Share Buying Help

s.gerrard

hi guys i have some spare cash that i would ike to invest in stocks and shares.

i will probably be investing around 10-15,000 so i would like to know who are the best companies to buy through?

i know most of the high street banks offer a share buying service but im not sure how good the service is?

i would like a reputable company, who i can trust to hold my money etc who offer a fast reliable service (eg call over the phone to buy and sell instantly) and offer a good rate for buying and selling (i havent bought for a while but it used to be 25 pounds to enter and exit the market??...is this still the case or do different companies offer different rates?)

who are the main players in buying and selling shares etc?

all advice would be greatly appreciated and thanks for your replies in advance!

gt94sss2

Different stockbrokers offer different services.

Which one is write for you will depend on a number of factors including:

- how often you want to trade?
- do you want to buy UK or foreign stocks?
- the average trade value?
- do you want to trade on the internet and/or telephone?

Having said all that, I would suggest Selftrade.

They are one of the largest brokers in the UK and charge £12.50/trade whether its by telephone or online. They also have no inactivity or annual fees on their standard dealing account.

In addition, they also have a referral scheme - my own details are in post 282.. where it is possible to get £80 for joining them.

As you say, the big banks also offer share dealing services - some of which are better/cheaper than others..

Regards
Sunil

s.gerrard

thanks sunil

id probably be buying uk shares to start with. id like the choice of trading via phone and internet if possible, is it just depends where and what i am doign at the time, so the flexible option would be best.

in regards to the trade value doesnt that depend on the price of the companies shares? im not sure who/how much i would be buying as that would depend on company etc

is there a maxium trade value with selftrade? or others?

i deff dont want to be paying anual fee's or having to pay for inactivity or be forced into a minimum amount of trades per year?

so if i join, can we both get 80 quid via the referal scheme?

thanks for your help.

gt94sss2

s.gerrard wrote: »

in regards to the trade value doesnt that depend on the price of the companies shares? im not sure who/how much i would be buying as that would depend on company etc

is there a maxium trade value with selftrade? or others?

Usually, most investors decide to invest a certain amount in a company - if they decide the price is right.. rather than buying a set number of shares (though some ppl do like rouding up/down the number of shares)

However, most brokers have no maximum trade value - as long as the money is in your dealing account first (with Selftrade you can instantly fund your dealing account using a debit card)

i deff dont want to be paying anual fee's or having to pay for inactivity or be forced into a minimum amount of trades per year?

Some brokers charge inactivity fees (i.e. if you don't use your account enough) or annual charges.. Selftrade don't unless you want a share ISA account in which case they charge a flat fee of £25/year

If you do want a share ISA account without paying annual fees, there are some companies which don't charge them - HSBC, First Direct and Alliance Trust come to mind (though with the 1st 2 you need to have a current account with them as well)

so if i join, can we both get 80 quid via the referal scheme?

The referral scheme actually pays £50 each - I then send you another £30 from my share to take it up to £80 for you.

Regards
Sunil

s.gerrard

thanks sunil

so do seltrade charge u to make deposists from your bank account? say for example if i havent got a debit card will they charge me everytime i transer fund from my bank account into the self trade account?

just out of curiosity have u tried or do u have knowledge of what the selftrade share isa is like? does it do well? im assuming that i cant have a share isa, if ive already put the maximum into my normal bank account isa?

thanks for your help once again!

ib18182852

may i suggest buy mark and spencer share.

GOOD price tough..

cloud_dog

s.gerrard wrote: »

just out of curiosity have u tried or do u have knowledge of what the selftrade share isa is like? does it do well?

..............ummm, its a wrapper its just like having a normal dealing account but its an ISA. You can hold qualifying shares or funds, and other financial instruments in the account.

im assuming that i cant have a share isa, if ive already put the maximum into my normal bank account isa?

By '..normal bank account ISA' I assume you mean a Cash ISA? If this is the case then, yes you can as a Cash ISA limits you to £3k deposit (going up to £3600 in April) and this means you can still open up a 'Mini Stocks and Shares ISA' for this tax year depositing £4k.

If you keep going with two mini ISA's (one cash and one S&S) next FY you could contribute £3600 Cash ISA and £3600 S&S ISA, or a single Maxi S&S ISA of £7200.

cloud_dog

gt94sss2

s.gerrard wrote: »

so do seltrade charge u to make deposists from your bank account? say for example if i havent got a debit card will they charge me everytime i transer fund from my bank account into the self trade account?

No, there are no charges for deposits or withdrawals from/to a Selftrade account. You can also transfer funds via BACS/Chaps/Cheque etc..

just out of curiosity have u tried or do u have knowledge of what the selftrade share isa is like? does it do well? im assuming that i cant have a share isa, if ive already put the maximum into my normal bank account isa?

I have an Selftrade ISA and its just like using their dealing account. as an ISA is just a 'tax wrapper' - you just need to access the ISA section of your account and the rest is identical.

If you already have a cash ISA, you can still open a mini Share ISA this tax year and contribute a maximum of £4000 into it.

Regards
Sunil

s.gerrard

thanks for your reply cloud dog and sunil

i have a gauranteed return bond ISA (linked to the FTSA growth) with 3000 deposited so basically what your saying is that i could open a mini share ISA for 4000?, is this correct due to the type of ISA i already have?

but i dont think it would be a good idea to go with selftrade as they charge 25 as you mentioned earlier, so id probably be better of going with some of the free options you suggested before sunil.

who do you guys have a mini share ISA with then? and how many withdrawels do they allow (my cash one allows 2 but you get a 90 loss of interest each time you withdraw)

i still think il use selftrade just to purchase my shares though, il keep an eye out for the marks and spencers shares! (thanks IB! can anyone else confirm that M & S are a good bet?!)

so sunil once i have decided what shares to purchase is it ok if i PM you and we can do the referal cashback scheme together??

thanks for all your replies!!

Aegis

s.gerrard wrote: »

thanks for your reply cloud dog and sunil

i have a gauranteed return bond ISA (linked to the FTSA growth) with 3000 deposited so basically what your saying is that i could open a mini share ISA for 4000?, is this correct due to the type of ISA i already have?

Are you sure that's an ISA? Guaranteed Equity/Return Bonds are usually just standalone savings products, and (for future reference) they're usually pretty dire, so next time ask here before dropping your cash into one. Of course, the different name might mean a different product, but around here Guaranteed Equity Bonds are even looked down on by flatworms (metaphorically speaking...)

but i dont think it would be a good idea to go with selftrade as they charge 25 as you mentioned earlier, so id probably be better of going with some of the free options you suggested before sunil.

£25 per year isn't too bad for holding shares in an ISA. If you wanted to hold managed/tracker funds instead of shares, you can do so for free at Hargreaves Lansdown, but that might not suit your investment strategy (not that I know what yours is, it just might not involve unit trusts and such).

who do you guys have a mini share ISA with then? and how many withdrawels do they allow (my cash one allows 2 but you get a 90 loss of interest each time you withdraw)

Share ISAs aren't like cash ISAs usually. You don't usually get penalised for withdrawing money as such, but you might pay a transaction cost for buying or selling units, and there might be a buy/sell spread on the stocks you invest in as well, which makes multiple purchases and subsequent fast sales much less appealing.

i still think il use selftrade just to purchase my shares though, il keep an eye out for the marks and spencers shares! (thanks IB! can anyone else confirm that M & S are a good bet?!)

No-one here can confirm if those are a good bet, as that would constitute specific share tips, which are against forum rules and FSA regulations. However, if you have good reason to believe that they will grow (rather than just a gut feeling or a hunch), then you can invest something in them with some confidence. Of course, sometimes things won't happen as planned, and that's when diversity of holdings really helps.

cloud_dog

s.gerrard wrote: »

but i dont think it would be a good idea to go with selftrade as they charge 25 as you mentioned earlier, so id probably be better of going with some of the free options you suggested before sunil.

The thing to consider is......do you really need a S&S ISA? An ISA, now, only really protects you from CGT, of which you have an allowance of £9200 per year for the 07/08 FY. This number is set against your profit, and in the year in which you sell your investments.

For example you invest £10k in stockA and 11 months later you sell it for £19k, there would be no CGT payable on this investment, however if you were to make another sale in the same FY and the realised profit was over £200 then this would make the excess liable to CGT.

I have been investing for many years and have only recently started to switch investments in to S&S ISA's. This means I've done most of my investing via a normal Selftrade account without incurring admin costs (still trading costs though) and am now moving (selling / rebuying) within ISA's.

I know there is a train of thought which say you should always try to use your tax free ISA allowance as once its gone its gone but your circumstances dictate.

who do you guys have a mini share ISA with then? and how many withdrawels do they allow (my cash one allows 2 but you get a 90 loss of interest each time you withdraw)

I Don't use cash ISA all my ISA allowances are used up in Maxi S&S ISA's. Maybe this will change one day but for the time being this is my approach.

i still think il use selftrade just to purchase my shares though, il keep an eye out for the marks and spencers shares! (thanks IB! can anyone else confirm that M & S are a good bet?!)

I use Selftrade for both normal dealing accounts (no charges) and ISA account.

Re M&S - please do not take 'tips' as verbatim, you need to decide if you are comfortable investing in M&S. For reference, they have only recently announced a fall in like-for-like sales over the Xmas period; hense the sharpe decline in the share price recently. Having said that the retail sector issued mixed results, some publishing increases and some decreased sales.

I know investments need to be considered for the long term but if you are looking to invest lump sums then perhaps now is not this time to be considering investing in retail stocks. For example, do you think the economy / peoples spending is likely to slow down/reduce over the next 12 months?

so sunil once i have decided what shares to purchase

s.gerrard, I don't wish to be rude but :rolleyes: from what you have written in this thread I would be nervous of you starting to make direct investments, and would seriously recommend you consider making investments via collective vehicles, OIECs, Unit Trust, Investment Funds, etc, etc. You may even want to consider drip feeding your initial (£10k-£15k) investment over a number of months (poss 6).

I get the impression that you may need to grow your experience on investing and investments and if you want to start investing directly in stocks then you need to know how to go about assessing the investment and possibly identifying an exit position from the investment.

I found it really useful when I started investing to find out why a fund increased or decreased, i.e. general market sentiment, specific to the fund (fund manager change), or did they have a large holding in a specific stock which went up or down, and then why did it go up or down.

All of this is just my opinion and am just trying to be helpful.

Have fun investing cloud_dog

p.s. if you do consider investing in funds (OIECs or UTs) then I think H-L is cheap / quite good.