Right,I’ve been pondering investing in shares for a long time as it just seemed interesting and was obviously hoping to make a bit of a profit.Yesterday I opened up a Hargreaves lansdown fund and share account,I had no idea what I was doing and got a bit lost understanding the charges bit,so I just thought go very small at first just to get a idea of how to use the site.I bought 200 pounds of AstraZeneca stock and I think 65 of easyJet.I deposit originally 300 and have 7quid left to invest.Tbh I think ive already lost money because investing so little,I’ll never make it back because of the charges,is this right?Do I need to be investing a lot more to make it worth while.cheers

In your position I’d be tempted to invest in a fund which charges no commission for purchases and has low ongoing fees. HL has a selection called the wealth shortlist which have low fees. This makes it cheap and easy to increase your investment commission free. Plus your risk is spread across many companies. Now you’ve spent the commission on those two stocks, just wait and see where they are in a year or two.

What Davros said. The best thing to do with the shares you have bought is forget about them for a couple of years – you’re not guaranteed to lose money by any means, but at £11.95 a trade on Hargreaves Lansdown it is hard to turn a profit day trading on such small sums.

(Well, it’s always hard to turn a profit daytrading, too risky for me!).

If you really do want to learn about investing, start binge reading this blog: https://monevator.com/ .

I wish I’d known about it when I bought my first shares in the 2000s. Which I still own, and are still worth less than I paid for them 😀 . Only £250 worth though (at the time – about £190 now) – it was a cheap lesson, albeit not the only time I’ve learned it…

Depends what your interest in shares is. If you want to save some money and hopefully see it grow then stick it some low cost funds (eg Vanguard or Fundsmith) and leave it there for a while. If you want to be Gordon Gekko shout “buy cocoa beans, sell zinc” down the phone then you definitely need to take dealing costs into account. As ever, only invest what you can afford to lose and TBH if that is £300 then maybe share dealing isn’t for you 🙂

You’ll struggle to make any profit when investing such small amounts. You end up requiring a massive gain just to pay for the transaction costs.

A lot of the trading platforms allow you to set-up a virtual portfolio, so you can play at buying & selling shares but not actually do it. You can then track these & see how you do. I did this for a while with iii.

I bought and sold a few shares years ago when I was single & had some money I could afford to lose; not a great deal, but was just messing around with it really.
I eventually gave up, as I realised it needed too much time spent researching & keeping an eye on things.

Just be wary of people punting share opportunities as too good to miss, multi bagger etc.

It also depends what you want to do, trade or just sit on it (invest)? Trading is a lot of effort imo and too many cons. But if you want to make a bit of money with your £300 it is an option. but it is akin to gambling. Just do your research, set yourself a goal i.e. top slicing at 100%.

You’ve chosen some relatively low risk stocks so expect slow growth. you could Just sit on it and switch off. in a couple of years you may have a bit of profit. Set yourself some timeframes anyway

I’m only just up after 2 years because of a couple of junior commodity stocks – nickel and copper and a tech stock. I made a fundamental mistake of investing in some oil and gas plays which may as well have been bets at the casino. I’ve been patient and am prepared to wait while i can afford it.

If I was you I’d sell those and buy BONH, or SAGA once all the crusties get vaccinated and want to go cruising 🙂

I trade shares through Hargreaves Lansdown. At £11.99 per trade it is not really worth investing £100 or £200 – you need to invest more to cover the buying and selling costs.

I currently have shares in BP and Shell and was quite lucky to buy them when they were low, but I still think they will increase more when lockdown restrictions and normal usage returns later this year. When they recover I will probably sell them in the next 12/18 months and reinvest in future technologies such as electric bus/van makers.

I also have shares in a pharma start up – this is a punt which may multibag if the pharma trials are successful, but I’m also aware that I could loose this amount as well. I’d never take a punt on something with money you cannot afford to loose though as it is a form of gambling.

Try x-o.co.uk £5.95 a trade.

Or you could invest through one of the zero commission trading apps like Trading 212

HL seems a bit steep.
ii is more like 8 quid but there’s a monthly fee although you get 1 complimentary free trade per month.
I’d have thought Trading212 would be better for small amounts and those not trading often?
All 3 probably do free trades though if you stick 50/month or more via direct debit into a fund or regular purchase?

Easyjet is one for the long term. Keep and forget, and when things go back to normal, watch the price rise. It’s one of many mostly travel/hospitality long term entries on my watchlist (along with IAG, Whitbread, some others and BP).

Personally I’d have picked a fund or IT that has reasonably consistent growth. Although some of the more popular ones like SMT seem a bit expensive right now imho.

Far as I can tell the zero commission platforms are a bit of a scam to rope you in and tempt you with their CFDs that will leave you penniless and them in big profits.

£300 isn’t worth investing in isolation but it’s a good start if you’re looking to add to it monthly with a regular investment or share saving account. Although really at this level a fund (tracker or managed) might be a better option than a single company or two.

I use HL, but only make 1 or 2 trades a year. I just buy a fund and then roughly every six months decide to stick or twist. I mainly stick, but did sell a load of UK funds pre-Brexit deadline, which turned out to be the best decision I’ve made in a long time as the funds I bought rocketed due to the vaccine news putting a rocket under US funds. The worst decision(s) I ever made were to stick with Neil Woodford (although I did eventually sell them all before it all collapsed and broke even overall).

Cheers everyone for the advice,I am planning on investing more soon but yesterday just thought I’d try it out with the 300quid.I can’t seem to find a simple price list for the trading on the hl website.Is it 11.95 every trade regardless of amount of money,if so it sounds like I need to trade at least 1000 pound eàch time to make it worth it.?
Cheers

As above, those fees are too high to make trading those amounts worthwhile. I pay £5 per transaction with AJBell. it’s normally £10, but it goes down if you do loads of transactions per month. Stamp duty is 0.5% IIRC. I normally buy/ sell in chunks of a grand, so it works out at 1.5% swing needed to cover my costs each time. Your numbers look to be 15% and 45% respectively so I’d suggest you have very little chance of making money that way.

As people have said above, and will no doubt say below, trading is a mugs’ game and you’d be better off just buying a few sensible funds and sticking with them…

BUT. it’s damn good fun 😄. Working on the assumption that you’re a sensible chap and stopped reading 3 lines up…. my view is that now is a rubbish time to be buying airlines. Not looked at easyJet for a few months, but bought and sold BA and Jet2 a lot this year. Jet2 was fifteen quid a pop earlier this week against a all time high of around twenty. That’s crazy. There’s going to be sod all flying done this year. No way they are worth 75% of what they were last year, and three times what I paid in April. They’re going to drop like a stone soon.

All the above is if course my uneducated, bollox opinion, and you’d be wise to ignore me.

But damn it’s such good fun.

I use Trading212 on all trades under £1k.

You can buy fractional shares enabling you to limit your trade size. You can buy say £5 of Tesla this way rather than $750 for a single share the old way.

Don’t spend a penny more than you can afford to lose / expect to lose it all and you will come out ok. Anything better is a bonus.

Don’t touch spread bet, CFD or any leveraged product. As above many of the free services offer free services in the hope you will transfer to one of these types of product. As long as you know to stay well clear you will be ok.

You can get a free random share using my referral link: http://www.trading212.com/invite/GISeebI3 we actually both get a free share!

For trades over £1k I use HL as you won’t get hit as big on the spread, anything under it’s not worth thinking about.

If you don’t like 212 you can also try Freetrade or Revolut. I found 212 the best balance of available global shares / ETF’s / functionality after playing around with many platform while getting into things on the back of the old Rolls Royce thread which has been good fun. I’m certainly no pro so listen to any other advice here too.

TBH, the HL website is probably one of the clearest and most user friendly sites around. Their fees are very clearly shown and there is a wealth of information available. Other, cheaper sites are available but you’ll be looking for background info elsewhere.
On top of the HL fees you’ll also be paying 1.5% stamp duty on most share and trust purchases, and the spread will also eat into your gains.
As said above you can run a dummy portfolio without stumping up any cash but you’ll learn nothing about your attitude to risk.
As with playing poker, it costs money to learn!
And even then you may not….

I’ve started having a little play with Trading212 just for medium to long term investments, I’d not try “playing the market” with CFD. To be honest you might be better off with something like a Nutmeg investment ISA if you are just looking for returns, I’ve had one for 18 months as of yesterday it was around 20% up although it’s had a couple of negative periods in that time. Don’t invest with anything your not willing to make a loss on or that you might want to withdraw at short notice without making a loss.

£300 in Astra Zeneca won’t give you good gains. Are they not doing Covid vaccinations at zero profit?

Just be wary of people punting share opportunities as too good to miss, multi bagger etc.

I would suggest Argo Blockchain, Coinsillium or KR1. Crypto mining companies. With the current Crypto pump Argo has gone +500% in no time. Still predicted to go another 10x. I know people will have an aversion to crypto – I’ve won some, lost a bit along the way but considerably up just now. These are plcs which effectively give you exposure to and tracks Crypto prices / sentiment. Watching it go up in the past weeks has been unbelievable (too good to be true? It’s making real money). And Investment journals are finally offering the advice to “consider investing in Bitcoin”. It’s still very early days.

I wouldn’t touch Crypto with a barge pole. It’s a speculative asset with no underlying value. Yes, if you time it right you might make money, but you could equally loose it all. At least with a company, for you to loose everything it has to liquidate, which is pretty extreme and rarely happens without plenty of warning eg profit warnings over several quarters etc.

As for risky stocks eg Tesla (which is massively over valued using any normal metric), the safest way to buy into some of the potential gains is through a fund eg SMT’s biggest holding is Tesla, but it’s only roughly 10%, so if Tesla were to fold overnight (highly unlikely), you’re not going to get wiped out.

It’s also useful to set a realistic expectation e.g. you’re not going to make 10x your money every year. You’ll be luckly to average 10% per annum over several years in a row. Last year I made 22% overall on my funds (pensions + ISAs).

Thought SMT was even more in Tesla, although it’s possible the manager has taken some profit on them. When I checked in December it was something like 25% of the fund in 2 stocks, which is most certainly not diversification. In a way that makes SMT fairly high risk for a fund (well IT), even if it is one of if not the most popular, and a growth rate that’s pretty damn consistent over time.

Definitely get things in to an ISA wrapper though.

And ignore most of the people that pump crypto. Especially those that do so on youtube.

I had a play with some shares last year and used DEGIRO to transact. £1.75 + 0.014% per trade, with a maximum charge of £5.00 – means that the cost of small amounts of shares is lower.

Thought SMT was even more in Tesla, although it’s possible the manager has taken some profit on them.

They rebalance as required, so they sold a load last year and reduced it. 10.75% today.

https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/s/scottish-mortgage-it-plc-ordinary-shares-5p

Tesla went up something insane like 7x last year, so a lot of funds had to do a lot of rebalancing to keep it in check.

All funds will have internal rules on the max percentage they allow in a single stock, which then gets applied at the next slot; but obviously if something goes up like a rocket, they’ll temporarily exceed their limit.

The middle ground between stock picking/day trading and Vanguard trackers makes the most sense when it comes to fees, profit and time spent. Pick a few strong funds, trusts and/or etfs and leave them to do their thing until the landscape changes sufficiently to switch. If you pick well, the fees for an active manager pay for themselves many times over. I’m no gambler, and that’s what day trading is.

My four picks and price change in the last 3-6 months:
Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust – +14%
Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon – +3%
Global Clean Energy ETF – +121%
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust – +17%

Fund Calibre and Trust Net are the best sites I’ve found for good ideas, commentary and research.

Nutmeg for easy funds mines +20% opened this time last year
Crypto for fun and high risk.
ADA +100% this morning over 12 months *but it’s just like going to the races mostly fixed in the owners favour.
show be a fund that can do that.
That’s why crypto is like gold mining and addictive. sometimes you hit that jackpot.

i see no mention of hargreaves landsdowns regular saver scheme that sounds ideal for small investing in shares.

dealing is £1.50 a stock (plus 0.5% stamp), you need to setup a direct debit, they take funds on 7th of month and invest on 10th. that’ll be the cheapest way to invest small sums in different shares on a monthly basis.
if you are buying £50 a month thats nearly £600 in a year,

very flexible, put on hold/ amend amounts and stocks etc..

Tbh I think ive already lost money because investing so little,I’ll never make it back because of the charges,is this right?

Never is a strong word but you’re doing it very inefficiently. It’s a bit like buying a bike one spare part at a time.

First thing I’d do is read a book like A Random Walk Down Wall Street or Millionaire Teacher.

Also, have a look at the Bogleheads forum as this is their wheelhouse. I’m sure someone is recommending what hybrid bike (because they can do everything) to buy on there right now, if you know what I mean! Horses for courses.

It’s a bit like buying a bike one spare part at a time.

And paying £9.95 postage for each parcel

you pick well, the fees for an active manager pay for themselves many times over.

Bollocks. You could just as well say that if you pick well then putting it all on red in the casino pays for itself many times over.

£300 in Astra Zeneca won’t give you good gains.

This is speculation.

Financial traders, analysts, experts and a free and open market have dictated the value of AZ to be what it is.

It would may be over valued. It may under.

May as well toss a coin. Literally.

Eh?

This is speculation.

Financial traders, analysts, experts and a free and open market have dictated the value of AZ to be what it is.

It would may be over valued. It may under.

May as well toss a coin. Literally.

It’s not as simple as tossing a coin. With a coin toss you have a 50% chance of Heads or Tails.

If you invest in a well run company, then the general trend will be upwards. There will be many short term variations along the way, but well run companies tend to grow and become worth more.

Obviously there are exceptions, some well run companies make bad decisions or suffer from massive external changes eg Rolls Royle and CV-19 killings it’s market overnight etc.

However stock markets have a general trend upwards and have done for decades. Pick a basket of well run companies, assess it once a year to weed out any which have become less well run; and you will make money long term.

You won’t necessarliy get stinking rich doing that though as large well run companies don’t have massive jumps in their worth. Although companies like Amazon, Apple and Alphabet (Google) are examples of large well run companies which keep growing at an impressive rate (won’t last forever though as nothing ever does).

Loads of good advice, quite a bit to take in too.Im in two minds now wether to open a stocks and share Isa or invest straight into a fund like one of the artemis ones.Ive got around 8 grand(I know that’s quite a small amount when it comes to shares) to put in that I wouldn’t be too devastated if things went txts up.Is a stocks and share Isa a more suitable starting point.And what is the difference between the two other than the tax break you get,and 20000 limit you have with the Isa.
Also I was looking at buying a bit into Nio.inc
Kandi (pretty much a penny stock I think)
Both E vehicle manufacturers,so any tips on this?
Cheers

Also I was looking at buying a bit into Nio.inc
Kandi (pretty much a penny stock I think)
Both E vehicle manufacturers,so any tips on this?
Cheers

I don’t know anything about them, but be aware that jumping on a bandwagon eg electric cars, will have its risks.

Lots of people have seen Tesla’s massive growth and will be starting electric car companies with the sole intention of hyping the stock and exiting with a load of cash rather than growing a well run business. E.g. Nikola is a good example see https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/ (although was hydrogen rather than electric)

Also, read Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, another example of a massive fraud, just intended to get the founder rich and screw over all the investors.

People panic about missing out on the next big thing and throw money at new shiny things (eg BitCoin). Sometimes they know / suspect it’s a fraud but plan to get out before everyone else, so still make a fortune along the way. You don’t one to be the one left holding the baby which turns out to be a turd in a nappy…..

The most guarenteed way of making money with stocks is to just buy a basket of well run companies and do nothing. You won’t make a killing, but your portfolio will grow nicely over the years. However, that is pretty dull as it mainly involves doing nothing.

A good person to follow is Ian Cowie in the Sunday Times, he writes each week about the ups and downs of managing his pension. He buys some shares which do well and some which tank. It gives you a good idea of what is involved in managing your own pension.

I have some income producing shares, had them for ages and now only look at the portfolio twice a year.

Best advice I ever got was look at a share as an annuity, ie, on purchase you surrender the capital and earn an income from then on.

Some stocks currently out of favour are paying 5-10% yield, if you are sure of the case buy them, in 10 years time you have your money back so any on going return is free money.

I really enjoy dabbling in the market, just say 2 purchases per year out of accrued income.

What’s the latest on LISA’s these days? I’ve got a HL Lifetime ISA, and even though I’m over 40 I still can put in £4K/year tax free and get the free govt cash (25% IIRC) so even without investing it’s a massive return. If they are still available I’d hold back 4K for next year, invest £4K this year. You can still choose a fund or individual stocks, the advantage of funds is that you don’t need to analyse your portfolio every day!

Some stocks currently out of favour are paying 5-10% yield, if you are sure of the case buy them, in 10 years time you have your money back so any on going return is free money.

As a general rule high dividends tend to suggest a dividend cut is not too far away, it just hasn’t caught up with the share price falling. Very rare to see a dididend payout over 5-6% for any length of time before the Directors confront reality and cut it.

Good reality check on BitCoin in the FT…

https://www.ft.com/content/af686b47-dbb8-426c-b530-27898891bd16

Another problem is that although 18.6m bitcoins have indeed been mined, far fewer can actually be said to be “in circulation” in any meaningful way.

For a start, it is estimated that about 20 per cent of bitcoins have been lost in various ways, never to be recovered. Then there are the so-called “whales” that hold most of the bitcoin, whose dominance of the market has risen in recent months. The top 2.8 per cent of bitcoin addresses now control 95 per cent of the supply (including many that haven’t moved any bitcoin for the past half-decade), and more than 63 per cent of the bitcoin supply hasn’t been moved for the past year, according to recent estimates.

What all this means is that real liquidity — the actual available supply of bitcoin — is very low indeed. That’s quite obvious even without knowing the stats above from the price moves — you don’t see smooth ups and downs like you might expect in other markets where the demand is coming from real supply-and-demand dynamics rather than speculation, but sudden lurches upwards and cliff-like drops.

So the idea that you can get out of your bitcoin position at any time and the market will stay intact is frankly a nonsense. And that’s why the bitcoin religion’s “HODL” mantra is so important to be upheld, of course.

Because if people start to sell, bad things might happen! And they sometimes do. The excellent crypto critic Trolly McTrollface (not his real name, if you’re curious) pointed out on Twitter that on Saturday a sale of just 150 bitcoin resulted in a 10 per cent drop in the price.

Funny thing about stock markets is they record record inflows, ie purchases, when hitting all time highs, maybe opposite is true and record outflows post drops. As most have alluded to, best thing to do is just buy, reinvest divis and wait.

‘re yields, I have some tobacco stocks, imb yields 8% post divi cut last year. I once looked at the investor profile of British American tobacco, remarkably stable and the top few holders held a significant share of the company, it’s basically a buy and forget stock.

TBH with your investment sums (and relative newness to investing) you’d probably be better opening a vanguard account and investing monthly via a global tracker.

Dull as hell, won’t make you rich overnight. But over the long term probably one of your best chances of growing your money ahead of inflation.

Check out monevator and occam investing.

Re: dividends, don’t get fixated on it.
They are a return *of* capital not a return on capital. Also a very inefficient way of returning capital to shareholders.

Consider your pension before investing in stocks. Are you maxing the free money that your employer is offering? if so then look to make additional contributions and you will get at least a 20% boost from the taxman. Some schemes allow you to choose funds yourself so you can take the free money and invest.
If you are a 40% tax payer then you would be mad not to be doing this before investing anywhere else (assuming you havent maxed out your annual limit) If your employee scheme isnt great then contribute what you need to get max employer contributions then open a SIPP and take the tax benefit there. There are charges to this though so with only very small amounts it may not pay for itslef