A beginners guide to the stockmarket

Donkeyman_2

Can anyone recommend a good book, magazine or website for a complete beginner who is looking to invest in stocks and shares? :-/

ey_up

try fool.co.uk for some great, all be it basic, intro's to the world of stocks and shares. You may have to register but its a pretty good site.

It'll certainly explain some of the different options and strategies but realistically theres no perfect guide.

If your thinking of investing try setting up a portfolio of how you would buy on iii.co.uk or similar and see how you would go if you had actually invested. Its a great way to see how things work without risking your hard earned.

Read the forums also - great for speculation and rumours, although bear in mind theres a lot of *&^% being talked in there along with the useful stuff.

oh and one more site - https://www.advfn.co.uk - my favourite for forums and portfolio tracking.

dunstonh

If you do go looking at these sites, remember that a "hot tip" is usually either an internet scam to boost the share price or people are posting about companies which have already had a good burst of growth and by the time you read the post it's too late.

With single company shares, you have to remember that the risk is much greater and the volatility likely to be higher. So make sure you only invest what you can afford to put away for some time and are not relying on.

cheerfulcat

Hi, Donkeyman,

I would second the Motley Fool site. The home page can be a little confusing, so here's a link to the site map -

http://www.fool.co.uk/help/sitemap.htm

Incadamy is also excellent, there are free short courses available in various aspects of investing -

http://incademy.com/pages/home.htm?ginPtrCode=10002

Good books to start with; for the nuts and bolts, try First Steps in Shares by Peter Temple, Winning with Shares by Alvin Hall and the Motley Fool UK Investment Guide. For more on investor psychology and general insights into the philosophies of investing, have a look at One up on Wall Street, by Peter Lynch and The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

HTH

Cheerfulcat

deemy2004

Can anyone recommend a good book, magazine or website for a complete beginner who is looking to invest in stocks and shares? :-/

You might want to search for Warren Buffett on the net or books by him, and the simple techniques he uses to guage a good stock against a bad stock.

Motley fools is a good site, but do your OWN research, and don't be sucked into 'managed funds' which is basically paying someone else's salary to underperform.

Donkeyman_2

Thanks for all the advice guys. Time for some serious research.

Finishrich

Try Best Invest they have some research tools on their website, which you may find useful.

plumb1_2

Always do your own research,never go for tips in news papers etc.
And when you are ready have a look at this

http://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Referrers;action=display;num=1081906282

isasmurf

There's quite a good factsheet on IMA's website called "Introducing Investments"
http://www.investmentfunds.org.uk/about_funds/fact_sheets/default.htm