Share Dealing Discussion Area

IronWolf

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

I also would be interested in some guidance for a beginner wanting to buy shares.

I will be a small investor with about £50 to invest every couple of months or so.

Would like to invest a little in various companies that take my fancy with a view to keeping them for about 6/8 yrs.

Not sure where to start or how I go about it.

Think I will see if I can get a beginners book out of the library but any advice would be appreciated.

Will subscribe to this thread as well and when I have time, work my way through it so I have a basic understanding.

My advice is to read a lot.

I have a few intro videos linked on my site here http://investingsidekick.com/basic-investing/

and then another page with all the books I recommend on the subject. It is all focussed on a specific investment philosophy though, and there are others out there that you may prefer, like reading charts or macroeconomic stuff.

Kantankrus_Mare

Thanks for that Iron Wolf.

I intend to do just that......lots of reading.

Got my first £50 though and itching to get started.

EvilJaz

Correct me if i am wrong.

I too was interested a few months ago in starting to dabble with investments. Between £50 to £200 a month.

What i discovered that share dealing with that sort of money, in general, is quite wasteful due to all the fees that have to be paid?.

I believe you are better off buying into funds at that sort of money?

Kantankrus_Mare

What...like an Isa do you mean?

This is why I am going to read up as much as I can...............don't want to waste the little money I have on fees.

Just want a better place for a bit of money I can afford to gamble with for hopefully better returns than a savings account at the moment.

EvilJaz

Yeah S&S ISA's allow you to invest in funds.

I would wait for someone just to confirm, but this is my understanding.

A fund is basically a collections of shares. I.e. so your investment is already somewhat diversified which is important when you are looking to reduce risk.

Fund are cheaper to invest in than individual shares...... i think.

Kantankrus_Mare

Sounds a more sensible option.......I just liked the idea of picking certain companys to invest in based on what I know and have read on their performances and looking to see how they are doing. I guess in a stocks and shares isa you wouldn't know where your money was invested?

EvilJaz

In a stock and shares ISA, i believe you get the choice to invest in a fund or individual shares.

sabretoothtigger

The isa allows funds and shares. A fund will list its largest holdings and you could decide who to favour based on that

It really is more sensible to use the fund as their costs will be a much lower percentage and they dont pay tax to do everything like a person has to.
Quite often the fund manager will talk his strategy or if you wanted to pilot then you can still choose the tracker fund and why, this is close enough to count

melbury

I know I have asked this question before, but all the shares I hold are in certificated form - I suppose it is because when I started buying them decades ago I always got a certificate and so just carried it on.

However, it is so expensive now, has put me off.

My question is:

When you buy through an online firm and they hold the shares for you, how much do they charge and, more importantly, are they safe? It is just so reassuring to have that bit of paper proving that you own them:)

Many thanks and any recommendations gratefully received.

Cherokeebluesome

When you buy shares via the internet they are held in a "nominee" account electronically in your name. You will receive dividends as and when and NO tax will be payable unless you are paying the higher rate of tax( 40% ). The problem with buying shares, especially when very small tranches of money eg: less than £1000 is the effect of transaction costs and stamp duty( if applicable) has on your holding. A £1000 purchase of a company's shares will incur a 2%-5% hit on the value of your holding. To put another way, your share holding needs to increase by 2%-5% to bring you back to where you started. The effect when your purchase is ONLY £50 is far greater than for a £1000 purchase. The variations in costs (2%-5% ) is due to whichever internet share dealing provider you use.