Stocks and shares...

chewy · 02 February 2009, 19:42

Evening all,

ANyone know out about stocks and shares. Been bored with the crap weather and had a quick look but don't know where to start, or what account to open.

I'm currently using Yahoo fantasy thingy to see how I do?

Any help is appreciated,

Thanks

Phill

Bigmuz7 · 02 February 2009, 20:11

Yeah .. dont do them unless you can afford to lose some money before finding out how to do them properly

Then you need a potentially evil disposition, and balls of steel at the moment

, and a good eye for looking at the market, an eye for summing up a companies strengths and their weaknesses, and a constant awareness of their position in their marketplace, and a good general view of the whole market place. Oh .. and some luck .. and a decent broker and shed loads of time to do research, research , research.

I use these dudes here as their dealing prices are reasonable but there data is 15 mins or so delayed, so if your working with something really hot, you wont get the best price, unless you subscribe to their premium service,.. which costs more per deal,.. you'll need to get on the phone, and there are other web based services you'll find update faster than theirs to get a more accurate price, but Barclays have a nice place to manage all your accounts, for shares, funds, and all that stuff

chewy · 02 February 2009, 20:28

It was Barclays I was looking at as a friend mentioned they were what he got recommended.

What sort of account do I need with them?
I'm just looking to have a play at the moment with small amount to see what the score is.

chewy · 02 February 2009, 21:15

Is this one any good?

http://www.barclays-stockbrokers.co....tocksandshares

Bigmuz7 · 02 February 2009, 22:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy

Is this one any good?

http://www.barclays-stockbrokers.co....tocksandshares

Thats the one my link pointed to. TBH, I only do them from time to time, and haven't had much of an appetite lately due to market conditions, so others may be best to advise you on the latest offerings. I haven't got into the real complexities of shorting etc, cos I'm not that much of a gambler, nor do I have the time to study the market as effectively as that requires, but place some funds in a holding account, or sign over some stocks you may already have, and they'll happily open an account and give you a basic credit limit which will grow as your portfolio does, and allow you to deal straight away,. but be warned .. its very very easy to lose money this way !

Barclay's offers some good training areas on their site to introduce you to how the markets work, but I found that it really takes quite a while before you are ready to do so, and even then, I only made very small deals for a couple of hundred quid here and there for about a year before moving up, many of which I lost

Barclay's , Alliance & Leicester to name but two .. that said I covered my A&L loss on some profits on them before the credit crunch appeared. You need to have a firm view on what risks you want to take, and it is not an exact science ..

on balance I'd say .. being bored with the weather isn't a good reason to take this up .. don't mean to be derogatory .. but right now ..the way things are .. if you've got some spare cash, I'd stick it under the mattress

chewy · 02 February 2009, 22:44

Sorry mate didn't see your link.
I've been thinking of doing it for a while but with been away at work and stuff I never really had time to look.
I've had that much time on my hands today I brought my console in the front room and polished it all!

I'll have a read up on it and see how I get on, the Fantasy Trader seems good at the moment.

Matt · 03 February 2009, 07:15

It's pretty easy to make a small fortune.
Just start with a large one.

bedajim · 03 February 2009, 08:23

Yep better to put it somewhere safe like bricks & mortar

IBWET · 03 February 2009, 08:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by bedajim

Yep better to put it somewhere safe like bricks & mortar

Maybe here...remember the buyer haven't gone away,as soon as a smart corporate see's the time is right for lending as a business ,I think the bun fight will start again.

Properties or specifically land in Iraq (Central Bagdad) is where people should be looking...not advise, just an opinion..

chewy · 03 February 2009, 10:53

Ahh summer hols in Baghdad.
I'm already trying with the land, the council are leasing me a decent size bit for my car and boat and will hopefully in few years sell it to me.

IBWET · 03 February 2009, 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy

Ahh summer hols in Baghdad.
I'm already trying with the land, the council are leasing me a decent size bit for my car and boat and will hopefully in few years sell it to me.

..when the infrastructure is rebuilt to extract the oil land price will go through the roof....

forget putting your money into stock.

chewy · 03 February 2009, 22:17

Baghdad it is, all I need now is a job out there.

nik · 04 February 2009, 11:49

Another one to consider for share purchases is fool.co.uk.
As to balls of steel, you needed them to hold on to your shares over the last 18 months. I would say now is a good time to be looking at buying, for the long term anyway.

nick.

Matt · 04 February 2009, 11:54

Never used any of the fools products, but in the old days they used to have some really great articles. Is a little bit more "moderated" these days - I guess can't afford to bit the hand that feeds it so much - but still interesting articles.

codprawn · 04 February 2009, 12:32

If you had invested money on the FTSE 10 years ago you wouldn't have done very well under Labour. In fact you would have lost money!!!

In 1997 the ftse was at 4455 - now it's 4184

In 1997 dow jones was at 7169 - now it's 8078

The Yank market has had some nice big peaks which means you would have made a lot more than this but the FTSE hasn't really. The effect is even more pronounced when you look at some of the European markets.

Well done Blair and Brown!!!

Matt · 04 February 2009, 12:35

That's this thread screwed then.

Bigmuz7 · 04 February 2009, 12:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by nik

I would say now is a good time to be looking at buying, for the long term anyway.

I'm sure there are some good tips out there, but IMO There is plenty of misery to come yet, some big housebuilders, and all their commodity suppliers for a start, then all the manufacturers that supply them, and the commodity suppliers that supply those manufacturers etc etc so there will be plenty to catch out the unwary.

The knock on effects are massive, and looking for trends is the key to avoiding bad speculative choice, which is where it comes back to doing all the research.

This is why those that understand the mechanisms of short selling have been doing so well lately as the value of many stocks have fallen so much, dealers can still make money speculating on the drop in share price, but its high risk stuff.

Bigmuz7 · 04 February 2009, 12:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

If you had invested money on the FTSE 10 years ago you wouldn't have done very well under Labour. In fact you would have lost money!!!

Bollox

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

In 1997 the ftse was at 4455 - now it's 4184

My last paragraph in my last post explains why the FT index doesnt always mean you lose money just because the index is lower one particular year than another it was nearly 7000 a few years ago, so we'd all be broke then ? Well RBS are

nik · 04 February 2009, 13:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

If you had invested money on the FTSE 10 years ago you wouldn't have done very well under Labour. In fact you would have lost money!!!

In 1997 the ftse was at 4455 - now it's 4184

In 1997 dow jones was at 7169 - now it's 8078

Well done Blair and Brown!!!

I think you may be ignoring dividends, some companies are yielding well over 5%.
Also, it is for the long term and dividends should be reinvested.

Yes, I liked the fool years ago, now I find the moderation really anal.

bedajim · 04 February 2009, 15:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

Bollox