Son wants to buy shares

DigForVictory

Son is now earning & has declared he wants to become a shareholder. For the bragging rights, not realising quite what investment means yet.

I'm all for this but think that an electronic holding is fine whereas he wants the full braggo of share certificates...

I've not bought shares in a while - and last I heard there's usually a minimum brokers fee of around £40 (that long ago) - where should I suggest the lad go for an affordable intermediary, is going wholly digital reasonable & can you name someone who will be able to advise on who still issues shares on vellum...?!

Some days this being a loving mother lark is terrifying, but if I can get him saving & sensibly investing at an early stage he'll be a Lot better off than I am within a decade.

Lokolo

How old is DS?

AnotherJoe

Whats he going to do next? Send telegrams to his friends instead of texts? Use a quill pen and parchment and pigeon post instead of email?
The only people who would be impressed by seeing a paper share certificate would be clueless chumps.


I can possibly see why you might want, say, one share in Tesla or Apple or whatever that you could frame and put on your wall that would be similar to buying a print or painting and should be viewed in the same light. Not as an investment because few prints or paintings work out well as investments either, and when you look at the costs to buy paper certificates its like adding a 100% markup to the price or maybe much more. There are also numerous practical issues as to why its a bad idea with shares.


Perhaps the main dissuasion should be embarrassment,because if one day he's impressing his chump friends down the pub with his share certificate someone who knows what the downside and costs of holding that is going to make him look like a right chump as well.


I haven't even covered into should you buy shares rather than funds (or other pooled investments) ! Thats a whole different discussion. I can see merits on either side, i know most here woudl say you should always buy pooled investments I'm not so strong on that.

DigForVictory

Just 18, and slightly wild-eyed at All The Money he's being paid as an apprentice.
I've [STRIKE]thugged[/STRIKE] coaxed him into into opening a HtB ISA but he's not shovelling money into it. He's enrolled in the company pension but can't extend that this early.

He's getting mailshot employee offers through - car/insurance/maintenance deals etc which plug straight into the ignorant testosterone & while yes he'll need a car in another 6 months, he have the tax refund through to start on that - I want to get the habit of dumping a steady wad into his financial future securely rooted!

(Yes, he wants some share certificates for wall decoration). I'm darn tempted to sic youngest into designing a few exotics & printing them for me...

eskbanker

In your shoes as a parent, I'd say that if he's serious about investing then I'd be happy to sit with him and discuss how best to do so, but if he insists that he wants to do something else (that you'd consider inadvisable) then he's old enough to do his own research and make his own mistakes....

Malthusian

Point him towards Snowman's spreadsheet. If you don't have a personal recommendation for him, there's no reason you should be doing his research for him.

Insisting on paper certificates is silly in this day and age, but if he insists on it, he can figure it out how to do it himself.

If he wants to go through a day-trading phase now is the time to do it. There is no such thing as money you can afford to lose, but a few hundred quid when you are 18 and have all your hundreds of thousands of earning potential ahead of you is the closest there is.

Marcon

DigForVictory wrote: »

I've not bought shares in a while - and last I heard there's usually a minimum brokers fee of around £40 (that long ago) - where should I suggest the lad go for an affordable intermediary, is going wholly digital reasonable & can you name someone who will be able to advise on who still issues shares on vellum...?!

To answer your question: https://www.money.co.uk/share-dealing/certificated-share-dealing.htm

xylophone

HtB ISA

And a LISA?

enthusiasticsaver

Investing in individual shares is not usually recommended for a novice investor certainly not a small investor. Steer him towards a global tracker fund within a stocks and shares isa and suggest he educate himself. The costs are much lower.

Voyager2002

I disagree with the comments of most (all?) other posters. There is nothing wrong with owning a certificate for a single share in an interesting company, in the same sort of way that one might own a print. And by starting in this way, with an interesting object, he may well go on to develop and interest in and appreciation of electronic shares as a way to make his savings grow.

Needless to say, I endorse the factual statements about the cost of buying share certificates, which does not make any kind of financial sense.

Owain_Moneysaver

DigForVictory wrote: »

(Yes, he wants some share certificates for wall decoration).

You can buy them on Ebay - see Coins, Banknotes & Bullion, British Share Certificates & Bonds and Collectables, Collectable Paper Ephemera (1901-1950) categories.

If he's a beer drinker, share certificates in William Younger and William McEwan breweries in Edinburgh are 99p each. If he fancies a gold mine, South Africa, Republic Gold Mining Syndicate Ltd is £12.

All worthless as an investment (apart from any ephemera value to collectors) but a nice piece of history and no dafter than getting a star named after you.