Buying shares for 14 yr old son

[arfur]

Afternoon PH

My son is wanting to own a piece of Facebook when it floats next week. Obviously as he's 14 he cannot buy shares himself. So I was looking around the web and came across a number of sites that would allow me to open an account in my name but to state that it was actually for my son.

There seemed to be quite a lot of these online sites ... Can someone recommend one for me ?

ta

Arf

[raptor600]

How many does he want - unless its more than about £500 there isn't much point as you are going to be down a fair whack after fees on day one.

I would say never invest less than £1k in shares as a rule of thumb.

I would also show him the charts for Groupon and LinkedIn whilst you are at it - there is no way this won't trade at a discount to the IPO price in the first 6 months

Can you not just buy the shares and then get the share certificates transferred to him? Not sure if you can do it with him being just 14 but no doubt someone else on here will have an answer

[onedsla]

If your son does not have a CTF (I think 14yrs puts him outside of that bracket), could you not open an account in his name for a junior ISA? I used www.hl.co.uk for my 1 year old.

Edit to add - I held shares as a 14 year old - in the days before internet dealing a phone call to the local stock broker would do the trick. I'm sure this is still possible!

Edited by onedsla on Tuesday 8th May 15:22

[marky1]

raptor600 said:

there is no way this won't trade at a discount to the IPO price in the first 6 months

You might be right you might be wrong but either way that's a brave shout. There is always a possibility it won't trade below the IPO price.

[arfur]

Bump

Any sites that anyone can recommend??

[afrochicken]

Have you tried phoning your bank's stock broker service and explaining what you would like to do to see whether they have an account which is suitable for you?

[jeff m2]

Facebook aside...
Trustee stock account

You do the trusteeing, he is the beneficiary.

[arfur]

jeff m2 said:

Facebook aside...
Trustee stock account

You do the trusteeing, he is the beneficiary.

Thx ... looks like what I was after. I assume Barclays can offer this. I'll call them

[sideways sid]

If other options are looking complicated, can you just open an ISA with online trading access for US stocks (perhaps TD Waterhouse?) in your name and give him online access to it so that he can buy, sell, monitor etc.

[jeff m2]

arfur said:

jeff m2 said:

Facebook aside...
Trustee stock account

You do the trusteeing, he is the beneficiary.

Thx ... looks like what I was after. I assume Barclays can offer this. I'll call them

If you cannot get Facebook (enough), have a look at GSV Capital Corp, ticker GSVC. they have about 16%.... and private and public offerings is what they do.

The shares are just over 17 down from 18+ due to a PO of their own to bolster battle chest.

GSVC is not a smooth ride, but maybe worth a look.

Disclaimer..I obviously have some.

[jeff m2]

Ah....what a difference five minutes makes, markets have just opened and they have gone over 19.

I retract my recc at that price, although you could do your own homework.

Sorry.

[raptor600]

marky1 said:

raptor600 said:

there is no way this won't trade at a discount to the IPO price in the first 6 months

You might be right you might be wrong but either way that's a brave shout. There is always a possibility it won't trade below the IPO price.

It was only going to go one way...down 20% since IPO.

[MrJuice]

fb shares have done quite well. I didn't buy any but am thinking of putting in a large sum (for me) into fb and google for a few years. They have both x4 in the previous 4-5 years.

I would be set for life if I put my money in and it x4 in the next 5 years.

Thoughts?

[red_slr]

Your money your gamble. Personally I think you would be better with something like VLS.

[MrJuice]

what's that then?

I am totally new to investing. However, I am having to liquidate my business for reasons I won't go into. I am a new doctor and don't want to leave medicine so hoping to find something to put money into passively. fb and google seem like they have a lot of mileage left.

[red_slr]

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-expla...

[fat80b]

MrJuice said:

I am totally new to investing...... fb and google seem like they have a lot of mileage left.

Good strategy - Do you not think maybe all of the professional investors (and half of America) might be wise to your deep analysis?


Generally, the price of something fairly reflects the value of something

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/efficientmarke...

unless you know something the markets don't



That said, value investing over a long period of time is a good strategy. May I suggest you read a book or 2 before sticking everything on a foreign currency based populist stock choice.

I read https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligent-Investor-Defi... and found it valuable in helping me judge what my investment goals should be and how I was going to stick to them.

Bob

[CaptainSensib1e]

MrJuice said:

fb shares have done quite well. I didn't buy any but am thinking of putting in a large sum (for me) into fb and google for a few years. They have both x4 in the previous 4-5 years.

I would be set for life if I put my money in and it x4 in the next 5 years.

Thoughts?

..you need professional advice. Making 4 times your money will mean taking a big risk which is just as likely to see you lose everything. I wouldn't want to take that gamble with my life savings.