Share dealing accounts

[caduceus]

I have a bit of wedge sitting in a savings account doing sod all at the moment. SO I want the bit of money I have to start working for me, ie - shares.

I'm not sure how many times a month/year I will be buying/selling yet, as I'm a novice. But I do want the facility to buy and sell shares at a moments notice.

With this in mind, what do you all think is the best share dealing account out there at the mo?

I have had a quick gander at iWeb, TD Waterhouse and Barclays. But would like to hear some advice from real folk

Cheers
Cad

[Gareth79]

I'm using III (Halifax), seems to be pretty nice, certainly for a novice like me. Definitely set it up as an ISA account, you can buy and sell LSE shares within the ISA wrapper as often as you want, and also funds etc. If you don't file a tax return you would stay outside of self-assessment this way.

Edited by Gareth79 on Tuesday 11th May 12:14

[Dakkon]

My father and I have used iWeb for years, for the occasional trader their dealer prices are good.

[amir_j]

I'm using www.x-o.co.uk as its a mere £5.95 realtime - perfect if you rarely trade and hold long term. If you want a more known brand then Guardian do a service for a quid or so more.

More expensive but well established:
iii (large & busy forum)
TD Waterhouse
selftrade
etc

The Financial times has a service where you can compare them all as well.

Edited by amir_j on Tuesday 11th May 17:37

[twinturboz]

I think Tdwaterhouse, Natwest, Hsbc, Barclays all use the same platform.

There fine for the occasional trader but the platforms crash if there is heavy volume.

If as you say your trading occasionally, you will want to look out for any monthly admin charges or charges for being inactive for a period of time.

[jon-]

amir_j said:

I'm using www.x-o.co.uk as its a mere £5.95 realtime - perfect if you rarely trade and hold long term. If you want a more known brand then Guardian do a service for a quid or so more.

More expensive but well established:
iii (large & busy forum)
TD Waterhouse
selftrade
etc

The Financial times has a service where you can compare them all as well.

Edited by amir_j on Tuesday 11th May 17:37

How are you finding X-O? I've an old (empty) III account but I think it needs reactivating so I'm looking at other options.

[amir_j]

basic interface but fine (can't compare to any other as don't do share normally, signed up as was looking at ETF's then came across the falklands stuff ). My funds are via Hargreaves lansdown but the £5.95 x-o no frills cost is too good to turn down.

Had a google and Jarvis Investments who own X-o have been around for a long time (found their isa listed on BBC isa list from 2004) so should be safe (touch wood).

- took minutes to set up and put funds into, no need to wait for password through post etc like with some.
- trades went through fine & contracts sent my email to me
- called them up once, was answered quickly and guy I spoke to knew what he was doing and polite etc (I was asking noob questions too ).

Edited by amir_j on Wednesday 12th May 12:41

[caduceus]

Thanks for the replies gents. x-o sounds good value.

I assume there are other costs (admin,management,auunal) involved, other than the 5.95 per trade?

[amir_j]

caduceus said:

Thanks for the replies gents. x-o sounds good value.

I assume there are other costs (admin,management,auunal) involved, other than the 5.95 per trade?

Pretty sure no- but contact them first

[caduceus]

Thanks amir.