I've bought some shares here and there over the past few years. Some have done well and others have done pretty badly. In the whole I'm about £3k up. I'm happy with that!

Just wondered if anyone else dabbles in shares.

Deavon, by 3k up do you mean you have actually sold the appreciated shares and have the wonga in your bank account?

The reason I ask is that the key to successful share dealing is knowing when to sell as well as when and what to buy. I suspect many people hold on to their shares too long after they appreciate and see their 'profits' melt away as quickly as snow in a heatwave.

In my opnion, shares are not a good option for your average punter. Most don't have the in depth knowledge of market conditions to move in and out of the market quickly enough. Moreover, these days markets are probably more volatile than they used to be (for example, there is really no such thing as a sold 'blue chip' share anymore in my opinion). Deavon, I'm pleased for you, but I suspect that there are many people who have dabbled in shares with quite different results.

I had 100 shares given to me as a gift from my Grandad, when i was a baby, so ive had them a long, long time... i never intend to sell them, i intend to hand them down to my kids when they are old enough to understand "what shares are" etc: i know at one point about 14 years ago they were worth 30 times their value, though last year "april" they were only worth 14 times... its still money for nowt though as i was given them in the first place... i think mi grandad would be happy knowing that they are going to his grandchildren that he never met...:)
i have no real intrest in money thats why they are still where they are, but its turned out as a good nest egg for my kids and his grandchildren..:)

Unfortunately I own some shares in SWFC. :P

My Grandad gave them to me back when SWFC were in the Premiership.

They have decreased in value ever since :hihi:

My dad makes killings from shares, it supplements his income as a company Directory pretty well. He's been dabbling with the market for a few years (like 30), and he's got his eye on a new yacht now... but I wouldn't have a clue what to do!

My question would be as someone who's always been interested in dabbling in the stockmarket, has possible money available that I can risk in order to dabble, where do I start?

Is there a plethora of websites available where I can see real time share prices? Information websites on tricks of the stockmarket and how to get involved?

I own shares in the company I work for, which have risen in value since I bought them. I am confident that in the long term they will continue to rise and therefore will continue to own them.

I owned some shares in another company I used to work for, but sold them as I thought they had reached their peak. I got about £1000 for selling them and now the same shares are only worth £400 :D

An important factor for consideration these days is the dividend on shares. As the dividend can be higher than the average interest rate on bank accounts and bonds, this might be a good reason for buying shares in certain companies, particularly if you intend to hold on to the shares for a long while and are not obsessed with the day to day share price.

Have had shares - tried didn't like it.

Won some lost some.

Altogether possibly just fell short of breaking even.


Now plough spare cash into premium bonds and having much more success. :clap:

Any investment is about timing, and the stock market should generally be seen as a long term investment.

I have known people who have invested, and then the share price has fallen and they have paniced and sold their shares. Then they complain that they lost money. Had they kept their shares the price would have gone back up and they would have made money.

Originally posted by Andy
Any investment is about timing, and the stock market should generally be seen as a long term investment.

I have known people who have invested, and then the share price has fallen and they have paniced and sold their shares. Then they complain that they lost money. Had they kept their shares the price would have gone back up and they would have made money.

Ain't that the truth mate.

Historically, equities (shares) have outperformed every other type of investment. But this is assuming you keep them for at least 5-10 years.

And don't get me started on people complaining when an investment has lost money. :rolleyes: the amount of baseless accusations flying around the industry at the moment beggars belief......

To a large extent, the industry has itself to blame for many of these accusations. You only have to look at the advertisments in the financial sections of the Sunday papers to realise how extravagant and misleading many of the statements by investment firms are. Many of those who took these claims about the future growth prospects of unit trusts wrapped up in ISAs are now still sitting on losses. It can't be said too loudly or too often that investing in shares (whether directly or indirectly through unit trusts) is not at all like putting your money away in bank or buidling society accounts. It is a risky business, however much you try to hedge your bets and spread your investments.

DaBouncer,

Before you put one penny on the stock market, I strongly suggest that you join this site

http://www.champinvest.com/action/login/?redirecturl=http://www.champinvest.com%2Ftrade%2F

Basically you are given virtual money of £100,000 to play with. You get to deal with shares with this virtual money using real time data just like it is your real money. Spend at least 6 month playing this so that you understand just how easy it is to lose and gain money. What more, if you become the best % gainer in a single month, you win the £1000 prize – it’s all free to join.

BB
Whatever you do, if you go on to financial BB that specifically talking about dealing with shares make sure you DON’T get taken in by how quick you can make money on shares, get a idea of who is who and who, everyone is out there making comments for their own personal gain.

http://boards.thisismoney.co.uk/tim/forum.jsp?forum=85
One of the friendliest BB around, no one here ramping the stock up on hype.

http://www.moneyam.com/
I used this for my real time prices – I am a subscriber but I am not sure if the real time feature is free or not.

http://www.advfn.com
Real time prices here too – Subscription only based I believe and it is my backup for when the above fails. I only use it for the BB aspects – this BB is where the quite a few idiots hang around but you can find good information coming from posters there if you filter the clueless out.

http://uk.finance.digitallook.com/?username=&ac=
The best source of information on latest prices, charts etc can be taken from here. On this site, you can set up watch list and make up virtual portfolios. Free real time data here when I last looked.

There are many more...
http://www.fillyaboots.com/?mount=/f7/default.asp
http://www.addicted2shares.co.uk/Default.aspx
http://www.iii.co.uk/

RNS
This is where important announcement are given by the companies themselves – they can cause share prices to rise or fall depending on the news they give. http://www.companyannouncements.net/

Tutorial
http://www.investopedia.com/university/stockpicking/stockpicking3.asp

How to trade on the stock market?
Quite a few banks allow online share dealings, I use Halifax for mine.

Originally posted by IanMitchell
Unfortunately I own some shares in SWFC. :P

My Grandad gave them to me back when SWFC were in the Premiership.

They have decreased in value ever since :hihi:

They are worth about 20p a share if you find anyone to take them off your hand - if the club goes into administration they'll be worth nothing. The clubs debt stands at 29mil so its a possibility if the club plans on the training ground fall flat.

I am actually very old fasioned.

I buy my shares through HSBC. I walk into the bank and buy them... no computer trading, real paper Shares! I buy them to hold.

To get information I read the Financial Times, business sections and sometimes visit ft.com (but I'm not a subscriber so I don't get to look at much).

Thanks for all those links though John. I will have a look.:)

Originally posted by LordChaverly
To a large extent, the industry has itself to blame for many of these accusations. You only have to look at the advertisments in the financial sections of the Sunday papers to realise how extravagant and misleading many of the statements by investment firms are. Many of those who took these claims about the future growth prospects of unit trusts wrapped up in ISAs are now still sitting on losses. It can't be said too loudly or too often that investing in shares (whether directly or indirectly through unit trusts) is not at all like putting your money away in bank or buidling society accounts. It is a risky business, however much you try to hedge your bets and spread your investments.

Yep. im not gonna deny that some folk have been royally done over by the financial services industry (just look a the precipice bond scandal at the minute). What gets my goat is when people invest, knowing full well what this entails, but then develop selective memory when it starts to lose money and blame everything on the advisor. i see that a lot i am afraid :(