Stock trading

meedleeed

Hello Everyone,
I need your advice please, I'm on benefit receiving Universal Credit, I could save about 1500 pound, and I'm planning to trade US stock through US or UK stockbroker.
Do I need to do anything here, such as documentation or any other paperwork?, Does it impact the benefit that I received?, Do I need to inform DWP or any other authority?

Appreciate your advice.

huckster

Below £6000 of savings and investments does not affect Universal Credit. I have heard of people with modest amounts of money being scammed into trading and they lose it all. There are companies that prey on people saying you only need £xxxx to start a trading account and it all looks promising to start off with, but as soon as they try to withdraw any money, they are told that it is not possible for various reasons. Please do not fall for these scams that are widely advertised.

meedleeed

huckster said:

Below £6000 of savings and investments does not affect Universal Credit. I have heard of people with modest amounts of money being scammed into trading and they lose it all. There are companies that prey on people saying you only need £xxxx to start a trading account and it all looks promising to start off with, but as soon as they try to withdraw any money, they are told that it is not possible for various reasons. Please do not fall for these scams that are widely advertised.

many thanks for the advice, I'm planning to open the account with very well known broker "Interactive brokers or TradeStation".

Browntoa

£1500 is a minimal amount of money to invest after fees .

Unless the shares have huge upswings you will make virtually nothing

barnstar2077

You would be better off opening a stocks and shares ISA with someone like Vanguard, who have very low fees, and then investing in a globally diversified fund, like one of their Lifestrategy funds.

Do you really want to gamble the money away trying to pick individual companies that will do well?  If it was that easy, don't you think everyone would be doing it?  What edge do you have over others that makes you think you are onto a winner? 

Sorry to be a bit blunt, but I hate to see someone in your situation throwing money away.

Alice_Holt

Browntoa said:

£1500 is a minimal amount of money to invest after fees .

Unless the shares have huge upswings you will make virtually nothing

    Completely agree. Although in the context of the OP's question, I would use the word gamble, rather than invest.
   For me, any sensible investing strategy involves a long time period, uses tax efficient vehicles, and minimises investment costs. 
   Have a read of this, OP -      https://monevator.com/to-make-easy-money-do-something-hard/

    In any case, studies have shown that the majority of traders (even those with experience of the stock-market) lose money over the long-term, even if you do manage to avoid the numerous scams out there.

  What will be your trading trading methodology ?
  How do you intend to take advantage of volatility ?
  What risk management principles will you deploy ?

 Far better to use the £1,500 as your emergency fund, or to supplement your limited monthly UC allowance.