share dealing

ard123en

This may sound stupid

But how do you select and buy shares?

ive looked on dealer sites but there appears to be no starting point

want to start very low and build confidence

andyyorks

Try here for a basic introduction:

http://www.fool.co.uk/lrninvint.htm?ref=startinvesting

Watch for all the adverts for the value investor newsletter.

From an earlier post as well:


"Read a few good books about it first. Two books that helped me get going were 'The Intelligent Investor' by Benjamin Graham and 'The Zulu Principle' by Jim Slater. The Motley Fool website - fool.co.uk is an excellent free resource with some useful ideas as well (be careful with the advice in the discussion boards as always though!).

Once you have a background knowledge and are happy with an investment approach set up a dummy portfolio for a while and monitor its progress - you learn a lot from doing this."

Good luck and have fun.

jonesMUFCforever

andyyorks wrote:

Try here for a basic introduction:

http://www.fool.co.uk/lrninvint.htm?ref=startinvesting

Watch for all the adverts for the value investor newsletter.

From an earlier post as well:


"Read a few good books about it first. Two books that helped me get going were 'The Intelligent Investor' by Benjamin Graham and 'The Zulu Principle' by Jim Slater. The Motley Fool website - fool.co.uk is an excellent free resource with some useful ideas as well (be careful with the advice in the discussion boards as always though!).

Once you have a background knowledge and are happy with an investment approach set up a dummy portfolio for a while and monitor its progress - you learn a lot from doing this."

Good luck and have fun.

One piece of advice ONLY INVEST IN STOCKS AND SHARES WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE COMPLETELY.
It is important to have a balanced portfolio including a cash reserve of at least 3 months take home pay in case of unforseen circumstances.
Good luck.
Eric

Jeppo

Can I just add that as long as you invest in a diversified portfolio of solid companies with a good track record, it is extremely unlikely that you will lose everything on the stock exchange.

However, if you pump all your money into highly speculative penny shares in a bid to clear your mortgage, you may well end up crying into your beer!

EdInvestor

The vast majority of the long-term gains on shares come from the dividend income. So buying big household-name type blue chip shares that pay good dividends usually pays off.

Diversification is also a good idea to spread risk.The optimal number of shares to buy in this area is 15-20 - beyond that you don't get much extra protection.

vicky1_2

Ard
You can buy and sell shares through this company

http://www.selftrade.com/uk/

either on the phone or online, £10 commission to buy and sell

Also they do a self select ISA

momitor stocks on this site

http://www.advfn.com/

For a steady and more secure investment, you could do worse than invest in companies like Lloyds bank, still has capital growth possibilities and a very good dividend yield.

For a good speculative punt, try YOO (Yoo Media) aim listed company with iminent possible gains.

let me know if you want anymore info

best of luck

ps

in my opinion 15-20 shares in a company is a waste of time and money

EdInvestor

vicky1 wrote:

in my opinion 15-20 shares in a company is a waste of time and money

I meant that the optimal number of companies you should invest in to spread risk is 15-20.

That is, if you had 10k to invest, put 500 quid in each of 20 companies. But if you're going to do that, watch the dealing costs: an ultra cheapo broker like Halifax Sharebuilder might be best to use if you're going to invest less than 1k per company.

EdInvestor

UK's most popular shares

By no of shareholders


1 - HBOS bank - 2,588,000
2 - BT GROUP telecoms - 1,604,000
3 - MM02 - telecoms 1,578,000
4 - NATIONAL GRID TRANSCO utility - 1,435,000
5 - BRADFORD & BINGLEY mortgage bank- 1,181,000
6 - CENTRICA gas utility - 1,160,000
7 - BG GROUP gas utility- 998,000
8 - LLOYDS TSB GROUP bank - 974,000
9 - FRIENDS PROVIDENT life assurance co- 890,000
10 - BARCLAYS bank - 876,000
11 - AVIVA life assurance co - 875,000
12 - ALLIANCE & LEICESTER mortgage bank- 699,000
13 - VODAFONE GROUP telecoms- 619,000
14 - INTERNATIONAL POWER utility - 560,000
15 - SCOTTISH POWER utility - 450,000
16 - SCOTTISH & SOUTHERN ENERGY utility- 447,000
17 - BAA airports- 382,000
18 - BP oil company- 356,000
19 - ROLLS ROYCE GROUP aircraft engines/turbines- 319,000
20 - MARKS & SPENCER GROUP retail- 317,000
21 - TESCO retail (supermarkets)- 285,000
22 - BRITISH AIRWAYS airline - 245,000
23 - SHELL TRANSPORT & TRADING COMPANY* oil company
24 - GLAXOSMITHKLINE pharmaceuticals- 235,000
25 - NORTHERN ROCK -mortgage bank 207,000
26 - ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP bank- 197,000
27 - ASTRAZENECA pharma- 170,000
28 - BAE SYSTEMS defence equipment- 170,000
29 - IMPERIAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES industrial chemicals - 167,000
30 - IMPERIAL TOBACCO GROUP cigarettes- 164,000
31 - CORUS GROUP steel- 158,000
32 - UNITED UTILITIES utility- 154,000
33 - CABLE & WIRELESS telecoms- 147,000
34 - DIAGEO drinks- 119,000
35 - BOOTS GROUP retail- 107,000

*Recently merged with Dutch arm, now called Royal Dutch Shell, new no of shareholders not known


Quite a lot of these have high dividends, with the top two being Lloyds bank and United Utilities (both around 7%) with BT Group and Alliance and Leicester not far behind.

Dividends are tax free for basic rate taxpayers, don't forget