Want to invest my savings in stocks and let sit for years

premiumz

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying some very well known stocks and holding them for years. In my opinion, I'll get a better return than the money just sitting in the bank.

I always thought it would be straight forward in buying stocks but it seems there's recurring fees to think about and if the brokerage went bust I'd also lose my stock? Is that right?

What's the best way to do this? I've seen many online brokers and have also heard you could go into your local bank and buy stocks. Is that correct? Would buying stock through a bank be less recurring fees and safer?

The amount I want to invest and hold is quite substantial and so this is why I'm asking for reputable companies that aren't going to charge me a fortune just to hold the stock.
Any questions appreciated.

Many thanks

Prism

For large amounts then there are plenty of choices that will cost you very little, but I wouldn't use a bank. Some don't charge at all for holding your shares such as Hargreaves Lansdown or X-O. Others have a small yearly fee like Youinvest (£30 per year)

eskbanker

It would unlikely for a newbie investor to be able to identify a sensibly diverse set of shares and to acquire and hold them in a cost-effective manner, without conducting the sort of research and due diligence that would render the above questions superfluous.  Generally better to start with collective investments such as low-cost global multi-asset funds, within an ISA....

Username999

premiumz said:

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying some very well known stocks and holding them for years. In my opinion, I'll get a better return than the money just sitting in the bank.

I always thought it would be straight forward in buying stocks but it seems there's recurring fees to think about and if the brokerage went bust I'd also lose my stock? Is that right?

What's the best way to do this? I've seen many online brokers and have also heard you could go into your local bank and buy stocks. Is that correct? Would buying stock through a bank be less recurring fees and safer?

The amount I want to invest and hold is quite substantial and so this is why I'm asking for reputable companies that aren't going to charge me a fortune just to hold the stock.
Any questions appreciated.

Many thanks

I'm just being nosy here but which 'very well known stocks'?

dunstonh

The amount I want to invest and hold is quite substantial and so this is why I'm asking for reputable companies that aren't going to charge me a fortune just to hold the stock.

What assets are you looking to invest in? direct share holdings, investment funds (if these then what type as it makes a difference)

have also heard you could go into your local bank and buy stocks. Is that correct?

Not for a few decades.

steampowered

Yes, you are very likely to get a better return than money sitting in the bank. The historic long term returns generated by the major stock markets are 7-8% per year. Have a read of this link to understand the level of risk with pure equities: https://www.nutmeg.com/nutmegonomics/increasing-your-chances-of-positive-portfolio-returns-the-facts-about-long-term-investing/.

You wouldn't lose the underlying shares if your broker went bust, since they are still your shares - you'd just move them to another broker.

Yes you'll pay a platform fee to your broker and a management charge (if investing in a fund) or dealing charge (if buying individual stocks) but these shouldn't be very much. Most of the high street banks have their own share trading platforms but they tend to be a bit more expensive than other providers.

The risk (and reward) of buying individual stocks is much higher than the risk of buying a diversified fund with lots of different shares. You could look at Vanguard or HSBC tracker funds as a good entry point.

Audaxer

premiumz said:

I'm looking at buying some very well known stocks and holding them for years. In my opinion, I'll get a better return than the money just sitting in the bank.

The amount I want to invest and hold is quite substantial and so this is why I'm asking for reputable companies that aren't going to charge me a fortune just to hold the stock.

It's good that you want to invest for the long term, but investing in individual stocks is very risky. If you have a search around this forum you will see that it is much safer to invest in funds, which contain many stocks. I would suggest initially researching low cost, globally diversified multi asset funds. You will find a lot of information about them and the different risk categories, as well as what would be the most cost efficient investment platform for your needs, on this forum and sites like Monevator.

Thrugelmir

Being well known doesn't neccessarily make them the best investments at the current time. 

ash82

You could use a robo invester such as Wealthify, I've got £15k invested with them with a management fee at 0.6%. You just do a questionnaire to access your level of risk and they do all the diversification for you. I started with them in about January 2018 and my adventurous plan is only down 2.98%, not bad given the current climate.  

Eco_Miser

The online platform IWEB is actually part of Lloyds Banking Group, but is one of the cheapest around for buy and hold: £25 opening fee plus £5 for each buy or sell - no annual fee.  Look at Monevator's comparison table for all the reasonable brokers/platforms.