I have recentley been thinking about buying shares any help and adice would be fantastic.How cn I get started.

Question

please any help and answers would be great please help me.

Answer 1

Avoid shares in Bernard Matthew's

Answer 2

It is an interesting pursuit but there is risk - Sparticus is worth heeding - I would also stick to your home market as the additional trading costs on the currency spread are difficult to offset and currency risk is hard to anticipate.

Take a fairly long view and don't risk money you can't afford to lose. The only other thing I would pass on would be the words of Joe Kennedy (father of JFK et al) 'Never try to get top dollar' - judging the absolute top of a stock is very difficult - you should just make sure you sell out on the way up!

Also do not expect any stock to perform in a linear fashion - they never do. You have to look at the business case, the company's position in the market and above all the quality of the management. Then judge if the market has correctly priced that in - buy if it hasn't.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Unless you know what you are about the buying of shares etc is a mine field. Best route is to by through an insurance backed system which are loosely called unit trusts. You pay a set monthly amount to a company, Jupiter is one that comes to mind, and they invest it across a wide range of companies and rock solid investments. As the shares increase or decrease the value changes so they are a really a long term investment. Look at them another way if the shares are high your monthly amount might buy will buy say 10 shares. As those shares fluctuate they might be lower next month so your payment the next month will buy 15 shares. That it is so important to keep your head and leave them in for as long as possible. I did just this type of savings plan and added to the fund when they were low and held back with just my monthly payment when they were high. I had 6 different plans over about 25 years and waited until they were really going up before I cashed them in. It has enabled me to retire with some cash behind me. See the Daily papers on a Wednesday for financial tips and best buys etc. Then see an Independent Financial Adviser.

Answer 4

A good place to start is to open a HALIFAX SHAREBUILDER account (based on SHAREBUILDER.COM from the USA)
http://www.halifax.co.uk/sharedealing/sharebuilder.asp

HOWEVER, before you do you REALLY need to start to learn how it works. For this I recommend these following sites:

http://www.bullbearings.co.uk - an online UK based fantasy stockmarket game to practise with before making any investments with real money.

http://www.fool.co.uk/lrninvint.htm - the best UK financial site, and not as heavy to read through as others.

http://www.fool.com/investing.htm - the US original version of the above, might be US based but you'll still learn alot from it (in fact it's better than the UK one).

http://www.investopedia.com - also US based, but still good enough to teach you alot.

http://www.everyinvestor.co.uk - A UK based site I've picked up a few good tips + hints on what to look for when analysing the shares before buying.

http://quote.fool.co.uk - my secret weapon for researching share before buying....... the two most important sections to look at being the "FORECAST" + "Fundamentals" pages.

A few suggestions to help get your research started would be:
HBOS (HBOS) - Halifax + the Bank of Scotland merged together
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
Severn Trent Water (SVT)
Manganese Bronze (MNGS) - makes London Taxi cabs
Aquarius Platinum (AQP)
BHP Billiton (BLT)
Kelda (KEL) - own Yorkshire Water + a water utility in the USA
Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG)

One golden rule when receiving Stock Tips off other people like this is use it as a suggestion to add it to your research list, rather than a cue to immediately go buy it.

The other thing you have to remember is whenever you buy or sell shares, the broker charges you a commission fee.... and the more of these you pay, the more it eats into any profit you make...... most brokers charge about £10 commission fee each time you buy or sell (which means you usually need at least £1000 to stick on the shares to buy enough to quickly break even)... while with the Halifax Sharebuilder, it's only £1.50 commission fee to buy shares, and £5 commission fee to sell them. Minimum share purchase £5 (broken down into £3.48 worth of shares, £1.50 commission, £0.02 stamp duty)....... but minimum monthly investment is £20 (and it's cheaper to stick it all onto just the one company's shares, so only pay 1 commission fee)....... though some people suggest you stick a minimum of £120 on each purchase (still cheaper than the £1000 you gotta blow at other brokers, but I get by OK with the £20 minimum a month).

Answer 5

Start with mutual funds. Then after you've learned about things more, branch out into shares of actual corporations.

Answer 6

I have generally lost money. If you wish to invest you should
a. Invest with money you are prepared to lose

b. Invest on a long term

c.Remember you have to pay commission - therefore a minimum investment should be around £600.

Answer 7

HK stock exchange......

shares, 2328, 728, 3323, 939..

these are the ones to watch.