Buying shares for the first time.

jimjames

GE0RDIE said:

Hi
I have joined a group that offers shares advice (as in which shares to buy and when to sell).
I've followed the advice without actually following through, as a test. If I'd bought and sold as advised, I'd have made about 7% in two months.

By group, do you mean a WhatsApp or similar one that has been advertised on social media? I've seen many being advertised that are all scams designed to pump shares for people to buy and then ditch them so the group owner makes the profit not the person who has bought.
Share tips are very rarely profitable so be very, very careful putting money in. For £200 if you don't have an emergency fund you could build up using a regular saver account and get 7% risk free.

Bostonerimus1

This is just side tracking from the simple and common sense ways to improve personal finances. Single stocks and the idea that someone can robustly time their buying and selling is a dangerous fallacy. Use your tax advantaged wrappers to buy equity and bond funds, reinvest dividends and interest and hold them for many years, selling only when you need that cash. Stock trading is close to gambling and is usually a mugs game.

retiredbanker1

This is a cautionary tale of an investment that I missed because I had a wedding to pay for.

A friend who was a financial adviser at the time, told me about a shop which was having difficulties but a new CEO had gone in and he thought would turn the business round.

I paid for the wedding and honeymoon!

The shares at the time were 14p each.
Today they are £121 odd - the closest I came to be a multi millionaire LOL

Who knows if I would have kept them as they started to rocket - I probably would have sold them when the value would have been equal to my mortgage at the time.

The moral here for the OP - If they have an initial £200 to invest - have a pop with a penny share - it might just be the one that will change your life - the other side of the coin o course is that you may lose the lot.

Oh the shop was called NEXT Plc.

InvesterJones

retiredbanker1 said:

This is a cautionary tale of an investment that I missed because I had a wedding to pay for.

A friend who was a financial adviser at the time, told me about a shop which was having difficulties but a new CEO had gone in and he thought would turn the business round.

I paid for the wedding and honeymoon!

The shares at the time were 14p each.
Today they are £121 odd - the closest I came to be a multi millionaire LOL

Who knows if I would have kept them as they started to rocket - I probably would have sold them when the value would have been equal to my mortgage at the time.

The moral here for the OP - If they have an initial £200 to invest - have a pop with a penny share - it might just be the one that will change your life - the other side of the coin o course is that you may lose the lot.

Oh the shop was called NEXT Plc.

That's what, 20% annual return since we're talking very early 90s? Good, but I'm not sure worth the risk given number of other single stocks that haven't done as well, compared to an index.

Beddie

retiredbanker1 said:

This is a cautionary tale of an investment that I missed because I had a wedding to pay for.

A friend who was a financial adviser at the time, told me about a shop which was having difficulties but a new CEO had gone in and he thought would turn the business round.

I paid for the wedding and honeymoon!

The shares at the time were 14p each.
Today they are £121 odd - the closest I came to be a multi millionaire LOL

Who knows if I would have kept them as they started to rocket - I probably would have sold them when the value would have been equal to my mortgage at the time.

The moral here for the OP - If they have an initial £200 to invest - have a pop with a penny share - it might just be the one that will change your life - the other side of the coin o course is that you may lose the lot.

Oh the shop was called NEXT Plc.

I too was given a suggestion to take a bite on Next shares, back when they nearly collapsed. But by the time I looked into it further, they had gone up to about 25p, so I thought I'd missed the boat...

Bostonerimus1

retiredbanker1 said:

This is a cautionary tale of an investment that I missed because I had a wedding to pay for.

A friend who was a financial adviser at the time, told me about a shop which was having difficulties but a new CEO had gone in and he thought would turn the business round.

I paid for the wedding and honeymoon!

The shares at the time were 14p each.
Today they are £121 odd - the closest I came to be a multi millionaire LOL

Who knows if I would have kept them as they started to rocket - I probably would have sold them when the value would have been equal to my mortgage at the time.

The moral here for the OP - If they have an initial £200 to invest - have a pop with a penny share - it might just be the one that will change your life - the other side of the coin o course is that you may lose the lot.

Oh the shop was called NEXT Plc.

The conditional tense is to be avoided when it comes to investing; there is no place for "should", "could", "might" etc. Tales of narrowly missed opportunities are literally worthless, so concentrate on what you actually do/did. For example I've been investing in equity and bond index funds for the past 35 years, my fees have been minimal as has been the amount of effort I've put into managing my investments and my portfolio has an average annual return of 9%, that's how you become a multi-millionaire. Stock picking seldom produces good results and the OP should not waste their money on a strategy that has a high probability of failure, even just for fun. They should maximize their chances of success and get into good habits by buying funds within tax efficient wrappers.

Also many scams start with small amounts invested by online apps, so there's another reason for the OP to change path.

GE0RDIE

jimjames said:

By group, do you mean a WhatsApp 

Yes, It's a Whatsapp group. It's very good, very professional, but way over my head. I don't understand most of whats going on, but I've picked up some stocks, made £5 or £6, and quit while  I was ahead. I didn't like being ignorant, not knowing the risk I was taking. 
My son put it into perspective (and he works in finance) when he said 'why the hassle and risk when you could just put it in a Stocks and Shares ISA and let some experts look after it. It's safe enough and could make 7-8% a year. 

GE0RDIE

Bostonerimus1 said:

This is just side tracking from the simple and common sense ways to improve personal finances. Single stocks and the idea that someone can robustly time their buying and selling is a dangerous fallacy. Use your tax advantaged wrappers to buy equity and bond funds, reinvest dividends and interest and hold them for many years, selling only when you need that cash. Stock trading is close to gambling and is usually a mugs game.

Probably the best advice, along with 'don't get involved in something you know nothing about'. 
I'm going to stick it in a S&S ISA and let the experts take care of it. 

Eyeful

1. Never invest in what you do not understand.

2. If you want to invest in shares, the following, is all you need to know in simple terms:
(a) watch this
https://www.kroijer.com/
(b) read this
https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

3.  I suggest you ignore social media,, there are groups and adds that count on newbies not knowing what they are doing so as to scam you out of your money. There are so many investment scams out there so "be very careful".