Since I have a bit of cash kicking around, I figured I might emulate the hoi polloi and have a go at a stocks and shares isa (with me picking the shares).

I want to sort this out before the 5th for obvious tax reasons… I have narrowed it down to:

– Hargreaves lansdown
– Barclays Smart Investor
– iWeb

HL seem to be the default go to, but have relatively high costs (45 quid a year + 12 quid a share trade).

I thought Barclays were better initially, at 6 quid a share trade, but then noted they seem to offer only a subset of available shares (they advertise, ‘more than 1000 shares’, which could be any number greater than a 1000 but i’m guessing it’s less than 1500).

iWeb I don’t know much about but apparently it’s cheap.

I’m inclined to go to HL as they have good CS and a good platform, however high costs are putting me off (as the point of this is to make some money) – but then since i’m a beginner I wonder if I should just suck up the costs on account of ease of use.

Apparently Barcleys is good too, but i can’t really find anyone with any real experience of it. Seems quite new. Plus i’m put off by the limited number of shares – that may be a false worry tho in reality – i’m not going to be investing in some weird tobbaco company from timbuktoo.

Any advice welcome….

(obviously I understand that if i choose my own shares, i’m a hostage of my own stupidity, etc etc shares up and down blah blah blah :D)

Good luck, at the ftse at this level i am more of a seller though. I would be v careful putting new money in. Transfer your money but keep it in cash until you see a buying opportunity.

Saying that not all ftse constituents are fully valued, or overpriced. There was a good piece on momentum investing on fridays investors chronicle podcast, the companies and markets one.

Enjoy, not for the faint hearted though

Can you do ETFs in these ? That way you can trade “sectors” rather than specific companies.

If you can afford to loose the money then go for it.

If you can afford to loose the money then go for it.

Very true! You WILL lose money in the short term. Either you will learn from this or you won’t…
You will learn nothing by practising with a “fantasy” portfolio as you won’t find out your appetite for risk.

iWeb are OK. For dealing in shares they charge £5, HL charge £11,95 , I think, and if you trade regularly it adds up.
For funds, iWeb charge £5 dealing fee and no custody charge. HL charge nothing for dealing, but 0.45% custody charge. Do your own sums…
HL probably have a few more fund options than iWeb but it’s close.
Curiously, HL will only trade French or Italian stocks over the phone, and probably a few other nations’, but are happy to trade Scandinavian. iWeb won’t trade Scandinavian, but are happy with mainland Europe…

I use both

I tend to dip in and out of this. I used to manage to catch ARM on the right swings but I panic sold all of them on the morning of Brexit just to see them shoot up. Bought some back at a higher price. They then were bought out by a chinese firm. Made a further paltry £800 rather than £10K. Oh well. Over the years I had them, made £18K on a £2k stake.

They never do what you want them to do in the short term. You should treat it as fictitious money. Don’t over trade.

..and be prepared to cut your losses. Used Lloyds share dealing service. Usually stay away from firms with -ve profit.

Ideally, you need a share dealing ISA. It a layer of {insert colloquial term} that allows share dealing from a tax efficient POV. Not all shares are eligible.
See Robbie Burns “The Naked Trader”

I can afford to lose the money and have been reading Robbie burns book.

So far one for HL and one for iweb. Anyone else used both?

Is there a disadvantage to two shares isas (other than two platform fees)?

Was going to mention The Naked Trader. Worth reading.

Without some proper research into how stocks and shares investment works you’re essentially gambling. ETFs are a safer bet as they broaden your exposure across different markets. I can highly recommend reading a blog call Monevator for looking at the differing opinions on active vs passive investing too.

Edit: If you’ve already starting research then ignore most of the above! Monevator seem to consider HL as good value.

Is there a disadvantage to two shares isas (other than two platform fees)?

Presumably one ISA this year and another after the 6th? Not really, unless you have to split an investment between the two…
iWeb don’t charge a platform fee, just a £25 joining fee. They do charge for tools like stop loss etc though, and slightly more for dividend reinvestment.
I’d open one of each, either side of the tax date. You can always transfer later…

ETFs are a safer bet as they broaden your exposure across different markets.

As do conventional Funds or Trusts. I wouldn’t necessarily call ETFs safer though. Some are getting very complex…

Yeah guess so. I think I’ll try a HL one to start with and see how I go.

Any other blogs that are worth reading or podcasts?

How old are you? If you’re under 40 I would wait till you can invest in a Lifetime ISA-up to 4K but the govt will give you 1k for every 4K invested. Full details not yet available, but a no brainer for me. HL seem to be doing a stocks and Shares Lisa-a decent platform where buying and selling is straightforward.

Otherwise I find IG markets platform the most user friendly-an excellent mobile app to do daily trades and good trade rates. Obviously you’ll have to pay stamp duty and commission on most trades.

Double post

Well done closetroadie on trading arm. I turn over rdsb on the same basis, while wating to sell you are rewarded with a c 6% yield, paid qutly and usd denominated,

Its the only stock that always seems to bounce back and is range bound. Theres a chap posting on iii re hsbc where he now manages a fund doing exactly the same, pre and post div.

Am i missing the point on why a LISA is good? Seems like a crap pension to me – I’m under 40 so elligable but wouldn’t you save more by just bunging it in a proper pension and saving the tax?

thought MoneySavingExpert was quite good on the ins and outs of LISAs.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-ISAs

Pick the one with the lowest annual cost. Probably iWeb.

Picking developed market stocks pits your skills against every other fund manager/trader/random punter out there. If you don’t know why your odds are better than theirs, then they’re not.

Some sort of combination of global ETFs should be a lot safer in the long run.

Ian Cowie’s column in the Sunday Times is always a good read if you want to know the ups and downs of a DIY share trader…..

Am i missing the point on why a LISA is good? Seems like a crap pension

Hardly a ‘crap’ pension, but largely depends if you’ve filled your pension allowance. If so then I think it’s a great way to supplement a stocks and shares ISA. I won’t be using a LISA as a trading platform-there’s big penalties for withdrawing before 60, however specific details on trades within a LISA still have not been agreed. Free money as far as I’m concerned!

As a 27 year old with not much clue how this all works on an actionable level, whats some good resources to read to get started? I have some capital I could gamble with.

HL has a very good website but you can use it if you’re not a member!

I have money with hl, mostly in funds. I have a few shares but I don’t really have the time/inclination to try and best the market.

HL claim to have disounts on annual fund charges? Might be worth comparing.

As a 27 year old with not much clue how this all works on an actionable level, whats some good resources to read to get started? I have some capital I could gamble with.

If you don’t need access to the money in the long term, then open a SIPP rather than an ISA, as you get tax relief on the money.

With either a SIPP / ISA, the simplest thing is to split the money, say 3-4 ways and buy into either trackers or managed funds. Split the money by geography for some diversity. So something like:

25% US Markets Tracker
25% Fundsmith manage fund
25% Woodford managed fund
25% European equities managed fund

Then leave it alone for the next 30 years….

I’ve just opened a stocks & shares ISA with HL. Out of the few platforms I looked at, theirs just seemed more polished somehow. That probably means I’ve been suckered in, but hey ho. As someone with limited knowledge, their research tools were good IMO.

Anyway FWIW, mine consists of:
50% Fundsmith Equity
50% Vanguard Global

And I’m drip feeding any “spare” bits of cash into Schroder Small Cap Discovery.

Probably picked completely the wrong funds but we’ll see!

Hardly a ‘crap’ pension, but largely depends if you’ve filled your pension allowance. If so then I think it’s a great way to supplement a stocks and shares ISA. I won’t be using a LISA as a trading platform-there’s big penalties for withdrawing before 60, however specific details on trades within a LISA still have not been agreed. Free money as far as I’m concerned!

I was calling it a crap pension as it just seemed to be 25% free, which is easily bettered by the 40% ‘free’ you get if you stick in your pension (if in 40% bracket). I hadn’t considered if you’ve reached the 40k a year max, then it makes sense i guess.

Thanks Footflaps, im going to start some reading!

Thanks Footflaps, im going to start some reading!

Telegraph finance section is quite good….

Key thing to note is at some point there will be a crash and you will probably loose money on paper in the short term.

However, the biggest gains, after a recovery, occur at the start of a recovery, so the worst thing you can do is sell after the crash and then buy back in after the recovery has already started.

You just have to sit it out and wait for the initial gains when the recovery starts. It will be painful, but long term it was the best long term strategy for all of the crashes in the last 100 years (Telegraph analysis IIRC).

“Successful Investing consists of finding two or three great companies and sitting on your ass”.Charlie Munger.
If only I,d listened!Mind,the difficult bit is identifying great companies.

Any other blogs that are worth reading or podcasts?

Millionaire Teacher – Despite the title sounding like a bad self help book this contains lots of advice about passive investing, diversifying portfolios re-balancing, etc.

Monevator Blog – Regularly updated UK investing blog. Big guide to choosing an online platform

Good blogs – got my ISA set up with HL, so just have to pick something to invest in now!

Investors chronicle is good, podcast on a friday is free.

Just buy good quality companies and reinvest the dividend. The same names crop up in funds all the time, so just spread your investment dont put it all on one stock.

Then leave it. I am a real meddler, its like cooking, just leave it…dont keep looking and fiddling. Some of my now giggest gains were last years losses…unilever, british american. Dont chrystalize losses they will come back, quality companies.

Sadly,poolman,losses don’t always come back.Sometimes you have Ro be brave enough to cut your losses.A lesson I am still struggling with.

Yes true i had to sell 2 loss makers this year as fed up waiting, sainsburys and centrica. At least i got a dividend but had to take a hit on the capital. I put the money into 2 winners so dont think about it too much.

What i meant was my biggest wins this year were big losses last year, if they are quality companies the mkt reacts and realise they are underpriced. I saw the losses as lost opportunity, and they would bounce back.

And Sainsbury/Centrica aren’t quality companies?Not exactly illiquid Aim companies are they.

Ewan,you could also listen to the Disciplined Investor,Motley fool and FT Alphaville podcasts.Wake up to money and Money box at the BBC may also be of interest.

Ewan,a good value investment for the long term might be Rolls Royce.Its had its problems but has a great long term record/history.Just a thought.

I have stared using Stockopedia over the last year to help with my stock picks. It rates each company & you can change the rating criteria. It’s worked well for me, still had a few that have have turned into losses , but definitley more winners than losers. It has been worth the cost of the subsciption.

The platform I use is Alliance Trust, mainly because of the fees.

I have ISA’s through them for the whole family along with a SIPP.

Before you purchase any shares do some fantasy trading to understand how much you need the markets to move before the expected outcomes are achieved.

You also need to have different risk strategies for your investments, don’t play all your money. Use funds that are managed by ‘experts’ and other investment return strategies.

Make sure all your other finances are sorted out first (credit cards, other bills, loans, rainy day money) so the money you use is extra/spare and talk to you other half (if you have one) about what you intend to do.

It is working for me and my family but do your research and be skeptical about any advice you read or are given.

Make good use of all tax advantages, ISA allowance, pension relief, salary sacrifice….

The experts don’t even beat the market these days.