stocks and shares

[White_Van_Man]

iv always fancied buying a few shaes and trying to make a bit of money (for the kit car/tvr fund) how easy is it to buy/sell shares do you have to have a broker or can you do in on the internet? am i just going to loose a load of money or is there a reasonable chance of making some. I was thinking of starting with penny shares.
is anyone an expert that could give me a few hints/tips

Thanks
WVM

[beano500]

Oops - clearly a mis-type.

I think you meant "Shocks and Scares"

It's easy to do through your bank or online. But do you really want to gamble on the stock market?

Some people make money, but it helps a lot if you know what you're doing.

Don't ever invest more than you can afford to lose. And don't get caught up in derivatives et cetera - you're only playing with the tip of the iceberg....

[Wacky Racer]

And DON'T gamble on the horses either....

I backed a horse at 20 to 1, it came in at half past four........

[2 Smokin Barrels]

White_Van_Man said:

is anyone an expert that could give me a few hints/tips Thanks WVM

Don't eat yellow snow.

[deeen]

Hi WVM. All the main banks will buy / sell shares for you, at a price. Internet dealers are cheaper, may not be as convenient if it's just a one-off deal.

My personal opinion is that penny shares are a total lottery, much higher risk than top 250 companies. I have been doing this full time for 2.5 years and I still won't touch penny shares.

"Day trading" is more common in the US than here, and the last figures I saw suggested that 7 / 10 day traders over there lost money. Don't know about UK.

If you have a fixed sum you can afford to lose, try it as a hobby, it can be very interesting, if you make any money it's a nice bonus!

As a safe investment you are better off with a high interest building society account... but I guess you knew that!

[clubsport]

For investment a blue chip stock in an ISA is a safeish way to go, high interest internet accounts are a must as part of a balanced portfolio...

For the rest.....when not doing this as a job , I play here.. www.finspreads.com It keeps me in track days and tyres

You can sign up for free to see how it works, you vcan trade individual stocks, stock indices, commodities and various bond / interest rate futures.
Once signed up they will send you weekly guides on how to start trading....what to look for, how to manage risk etc...
research is the key and get yourself comfortable with wht you are doing, before you dip your toe in,,,start very small and always be aware of how much you stand to lose if in the extraordinary possibility the market doesn't do exactly what you thought it would..good luck

>> Edited by clubsport on Tuesday 30th November 19:25

[mcflurry]

beano500 said:

Don't ever invest more than you can afford to lose. And don't get caught up in derivatives et cetera - you're only playing with the tip of the iceberg....

Why not - it pays my wages..
Love Nick Leeson

[vixpy1]

Get yourself a good broker and do it properly if your going to do it.

[Lois-PIE]

I have some shares, got them for free too

[shnozz]

i used my own bank in the past - made it very easy to simply transfer from one account to purchase them. Penny shares may not be a very safe option, and certainly need constant attention if you go down that route, but of course the gains in % terms can be massive in short periods and have paid for my first TVR. Bought £1k's worth at £0.08 on the Tuesday, sold at £0.43 on the Thursday. could have just have easily ended up with 0 as is the way with penny shares. I guess the rules are the same with any gambling, dont bet what you cannot afford to lose.

[gonzomo]

schnozz said:

I used my own bank in the past

Damn!!, must make loans and mortgages easy to come by, what's it like owning a bank?

[CedA4]

gonzomo said:

schnozz said: I used my own bank in the past Damn!!, must make loans and mortgages easy to come by, what's it like owning a bank?

That would work if he "used TO OWN my own bank in the past".

Sorry just being pedantic tonight

[gonzomo]

Ced, feel free old chap, i'm bored too.

[Ilovejapcrap]

Thread revival !

I've just set an account up with Hargreaves and lansdown :- http://www.hl.co.uk

I have no idea what I'm doing, yes I'm aware I'll probably loose my money I'm looking at it as a fee to learn a little about a subject. Just like rebuilding my mr2 engine, everyone said it was a waste of money but now I understand how an engine works.

I'm aware I won't learn much just playing, but still be interesting !

Tips please

[Jon39]

Alex,

It is possible to make a life changing amount, but you have to accept that it is usually a slow process.
If you do manage to reach seven figures with a 4% dividend income, a TVR or kit car might not be your only dream cars then.

If you look at the share price pages, you can now see several large well established businesses, paying their shareholders an annual income of 5 or 6 percent (the yield). How much do you get on cash, 0.25% perhaps?

Forget penny shares. I started with new companies, but it is too high risk and not worth wasting your time on.
If you can spot the next Google amongst the enormous number of young companies, then very good, but the chance of success is virtually nil.
It is often overlooked, but annual dividend income contributes significantly to long-term investment performance. That money returned to shareholders, is an existing part of the company assets and therefore already owned by the shareholders, but it is an income system that is popular amongst shareholders.

Short-term share owning is a gamble. Long-term shareholding is an investment.
Think of share buying, as owning a small stake in businesses. To do well, you want to choose good businesses which have products or services that will be in demand for a long time. If a company earnings grow steadily, then eventually the share price will also increase, but be ready for the inevitable ups and downs.

To encourage your interest, perhaps look at some of Mr Warren Buffett's interviews (YouTube). He explains how to think when selecting businesses.

Don't use money that you may need short-term, and don't panic when stock markets crash. Many novice investors buy shares when there is a boom, then sell in a panic during a crash. They almost get it right, except they are doing it the wrong way around. -

Holding shares within an ISA is wise, because if things do go well, you would otherwise eventually face big capital gains tax liabilities.
Keep very good records of your overall annual performance, so you know precisely how you are doing.

You are lucky now, because so much company information is easily available.
Think for yourself and stay away from the share tips threads.

You are bound to have some duffers, but by eventually owning about 25 businesses to achieve a sensible spread of risk, it will not matter.

Best of luck with it.



PS. Which kit car are you building?
Your profile photo shows good progress.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 24th September 13:22

[Mark8303]

Give it a go, as touched on above, if you buy for example She'll B, whatever the underlying share price does they pay about 6% in dividends. I started out three years ago and have built up to a twenty share mix of income shares (like Shell, L&G etc.) and growth share (like Griffin Mining & On The Beach). So far running at about 4% dividend yield and 6% capital growth p.a.
With it all in an ISA it's tax efficient as well. I use AJ Bell b.t.w., not as polished as H.L. But cheaper trades and no onerous exit charges.

[emicen]

I've dabbled in the past, always with amounts of money I wouldn't be upset about completely losing (and have lost, the Northern Rock dead cat bounce was one to forget).

If it's the big gains, it doesn't necessarily need to be penny shares, 100 and 250 stocks can give substantial gains if bought at the right time.

Better than savings account % returns aren't difficult to find in the FTSE100, but also consider investment funds, available in growth and income flavours. They're what I'm looking in to next, along with other investments, now that I'm back in work and have a cash buffer getting 2-3% out of current accounts.

[Jon39]

emicen said:

. . . the Northern Rock dead cat bounce was one to forget).

Sorry about that choice Malc, but what you have highlighted, is the importance of studying a business, then taking a step back to think about the logic, before buying part of a company.

Prior to Northern Rock discovering that they could not refinance their debt in September 2007 ( I was amazed to hear the CEO explain this on the Today radio programme, presumably having told the Stock Exchange first ) they had built up their mortgage lending to an enormous percentage of the market (think it was 25%). As originally a small player, that all happened quite quickly. It seemed odd, because the bank did not have the existing scale of HSBC or Nationwide in the mortgage market. They were also doing some 125% to value mortgages. We hardly need to go any further, but was it the Panorama programme going undercover, who described 'liar loans', months before that company failed ? A few ingredients that all seemed at odds with convention.

There was another unusual situation during that era, which stood out as being strange at the time. An Icelandic company went on a takeover spree of UK quoted retailers. I had never heard of them, and neither they, nor Iceland were known to me as experienced big retailers. Then we saw adverts for Icelandic savings accounts being marketed in the UK, with high interest rates. I did not know there was a connection, but it just seemed strange for Iceland to suddenly appear big in the financial field. A friend asked me at that time about those savings accounts. I just said I don't know, but there is something unusual going on.

These warning signs don't occur very often, but it does seem sensible for us to take a step back, think, and not 'follow the herd'.

Edited by Jon39 on Tuesday 26th September 09:24

[emicen]

Jon39 said:

emicen said:

. . . the Northern Rock dead cat bounce was one to forget).

Sorry about that choice Malc, but what you have highlighted, is the importance of studying a business, then taking a step back to think about the logic, before buying part of a company.

Prior to Northern Rock discovering that they could not refinance their debt in September 2007 ( I was amazed to hear the CEO explain this on the Today radio programme, presumably having told the Stock Exchange first ) they had built up their mortgage lending to an enormous percentage of the market (think it was 25%). As originally a small player, that all happened quite quickly. It seemed odd, because the bank did not have the existing scale of HSBC or Nationwide in the mortgage market. They were also doing some 125% to value mortgages. We hardly need to go any further, but was it the Panorama programme going undercover, who described 'liar loans', months before that company failed ? A few ingredients that all seemed at odds with convention.

There was another unusual situation during that era, which stood out as being strange at the time. An Icelandic company went on a takeover spree of UK quoted retailers. I had never heard of them, and neither they, nor Iceland were known to me as experienced big retailers. Then we saw adverts for Icelandic savings accounts being marketed in the UK, with high interest rates. I did not know there was a connection, but it just seemed strange for Iceland to suddenly appear big in the financial field. A friend asked me at that time about those savings accounts. I just said I don't know, but there is something unusual going on.

These warning signs don't occur very often, but it does seem sensible for us to take a step back, think, and not 'follow the herd'.

Yes, that was a lesson, not immensely expensive right enough, but useful. That was purely a punt without much (if any) consideration of the underlying factors.

Subsequently did much better out of Lloyds and RBS at the bottom of the trough, Tesco and VW as well.

[kurt535]

entrance fee to the market could be costly.......only punt what you can afford to lose?

have a look at city index et al...