Total novice help please

Alexland

cloud_dog said:

My only comment would to stick to using OEICs/funds and not ETFs or ITs with the amounts you are talking about.

Depends on the platform, certainly not worth paying trade fees on small amounts, some of the new entrants don't charge such fees on exchange traded assets.

cloud_dog

Alexland said:

cloud_dog said:

My only comment would to stick to using OEICs/funds and not ETFs or ITs with the amounts you are talking about.

Depends on the platform, certainly not worth paying trade fees on small amounts, some of the new entrants don't charge such fees on exchange traded assets.

Based on the little the OP has written I think simplicity and clarity is likely the better route for now.  I don't like suggesting investments per se, but Vanguard platform with Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap would be a starting point.

tebbins

Also worth saying Freetrade also have wider spreads i.e. higher buy prices than other brokers. Their commission is baked into the price rather than being made explicit.

wmb194

sevenhills said:

SharpShooter said:

1. Use a commission free broker i.e trading212/Freetrade. Most people on this forum are old school and prefer paying commission to HL et al, afraid of risk.

With Hargreaves Lansdown and other platforms that charge fees to trade, you can set a price to buy at or buy at any time of the day, which is the same when selling.

Many new traders make the mistake of overtrading and don’t realize that there are specific times of day to trade(prices can vary 1%-2% per day) that are better than others. 9:30am est to 11:00am est is the best time of day to buy stocks because that’s when the market is most liquid.

Freetrade place deals when they choose, often at 4pm.

So the cost of trading is very similar, there is no such thing as free.

You're out of date. For a long time now Freetrade has executed orders immediately and if you use its £10pm 'plus' offering you can set limit prices, too. It's definitely a lot cheaper than HL and other, similar brokers.

wmb194

tebbins said:

Also worth saying Freetrade also have wider spreads i.e. higher buy prices than other brokers. Their commission is baked into the price rather than being made explicit.

Untrue. This seems to be a myth that's developed, perpetuated it seems by people who don't use it; in addition to watching the live prices and trades, I usually obtain a quote from iWeb before using Freetrade and it offers the same prices.

The key thing for me about Freetrade is that doesn't offer the same range of shares as other brokers e.g., it misses quite a lot of small-cap and Aim listed shares* and the one FTSE100 share it misses is British Aerospace.

*I say this and today it says that it's added 300 new Aim listed companies.

jimjames

wmb194 said:

sevenhills said:

SharpShooter said:

1. Use a commission free broker i.e trading212/Freetrade. Most people on this forum are old school and prefer paying commission to HL et al, afraid of risk.

With Hargreaves Lansdown and other platforms that charge fees to trade, you can set a price to buy at or buy at any time of the day, which is the same when selling.

Many new traders make the mistake of overtrading and don’t realize that there are specific times of day to trade(prices can vary 1%-2% per day) that are better than others. 9:30am est to 11:00am est is the best time of day to buy stocks because that’s when the market is most liquid.

Freetrade place deals when they choose, often at 4pm.

So the cost of trading is very similar, there is no such thing as free.

You're out of date. For a long time now Freetrade has executed orders immediately and if you use its £10pm 'plus' offering you can set limit prices, too. It's definitely a lot cheaper than HL and other, similar brokers.

So you have to pay £10 or HL do regular deals for £1.50?

wmb194

jimjames said:

wmb194 said:

sevenhills said:

SharpShooter said:

1. Use a commission free broker i.e trading212/Freetrade. Most people on this forum are old school and prefer paying commission to HL et al, afraid of risk.

With Hargreaves Lansdown and other platforms that charge fees to trade, you can set a price to buy at or buy at any time of the day, which is the same when selling.

Many new traders make the mistake of overtrading and don’t realize that there are specific times of day to trade(prices can vary 1%-2% per day) that are better than others. 9:30am est to 11:00am est is the best time of day to buy stocks because that’s when the market is most liquid.

Freetrade place deals when they choose, often at 4pm.

So the cost of trading is very similar, there is no such thing as free.

You're out of date. For a long time now Freetrade has executed orders immediately and if you use its £10pm 'plus' offering you can set limit prices, too. It's definitely a lot cheaper than HL and other, similar brokers.

So you have to pay £10 or HL do regular deals for £1.50?

You don't have to, 'Plus' for £10pm gives access to limit orders and some small cap and Aim shares. It also pays  3% interest on up to £4,000. Otherwise you can use its fee-free account, it just depends what you want to do. For me there are some small cap investment trusts which I want access to and I trade often enough for a £10pm all you can eat to be very worthwhile.

Thrugelmir

tebbins said:

Also worth saying Freetrade also have wider spreads i.e. higher buy prices than other brokers. Their commission is baked into the price rather than being made explicit.

Freetrade are running a loss leader in order to build their customer base. How long this is sustainable for who knows.