Buying shares

[trophies]

Im after some advice if anyone can help.

Over the last year i have been watching share prices and fancied dabbling but have never been brave enough.

The amount im willing to play invest...or potentially lose £1000 is that too little to bother with?

Several times i have kicked my self for not buying, other times the complete opposite!

Im realistic I dont expect it to make me a fortune, but i'd like to start learning now, so if or when I have got more money to invest I can do with less risk.

I hope this makes sense
Lew

[tuffer]

just go to a share trading web site and open an account, I use TD Waterhouse, they are OK but very slow early in the mornings due to heavy traffic. Or just go to William Hills and bung the lot on a nag!

[Mr Beaumont]

I was also planning on buying some shares, The Barclays Sharetrader accounts look quite good. Has anyone used Barclays to buy shares?

[matsmith]

£1k is fine to have a dabble, and in the right share it could actually make you a lot of money

its better to muck up on £1k than £10k

I use barclays online share dealing service, they are as good as anyone. the only problem i have with them is occasionally in volatile markets deals wont go through automatically which is a pain but easily sorted by placing a different type of order

what shares have you got in mind?

[Tiggsy]

bit pointless for £1k. Say you get REALLY lucky and make 30% in the next year.....you're up less than £300 after charges. probably far easier ways to increase your wealth by 300 over 12 months than risking £1k on it (try turning off your TV at night )

if you are doing it to learn with an eye to investing properly later on then you'll buy so few companies shares with £1k that you wont learn much anyway.

[ShadownINja]

matsmith said:

I use barclays online share dealing service, they are as good as anyone. the only problem i have with them is occasionally in volatile markets deals wont go through automatically which is a pain but easily sorted by placing a different type of order

Hey mat, how's trading going these days? Do you spreadbet stocks at all?

[tuffer]

Tiggsy said:

bit pointless for £1k. Say you get REALLY lucky and make 30% in the next year.....you're up less than £300 after charges. probably far easier ways to increase your wealth by 300 over 12 months than risking £1k on it (try turning off your TV at night )

if you are doing it to learn with an eye to investing properly later on then you'll buy so few companies shares with £1k that you wont learn much anyway.

Why, £1k in Barclays a couple of months back would now be £3k. To some people that is a lot of money and a decent return, even if he makes £300 that to him may be considered a good return.

[escargot]

I use www.iii.co.uk

[uzzi]

I use share.com - they're pretty good and efficient - you can always call up to execute a trade at no extra cost.

I think 1k is a good start - typically the fee will be ~1% which is reasonable.

[matsmith]

Hi Shadow, yeah its still going very well thanks, the markets been kind so i think its plotting something lol! you doing well??

I stay away from spreadbetting stocks, i dislike leverage so i do everything 100% cash, at least that way if i do make a mistake i wont get my butt kicked too heavily

EWT has been great through this whole rally, just a shame i didnt believe it or id have been holding them Barclays for a lot longer lol

theres a few little companies who have been very well behaved, so im currently up over 200% since january

Tiggsy- yes a 30% return on £1k over a year wouldnt be worth much considering the time this stuff takes, but with a company such as MXP a small amount could become a large amount very quickly, eg i bought them below 5p, sold at 13p not long after, then got back in at just over 10p and as long as they dont go into liquidation next week they should be good for 20+ (imho of course)

theres some great opportunities out there at the moment, its just picking the right one thats the tricky bit!

[Eddw86]

I'm also looking at to learn the ropes of doing this, always interested me. Looking to initially play with around £1500.

Will look into the Barclays one recommended.

Any beginners tips, advice, what to look out for, how to investigate companies and so on.

I understand for a lot of people this will be a small amount of money and some of the stuff I dont know is straightforward but as I said it's a learning curve and the more I learn the more I'll be putting in and the more I'll be able to contribute to discussions!

[m_cozzy]

I use my 1st direct account for share dealing, £10 a trade, dont forget the comedy gubermint takes a small amount as well.
I only started last month & my £1500 stake spread over 5 or so companies has returned me 40% so far despite my meddling.

[ShadownINja]

matsmith said:

Hi Shadow, yeah its still going very well thanks, the markets been kind so i think its plotting something lol! you doing well??

Hi. Glad to hear it. You jest but it is always good to keep your guard up. Get cocky and the market will rape you without lube.

"I stay away from spreadbetting stocks, i dislike leverage so i do everything 100% cash, at least that way if i do make a mistake i wont get my butt kicked too heavily"

I don't like this style of money management. If you make a mistake you could be out of funds for a long time which means you can't really "compound" what you're doing and make it a full-time career. Or do you mean you'll still take a loss?

"EWT has been great through this whole rally, just a shame i didnt believe it or id have been holding them Barclays for a lot longer lol"

Need to trust your system if you think it works. Hold it until your calculated exit point.

"theres a few little companies who have been very well behaved, so im currently up over 200% since january"

The market seems to be pointing north but keep your guard up!

[matsmith]

Eddw- sadly theres no real words of wisdom that can be given when it comes to this in my opinion, its all about experience

i think as beginners most people would probably do better doing the exact opposite of what they think they should do!


Shadow- i feel as though im locked up in a prison full of rapists sometimes, just plotting when to strike, im trying to stay smart enough to avoid the lubeless action and part of doing that is being cautious with my exits lol

im always willing to admit if i get an entry wrong and take a loss, thats only happened once so far, so yeah instead of a large loss caused by a bad entry it was only a few pennies. on the flip side i do wonder what my profits would have looked like had i have been using leverage, but i have a reasonable amount of cash that i use for this so i dont really feel the need for leverage i can make a decent bit of money as i am

the one share thats bugging me at the moment is vodafone, i got in at 110 and they are headed for 160p+, but they arent moving, this does hurt me because i have to watch my money just sit there (albeit about 10% in profit), if it stays like this for much longer il get out and find it a new home in something that moves

iv been holding for my exits, iv just not always chosen the best exits if that makes sense? eg barclays- i had 2 possibilities, 1- it went to 245p or 2- it came back down to about 20p or so, 110p was a key point hence i got out at 108 just in case

yeah the markets been pointing north, but im still pretty proud of tripling my money, not many do that without leverage do they? for what its worth, im far from convinced that anything will be this expensive come year end, maybe june will mark the high for the year

[Tiggsy]

matsmith said:

Tiggsy- yes a 30% return on £1k over a year wouldnt be worth much considering the time this stuff takes, but with a company such as MXP a small amount could become a large amount very quickly, eg i bought them below 5p, sold at 13p not long after, then got back in at just over 10p and as long as they dont go into liquidation next week they should be good for 20+ (imho of course)

Thats fair enough if he wants to get into short term share trading.....but doing it with a bank roll of £1000 will require some BIG luck. I suppose it depends how much you value your time...because to do it properly takes a lot of research time and with only £1k at stake the gains (without a lot of luck) will not be very large.

It just strikes me that a lot of people hear about XYZ making a killing and think it's as easy as buy and wait a few weeks....you never hear much (especially on the net!) about the people that loose the money on the first deal!

[ShadownINja]

matsmith said:

Shadow- i feel as though im locked up in a prison full of rapists sometimes, just plotting when to strike, im trying to stay smart enough to avoid the lubeless action and part of doing that is being cautious with my exits lol

im always willing to admit if i get an entry wrong and take a loss, thats only happened once so far, so yeah instead of a large loss caused by a bad entry it was only a few pennies. on the flip side i do wonder what my profits would have looked like had i have been using leverage, but i have a reasonable amount of cash that i use for this so i dont really feel the need for leverage i can make a decent bit of money as i am

Ah, ok, at least you're not letting a trade become an "investment". It takes a man to put money where his mouth is but an even bigger man to admit when he's wrong and take a loss.

[trophies]

Thanks for the advice guys. I can only put £1000 in, because thats all i can afford to lose, if you see what i mean. However if i put £5000 and lost it, i'd be in trouble.(I know thats still not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but thats all i've got!)

Once i have had some experience i will put more in, but to put more in blind would be silly i think!

Lew