Halifax Sharesaver

johng_uk

something else worth pointing out - it looks like you can only do one investment a month. I was hoping you could say invest some money in company A on the first investment date and in company B on the second investment date. alas this doesnt seem to be the case.

no prob really.

Yeah that's how I read it as well. I did see an article by a user who said that you could invest 'realtime' as well. I don't think this is correct though (I think this is the major drawback with the scheme).

The other drawback for the small investor is that trading your way out of any trouble will be difficult due to the costs eating into your capital.

Guess you've got to get it right first time!!

billy78

Hi both,

you can invest on all allocated investment dates if you wish. they appear on your account as additional subscriptions.
Egg, what you pointed out is what I am doing at the moment. I'm investing in one company early in the month, then again in another later.
The sale of shares is 'realtime' however the purchases are not. They could be put through at any stage of the day.

Bill

eggedd2k

quick question Billy - obviously selling shares with this scheme is pretty much out of the question with the fees, and you wouldn't want shares in loads of different companies, what do you do on a regular basis? Once you've got enough shares? Do you still research companies?

I guess what Im saying is if you're not likely to sell the shares what else is there to do?

Does that make sense?

What do you plan to do John??

billy78

As I mentioned before, I have 3 or 4 investment's in it for long term, ie, 20 - 30 years. I simply keep abreast of what is going on companywise and will act accordingly if need be. I also put aside a smallish fund to 'have a bit of fun' with through peny shares, etc, in an attempt to make a bit of quick money. This I suppose is my way of making the system a bit more interesting, but I always give preference to my main stock.

eggedd2k

Billy.

I've selected one regular investment on the site but can't see any options for creating another - is it one trade a month or am I missing something?

johng_uk

Egg - Why wouldn't you want shares in loads of companies? My long-term plan will be to have the balanced portfolio we discussed earlier, encompassing 10-12 main companies. Of course this really is a long-term plan with the amounts of £ we are discussing atm. This figure will rise though as and when I can A) Afford it and Have a better knowledge of the scarey S + S world! I was also thinking along the same lines as Billy in that any spare cash I come across could be speculatively invested in penny shares to keep my adrenaline flowing and hopefully bump up my profits.

Billy - Hi mate and thanks for contributing to our discussion.

Both - How much research do you guys do/plan to do on companies? Also, how much experience do you guys have in reading company accounts etc. I have to admit, I'm a complete novice and that is the scariest part!

billy78

As you have seen when planning an investment on the sharebuilder, you can only plan one particular dats investments at a time, but you can choose many different companies. If you wish to plan the next weeks investment you have to wait until the current one has passed.
As far as research is concerned, I spent a fair bit of time reading accounts. I use aa few websites, ie, LSE and digital look, to keep on top of company news.
You'll find loads of info on forecasts, potential probs etc from sites such as digital look and even the halifax research site.
Bill

johng_uk

Cheers Bill,

I need to get my head in the books and find out what to look for when analysing companies tbh. It's all completely new to me and I don't mind admitting it!

eggedd2k

by loads I meant I wouldn't want more than say ten or twelve companies invested in.

Research wise I've been following the advice from the naked trader book:

- get the latest accounts and go through the balance sheet, cash flow statement etc and look at the figures. (I'm new to this as well but if you want to know what the fundamentals to look for are then let me know).

If the accounts look good then I check their news on advfn, look on iii until I'm happy. Then I'll add them to my watch list.

johng_uk

Yeah I'll email you sometime regards what your looking at mate. I'm gonna get my head in the book tonight to try and make a dent in it! Once I've got some info I'll pass it on and ask questions also!

Right - Off to read!