What to think when buying shares.

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  • When considering what shares to buy, think also on shareholder benefits if there are any.

    For example, did you know that if you hold a certain number of Thorntons shares (currently around £1 per share) they will give you money off vouchers of up to 25% off purchases through their shops (up to about £85 in discount per year at last count). This not only gives you cheap chocolate, you also have the pleasure of handing over shareholder discount vouchers in front of everyone else.

    Oh and by the way, Thorntons still pay dividends (well they have been recently) AND you still have the shares as an investment.

    True, you may have to invest £500 or so to buy the shares in the first place but annual discounts of £85 per year plus the dividends mean that in a few years the shares will have paid for themselves.

    No, I am not a director of Thorntons (my waistline (sic) couldn't handle it) just a happy customer. (Don't quote me on the precise amount of saving each year - this is obviously subject to change. Vouchers tend to be issued in October each year. Any queries speak to Thorntons shareholders services direct)

    Have fun all
  • lipidicman
    lipidicman Posts: 2,598 Forumite
    (up to about £85 in discount per year at last count......

    How much chocolate must YOU eat?
  • I was just wondering if somebody could help since i know little (ok hardly anything) about buying shares, though I really wish to start. After reading Martin's article I wanted to know if the Halifax share builder would be a good place to begin or after researching companies etc would it just be better to do my own thing with someone like Hoodless Brennan?
    Would really appreciate anyones advice and what excatly is HYP?

    Thanks
  • cheerfulcat
    cheerfulcat Posts: 3,334
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    Hi, ahudovsky,

    The best place to start ( having done your research ) depends on how much you intend to invest. If it is small amounts, by which I mean anything less than £1000 per purchase, then your best bet is the Halifax Sharebuilder IMO. BTW, I'm not sure whether you think that there is a difference between it and the Hoodless Brennan type of offering? The Sharebuilder is just a cheap stockbroking service, they don't pick the shares.The drawback is that you have no control over the price at which you buy, because all of the buys are lumped together on certain days. But for small amounts it's probably the most cost efficient method. For larger amounts I would recommend an online broker like comdirect ( whom I use ) for shares/gilts or a discount broker like Hargreaves Lansdown ( ditto ) for collective funds.

    HYP is the High Yield Portfolio, much discussed on the Motley Fool. Here's a link to the discussion board -

    http://boards.fool.co.uk/Messages.asp?mid=9331386&bid=51166

    And the HYP concept explained -

    http://www.fool.co.uk/news/foolseyeview/2000/fev001106c.htm?ref=valuehome

    Basically it involves buying a portfolio of shares with a high dividend yield and either reinvesting the dividends for growth or using them for income. The concept is simple and so far successful.

    TMF is a great place to learn about investment. Have a look around -

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

    HTH

    Cheerfulcat
  • EdInvestor
    EdInvestor Posts: 15,749 Forumite
    I second cheerfulcat's comments :)
    Trying to keep it simple...;)
  • lipidicman
    lipidicman Posts: 2,598 Forumite
    Just a quickie - is the Halifax Sharebuilder available as a Mini Stocks and Shares ISA?
  • lipidicman
    lipidicman Posts: 2,598 Forumite
    Just noticed a typo in Martin's article - 'The risk that you may gain versus that you may loose.'

    Lose, not loose. Apparently this is the most common spelling mistake in internet forums!

  • cheerfulcat
    cheerfulcat Posts: 3,334
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    lipidicman wrote:
    Just a quickie - is the Halifax Sharebuilder available as a Mini Stocks and Shares ISA?

    No, 'fraid not. But you could use the Sharebuilder to build up your portfolio and move it gradually ( by selling the holdings and repurchasing ) into an ISA with another broker. Comdirect charge £12.50 commission for sales/purchases and £25 pa for the ISA wrapper; expensive if you were building up a holding but a much smaller amount if you are transferring £3000 worth of shares.

    Cheerfulcat
  • firespire
    firespire Posts: 795 Forumite
    Just to confirm what Payless has said here - Please keep conversation limited to the discussion of providers and services.

    I think you are wrong it seems to me from the first post that this thread is for discussion Of Martin's article about what to look for when choosing shares. Nothing to do with discussing providers of share dealing services.
    That goes in the other thread. If you check the other thread it says
    This is not for the discussion of how to choose shares (for that go here <link directs you to this thread>) but just for talking about brokers and dealing costs.
  • Thanks cheerfulcat, you're right the fools website is a great one for learning about HYP etc, thanks for the advice.
    One question though now that i have chosen a broker if i want to create a HYP do I have to specifically say so, or can i just choose shares in companies that have high yeilding dividends and then create my own portfolio? ;)
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