£100 a month

[LEWIS1]

im going to put £100 a month into shares, is this enough or should i look at putting £200 every other month. I need to avoid as much commission as possible - any sites for trading with low commission?, i want to mix purchase risky and non risky - also any thoughts - want a risky one this month.

I figured if i did this for 25 years or so it could be a better way too save than a bank and would be fun.

Ive purchased a book - investing in stocks and share - dr john white.

i have purchased before ws atkins for 47p and sold for £5.00 (£200 original stake)
and London Town plc ( which was a bad choice put £1000 in and is now worth £74 ish - so left them there)

i can afford too loose the £100 a month so am happy too take risks

thanks all

lewis

 

[new_trader]

im going to put £100 a month into shares, is this enough or should i look at putting £200 every other month. I need to avoid as much commission as possible - any sites for trading with low commission?, i want to mix purchase risky and non risky - also any thoughts - want a risky one this month.

I figured if i did this for 25 years or so it could be a better way too save than a bank and would be fun.

Ive purchased a book - investing in stocks and share - dr john white.

i have purchased before ws atkins for 47p and sold for £5.00 (£200 original stake)
and London Town plc ( which was a bad choice put £1000 in and is now worth £74 ish - so left them there)

i can afford too loose the £100 a month so am happy too take risks

thanks all

lewis

I would put £100/month into a savings account until you have at least £500 (or more) to invest. (Unless you are putting into an ISA). The reason being that it's very unlikely that you will find a company worth buying every month. The aim is to have large holdings in a few good companies rather than a small holding in a large number of mediocre companies. Read up on Warren Buffet's tenets.

Namely: "We don’t believe in the Noah’s Ark principle of investing, winding up with two of everything. Then you have a zoo."

 

[Jack o'Clubs]

Hoodless Brennan is about the cheapest execution-only broker out there - £7/trade and no account admin fees. If you invested £100/mth that's 7.5% in charges (ie £7 plus 0.5% stamp duty) before you've even considered spread, so I'd agree that investing bi-monthly (or quarterly) is a better option. You should probably aim at a portfolio of about a dozen shares which gives you diversification but allows you to keep on top of what's going on with them. Not heard of the book you've bought, but Jim Slater's 'Zulu Principle' is worth reading for the sort of investing you're doing, there's lots about it on the web, or you can buy it cheaply second hand.

 

[LEWIS1]

thank you very much, points taken will save up a little first. Will also give me time to read up on this board and in books to get a better understanding of the industry.

 

[Hoggums]

thank you very much, points taken will save up a little first. Will also give me time to read up on this board and in books to get a better understanding of the industry.

I would recommend £1000 per company if you are thinking of being a stock-picker - just because buying and selling the share will cost you approx 3% of the value at that amount (inlc spreads tax etc). So the share price has to go up by 3% for you to break even. The smaller the amount the higher the cost. If you plan to buy and hold then £500 should be OK.

 

[LEWIS1]

yes - thought as much, cheers

 

[TheHat]

Share Trading

Hi Lewis - You could also have alook at the Halifax Sharebuilder Account. You can invest any amount either regularly or as and when you feel like it & if you trade on their set dates you only pay £1.50 per trade to buy. Hope that helps.
REGards The Hat

 

[LEWIS1]

yes that helps lots will look into that this week, thanks for all your help guy's

 

[Paul Wilson]

Hey LEWIS1.

I am in a similar situation as far as a tradable income.

I would like to actually trade shares. But alas on my paultry wages there isn't much point as the charges would eat it all up.

I have decided to have a good go at spreadbetting as you only need a small start up capital and you can learn by trading a penny a tick.

As long as you do your homework and are sensible you should be ok.


I used to let someone else look after my spare cash. I have decided against it now as I can probably do a better job myself.

You may also want to think about your frame of mind too. You mention you would be happy to loose £100 a month. You might want to reframe that a bit.

Ideally you don't want to be losing any capital per month.

Alternatively you could make a cheque out to me and I could lose it for you?:cheesy:

 

[fibonelli]

Hi Lewis - You could also have alook at the Halifax Sharebuilder Account. You can invest any amount either regularly or as and when you feel like it & if you trade on their set dates you only pay £1.50 per trade to buy. Hope that helps.
REGards The Hat

Hi Lewis,

The Hat has given you good advice.

I would add
1. Make sure you have at least 6 months salary saved up in a decent savings account or Cash ISA.
2. You could also consider ETFs which are free of stamp duty and many have very small buy/sell spreads. Some ETFs are racy like the China25 ETF if you want high risk/reward stuff.
3. You should research about investing so you have a good understanding how the stockmarket works, if you haven't already done so.

Good luck

Fibonelli