Advice on shares terminology

Hello,

Two weeks ago I decided to take a punt at investing some spare money in stock (via Hargreaves Lansdown). A friend recommend their app to use so I've given it a blast.

So far, I've invested about £5k in four payments, over two different companies

What I can't get my head around is the way the value of my portfolio is presented to me:

===============================
Portfolio Value: £1,033.44
Stock Value: £4,931.89
Cash Value: -£3,898.85
===============================

My friend is out of contact overseas at the moment, so I was wondering if someone familiar with trading stocks/shares could kindly take a moment to explain to me, in idiot's terms, where these figures come from?

How can the value of my stock be £4.9k but the cash value is only £3.9k? Does it mean if I sold all my shares right now, I'd only receive £3.9k?

How can the value of my entire portfolio only be £1k, if my stock is worth £4.9k?

Thank you for reading!
«1

Comments

  • coyrls
    coyrls Posts: 2,504 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You have a negative cash balance (I don't know why): 4931.89-3898.85=1033.44
  • SonOf
    SonOf Posts: 2,631 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary
    Have the share purchases settled yet? After you purchase, they will not be settled for 2 or 3 days. It looks like only one has settled so far with the others still to settle.
  • Ah okay, that would make sense.

    I've had about £1k in the account for about 2 weeks, then only put another £4k in the account today.
    As it already reflected the new ~£4k I had invested, I assume all the values would be up to date; but maybe it takes longer for every thing to fall in line.

    I will wait to see what happens.

    Thank you! :)
  • jaizan
    jaizan Posts: 42 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    I don't use Hargreaves Landsdown, but the 5 brokers I do use all credit payments of money to the account immediately. So I would be inclined to investigate.



    The only thing that is not immediate is cash from sales of stocks.
  • Hello,
    Two weeks ago I decided to take a punt at investing some spare money in stock (via Hargreaves Lansdown). A friend recommend their app to use so I've given it a blast.

    So far, I've invested about £5k in four payments, over two different companies
    Thank you for reading!
    Just out of interest what companies have you 'taken a punt' on?
  • coyrls
    coyrls Posts: 2,504 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    only put another £4k in the account today.
    How did you put the cash in the account? I wouldn't have expected HL to allow you to buy 4K of shares until you had 4K of cash credited to your account.
  • Yes, that's what I did, transferred in the £4k, then bought the shares.
  • capital0ne wrote: »
    Just out of interest what companies have you 'taken a punt' on?
    I went for Metro Bank and Hollywood Bowl Group
  • Hi,


    looks to me that the first £1000 has increased to £1033.44.


    The £4000 invested today, as already said, the purchase has not been settled yet, but because of spread is now worth £3898.85.
  • webjaved
    webjaved Posts: 618 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    How long does it normally take for the purchase to settle? That is what you should look for in the FAQs section of the website - I can't seem to find it.
    Save £12k in 2019 #154 - £14,826.60/£12k
    Save £12k in 2020 #128 - £4,155.62/£10k
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