So...Stocks and Shares

JonB

JonB

JonB

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Does anyone here dabble in them? Do you have any advice?

I'm currently interested in investing in some, and have signed up for the online natwest stock brokering service. What do people think that a decent starting amount for investment is, to make investment worthwhile? £1000? £2000? It depends on the stocks you're investing in?
 
Im pretty sure Abbey charge a lower fee (£7) per trade than Natwest (£12). I use barclays and they have plenty of hidden fees as well as £12 per trade and a couple yearly 'administrative charges'. Im going to change to Abbey once ive sold up my current holdings.
 
JonB said:
Does anyone here dabble in them? Do you have any advice?

I'm currently interested in investing in some, and have signed up for the online natwest stock brokering service. What do people think that a decent starting amount for investment is, to make investment worthwhile? £1000? £2000? It depends on the stocks you're investing in?
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It depends on the stocks entirely, to a point.

Obviously you invest as much as you can, but it is all risk playing.

I.e. putting £2000 on Northern Rock.... :D
 
Realistically, you'd like more than 1 or two grand. In an investment account you'd like to diversivy and part of that diversity is keeping your money in cash form in the account as well.
 
It all depends on how much risk you want and how long you're going to leave it in there for. I will start trading again this year. I'll be putting £100-200 on start up companies with a very low share price in the pennies. But I'll be leaving them in there a decade+

The hope is although 90%+ will go bust. one or two companies will grow exponentially and in 10+ years be big. It's a very risk adventure though.
 
If you're investing a few thousand quid, my advice would be to put it in a unit trust- a managed fund where the manager pools people's money together and invests in a diverse portfolio. You can choose funds with UK based companies only, European stocks, Chinese, Japanese, there's lots of options. Far less risky than going it alone, although the managers do take a cut of course.
 
I have some in various places, but the last shares I bought were AMD standards so don't ask for my advice :p (purchased as a long term punt tbh)
 
Be careful what you invest in at the moment... The markets might be set for a big downturn later in 08.
 
Do you have any knowledge about how the stock market works? It's a fickle whore and from the analysis of financial experts, it could be getting worse. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.
 
Transaction costs and stamp duty can quickly erode your capital, depending on how active you plan to be. You may want to learn about derivatives, specifically CFDs. Also look at spread betting.

These two investment vehicles are more complex than traditional share dealing but they have some advantages e.g. no stamp duty, lower transaction costs, no capital gains tax.

Good luck, you'll need it. :p
 
I lost £500 when I infested in penny shares after a tip in the daily mirror ,brought on monday by the end of the week they were worth £250 after advice from a broker I kept them they are now worth £25 it costs that to sell them :D
My advice is only invest what you can afford to lose ,I new that penny shares were risky so was not to bothered !
 
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