service that a) is online, b) is cheap and c) is advanced yet fairly straightforward to use?

I've been share dealing for around 2 years now, so although I wouldn't say I'm experienced, I think I'm ok in my comfort zone

It depends on how often you intend to trade and whether its in an ISA or not.

Assuming no share ISA, I would recommend:

1) HSBC InvestDirect who will charge you £11.95/trade to sell your shares but you do need to have a (free) HSBC current account.

2) Selftrade who charge £12.50/trade but have a referral scheme where you could get up to £80 for joining them (my own details are in post 242)

3) The Motley Fool's share dealing service, run by the Halifax, which allows you to buy shares from £1.50/trade but restricts the dates on which you can buy shares.

There are also others like E-trade and Hoodless Brennan [SIZE=-1]but they both have inactivity fees to watch out for.[/SIZE]

Regards
Sunil

Kamran

Thanks for that. I'd say that I'd generally be inactive, so long as my shares are performing. To give you an example, I had bought shares in 5 companies a few years ago when I first tried this. my first and only change was around a year later when one of the shares weren't doing well so i sold them. So I guess in that regard I'm a bit of an inactive user!

I'll be honest, I really can't be bothered to open up an HSBC account, I'm a student and currently have a student current account with natwest. (any experience of natwest's share dealing service by the way?)

So you would reccomend Selftrade?

Thanks!

gt94sss2

I don't have any experience of Natwest's share dealing service but believe that it is a joint venture with TD Waterhouse.

For infrequent users, yes, I would recommend Selftrade - as they charge no annual fees for dealing accounts and have no inactivity charges.

In addition, as well as being referred to them (as mentioned in my previous post), if you are transferring shareholdings to them from another stockbroker, Selftrade will refund any charges that stockbroker imposes to transfer your existing shares to Selftrade.

Regards
Sunil

empfun

The instructions are not very clear how it's to be done. It says make a cheque payable to "Selftrade client account". But where do I put my account details so they don't mix it up with another Jenny Smith? Thank you.

Do they literally mean made payable to "Seltrade client account" on the cheque? Thank you.

skoop

Hi, I have about £450 of shares in one company on a paper certificate. Edit (paper shares held by computershare). This is all I have. I want to sell about £150 worth now. On line dealers are cheapest but it would not be worth it for me to pay a fee each quarter for a broker to hold my shares as I may not make another sell for years and will not be buying any new shares, Have you any advice about where I should go/what I should do? Hoodless Brennan charge £5 + vat a quarter maintenance fee.

Thanks.

Looking at the above quotes selftrade looks the best bet?

skoop

Looking at the computershare site my company (dragon oil) is not eligible for simple selling of paper shares over the net/phone. I am looking up about transferring to electronic shares with them, but I'm guessing there may be a management fee.

hmm. I'm trying to check my non member holdings via computer share and it seems it no longer exists. Maybe a different company deal with them now although my past info was from computer share. Looking at the last agm info it looks like it might now be capitaregistrars - am I looking for the registrars?

I shall ring them tomorrow and find out. I have to update my address if it is them. capita registrars don't list their charges for selling until you've logged in so I don't know what they are. Actually dragon oil are not in capita deals drop down list. I wonder who the hell has my shares?

gt94sss2

empfun wrote: »

The instructions are not very clear how it's to be done. It says make a cheque payable to "Selftrade client account". But where do I put my account details so they don't mix it up with another Jenny Smith? Thank you.

Do they literally mean made payable to "Seltrade client account" on the cheque? Thank you.

I suggest you ask Selftrade

I always fund my account with a debit card as its quicker/immediate.

Regards
Sunil

gt94sss2

skoop wrote: »

Hi, I have about £450 of shares in one company on a paper certificate. Edit (paper shares held by computershare). This is all I have. I want to sell about £150 worth now. On line dealers are cheapest but it would not be worth it for me to pay a fee each quarter for a broker to hold my shares as I may not make another sell for years and will not be buying any new shares, Have you any advice about where I should go/what I should do? Hoodless Brennan charge £5 + vat a quarter maintenance fee.

Thanks.

Looking at the above quotes selftrade looks the best bet?

Selftrade are a good option, though if the shares are worth less than £500 you don't qualify for their referral scheme (though I would be happy to try for you!)

Otherwise, you could try your bank - for instance I know that both HSBC and First Direct have reasonably priced online stockbroking arms with no annual/inactivity/maintenance fees

Regards
Sunil

pjala

Anyone heard about MCI Technologies Star Trader? Just got something in the post about how wonderful they are,

, they "guarantee" your money back - which is not much use if you use their system to loose money on the stock market, as they won't give you your losses back.
I was a little worried by the quote of a 70 year old on the back page who uses their system, with limited funds to play the stock market. It seems his risk profile is not quite what they are providing for.

Anyway if anyone has heard about, used, knows someone who's used their system please let me know, or PM me if you don't want to talk in public...
Cheers.

Biggles

empfun wrote: »

The instructions are not very clear how it's to be done. It says make a cheque payable to "Selftrade client account". But where do I put my account details so they don't mix it up with another Jenny Smith? Thank you.

Do they literally mean made payable to "Seltrade client account" on the cheque? Thank you.

Write your account number on the back of the cheque.