Paphos People

chris,
i just wondered how you did this. my husband and i had been talking since hbos etc dropped their share prices would it be worth buying shares since we have a bit of spare cash and thought it would be an adventure to give it a go. only problem is we havent done it before so dont know where to start!!!

** i am not looking for financial advise ....just some friendly forum pointers in the right direction!!!

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Kathryn x

A good few years back I used this site http://www.iwebsharedealing.co.uk/ ... the website company own the shares in your name until you "realise" (i think is the word) the shares and get a certificate etc

Bound to be others about though.

EDIT - Just saw they are part of the HBOS group though

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My opinion; worth price charged.

To actually buy and sell shares is fairly straightforward as it can be done online with several brokers, you just have to set up an online trading account. I use the Barclays Stockbrokers - basic but gets the job done, although I am toying with the idea of going for their BARX trading platform which gives access to L2 data which I have been playing with on a trial basis with ADVFN for a while.

To get free stock market streaming prices I use ADVFN - http://www.advfn.com - go onto that website and then register with them - it costs nothing unless you upgrade to one of their premium services.

More importantly, have you decided what sort of trading you want to do? i.e. do you want to buy some shares and sit back and watch them rise in value (hopefully) and collect any dividends twice a year? or do you some fast action as a Day Trader? If the former, you can go into any UK bank and buy the shares through their share dealing service - they will tell you everything you need to know and do to get your shares. If the latter..............then I STRONGLY suggest you do a LOT of research and watching of share prices - read as much as you can and learn the terminology, the tools, the strategies, the players, the markets, learn to listen to the business news whenever and wherever its available, above all, learn to set emotions to one side and deal solely based on your own research and goals and NEVER be ashamed to take a profit (e.g. don't keep watching a stock after you have sold and seeing it rise further say to yourself "if only"), and most importantly of all, ONLY TRADE WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE!!

Also, if you do decide to Day Trade, make sure you have the time to sit and watch what is happening on the stock market and be ready to trade when the signals you have set yourself are reached...................oh, and NEVER trade before 10am UK time..............gives the market time to settle down after the fuss surrounding the opening auction.

So, if that hasn't frightened you off, nothing will...........so good luck

chris

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Merda taurorum animas conturbit

mmm......quite scary stuff.
to be honest we thought we would buy some shares to sit and watch make a profit, more like an investment with less guarentees i guess.
we had thoughtn since the market was low now would be a time to invest a small amount of money and watch and see!
we are not that financially clever to get in and play with the big boys so probably dont want to take on anything to mad or complicated!
we invested robbies baby bond on the shares market a few years ago and it seems to do quite well...at least it continues to make money, however since we did it through HBOS they govern on what shares it goes with so we just get a yearly statement rather than having the fun of watching gains and falls in the market.
i will have a look at the sites you suggested and get my trading head on!!!

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Kathryn x

I understand completely Kathryn - day trading is not for everybody, but the upside is you can make a modest amount of money if you do your research and act without emotion - a lot of people make several thousands a day, one chap last week claimed he had paid off his mortgage with his day trading on HBOS alone - I am nowhere near that league but am working at it

Chris

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Merda taurorum animas conturbit

If anyone fancies a go at "playing" stock market - there is a new online gaming site that allows you to do just that...

You can play for FUN and not make any deposit, with daily tournaments starting at 4.30pm Cyprus time where you can choose your portfolio of shares each day or play one of the 5 day tournaments. You can sit back and see what happens or during the game you can "trade" by selling your shares or buying more.

Alternatively, if you want to play for real - you can! But you won't physically own the shares.

However, there are cash prizes at stake in each of the tournaments, whether you play for fun or for real.

I know the company, as I was invited along to take a look at their unveiling only recently...

Go to http://www.umoo.com/ to take a look around.

Not quite as exciting as online poker or casino, which is where I am just now

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Regards
Shell

Chris

Interesting comment about the person who paid his mortgage off after trading HBOS. A couple of weeks ago there was an ITV programme about the credit crunch and its impact and they interviewed a retired RAF officer who admitted to buying £335,000 of HBOS shares, and was gutted at their decline (over 90% down). Some can do it well, and others just cannot.

Katpen, there are many types of risk (inflation, interest rates, currency, economic, political, etc) but with shares you should be aware of 2 types - market risk, and specific risk.

If you invest in a "fund" then the spread of shares means that the return is more likely to follow the market as a whole, whereas with individual shares the return is specifically related to one particular company (like HBOS in the above example). This can mean potentially higher returns if you get it right, and potentially disastrous returns if you get it wrong.

The best advice is Chris's advice - don't risk what you cannot afford to lose.

Good luck, and as it is several weeks since your first post, I hop you didn't buy HBOS!

Kevin

Don't want to be boring but just wanted to tell you about our experience.

We decided to cash in our shares and ISA's early this year and pay a large chunk off our morgage.

Depending on the type of mortgage you have you can usually pay a capital payment yearly and choose either to reduce your monthly payments or reduce the years left on your term. Over the past three years we have done this and have saved 30,000 in mortage payments.

Far better than shares IMHO. I believe the risk is too great. Of course if you have no morgage, no debts and money going spare then it might be an interesting experience to play the stock market.

Gilly