How do I go about buying shares?

[chadded]

Simple question, never done it before, but thinking of investing. Can anyone help point me in the right way.

Copious amounts of green available for helpful advice.

Steve

 

[TrueBlue]

Simple question, never done it before, but thinking of investing. Can anyone help point me in the right way.

Copious amounts of green available for helpful advice.

Steve

All depends how much you got to play with mate

 

[chadded]

All depends how much you got to play with mate

Plenty if needs be.

 

[Pubey]

You can trade with Barclays, this might be useful:
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/shares/

 

[Smudger]

Simple question, never done it before, but thinking of investing. Can anyone help point me in the right way.

Copious amounts of green available for helpful advice.

Steve

If you have a tip and you're looking for quick (tax free) cash then I would go down the financial spread betting route. Finspreads (www.finspreads.com) worked for me but there are plenty of companies doing it.

 

[chadded]

If you have a tip and you're looking for quick (tax free) cash then I would go down the financial spread betting route. Finspreads (www.finspreads.com) worked for me but there are plenty of companies doing it.

Don't know how quick it will be though.

 

[Pubey]

If you have a tip and you're looking for quick (tax free) cash then I would go down the financial spread betting route. Finspreads (www.finspreads.com) worked for me but there are plenty of companies doing it.

good advice, you need a reasonable amount to put down as your initial margin (I can't remember but it's something like 200 times your initial stake). So a 2quid stake would need 400 in your account. So you'll need thousands to put down if you want to make a decent sum

 

[OldBlueLady]

Your bank should be able to direct you in the right direction, most have their own brokering arm these days I think. That way it's also easy to have any sale proceeds or fees due directly to or from your bank account.

 

[DTS]

Are you looking for individual company shares?

If not you could invest via a portfolio plan which most banks offer. With a portfolio you invest into what is in effect a basket of shares spread across a range of areas. Its often managed for you by an expert with the aim of getting you a better return than you can get from doing it yourself. As you would expect most of them having AMC (Annual Management Charge)

The portfolio would offer potential for the returns you crave without the high risk of buying a single company shares.

Unless its a larger amount most brokers wont be too intersted. However you can use www.selftrade.co.uk and do it yourself for £12.50 per deal and I think thats purchase only eg there is no sale fee. They will probably have to go through anti money laundering first so it wont be instant.

If you are just thinking of doing it as a long term investment then you could look at a structured or cell product. with these you are guaranteed to get your money back and you may do very well if a certain indice (say the FTSE 100) goes up. Again low risk but with potential for real capital growth.

Finally mate depending upon how much your buying and you current ISA holdings dont forget you can hold either individual company or portfolio or structured products (over 5 years) within an ISA thus meaning all gains are tax free. For the current tax year you can hold up to £7200 worth of shares without paying a penny tax.

Or of couse you could try spread betting which is fast gain/loss and tax free. Not ideal for a first timer if you are???

 

[osymandus]

Don't know how quick it will be though.

You could PM my bruv Birri he does trade checking and knows it rather well (its the bit that comes after the traders have bought and sold )

 

[Pubey]

Your bank should be able to direct you in the right direction, most have their own brokering arm these days I think. That way it's also easy to have any sale proceeds or fees due directly to or from your bank account.

I thought that current advice was to generally mix up your accounts and cards and things because if something goes wrong with one then they can freeze everything while it gets sorted out? It's pretty easy to move money between accounts, and you're better off looking for a broker with cheaper charges and what you need, rather than your same bank.

 

[chadded]

Unless its a larger amount most brokers wont be too intersted. However you can use www.selftrade.co.uk and do it yourself for £12.50 per deal and I think thats purchase only eg there is no sale fee. They will probably have to go through anti money laundering first so it wont be instant.

Does that mean I could buy 1000 shares in Company x at £1 per share, and my outlay would be £1012.50? And then if I sold them, I get the full money back, ie, no extra costs, just the share price at time of sale?

 

[OldBlueLady]

I thought that current advice was to generally mix up your accounts and cards and things because if something goes wrong with one then they can freeze everything while it gets sorted out? It's pretty easy to move money between accounts, and you're better off looking for a broker with cheaper charges and what you need, rather than your same bank.

Possibly, not very up to speed, I know the FSA regs change from time to time but thought they can give "best" advice now rather than only promoting their own services. The two parts of my post were not actually dependant on each other, I meant his bank should be able to advise him where best to find a broker.

 

[DTS]

Does that mean I could buy 1000 shares in Company x at £1 per share, and my outlay would be £1012.50? And then if I sold them, I get the full money back, ie, no extra costs, just the share price at time of sale?

I havent used it for a long time but yes in theory. I think you will find they will charge a set membership fee which is about £30 but you get a few free trades.

When you go to sell them I think you will find there is no exit charge but then I could be wrong so please chec that.

The only other charges you could have to worry about is capital gains tax however in your case you can make £10,100 this tax year without paying a pennys tax so i doubt in your example you would. If you are doing a larger amount do think about usin your ISA allowance as you can max you gains without the worry of paying tax.

Self trade is run by The Boursorama group who are massive so you will have no worries about the safety of your wonga.

Finally please remember shares are one of the most high risk investments and only really for those with either good working knowledge of the market or those who can afford to lose the cash.

Good luck big boy x

 

[ldnfatso]

Simple question, never done it before, but thinking of investing. Can anyone help point me in the right way.

Copious amounts of green available for helpful advice.

Steve

For Stockbrokers i would recommend Hargreaves Lansdown http://www.h-l.co.uk/ as they seem happy enough dealing with small retail clients. The only trouble opening an account can be a fairly lengthy process because money laundering and credit checks need to be done. Most other Stockbrokers seem to be switching to deal with Professional clients only because the FSA is cracking down on unfair treatment to retail clients hard and most feel retail business is not profitable enough if they are not treating the client unfairly.
If you get grief at HL you are then best doing it through your own bank with whom you already have a relationship.
I wouldnt recommend any kind of spread betting/derivative trading unless you know exactly what you are doing or are receiving professional advice.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Follow the Shackleford model and lump everything you have on a company that you like the sound of. Enron and Worldcom were two of my faves.