Hello Everybody can a Newbie ask some basic questions please?

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realpawl

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Hello,

I will give you some background and hope it’s not too tedious for you.
I have only recently realised I may be able to do trading, as I have ignored the stock market until now, thinking I couldn’t possible do it because of my lack of financial intelligence, lack of cash flow/capital, and my techno illiteracy.

As with property, share option courses have been heavily pushed over the last few years.
I, not being in a position to pay for a course at present and being a very sceptical, wary person have attended 3 free 2 hour intro "courses" and read loads of free info on internet etc. I really have become passionate about share trading. I love it although I am not into it yet. My business crashed after more than 30 years, so I am financially restricted.

Amazing as it will seem to you, I have for years had Santander and Bradford and Bingley shares, but never thought it worth looking at even though I was scraping around for money to live, I didn’t know how to check them & subconsciously thought it not worth looking at. Anyway I thought I should look into it and found the Santander is worth around £1030 & the BBB £650.

I need the money to get by, but need even more to take action on my future cash flow and want to start trading.

My question is, do you think I should sell them straight away? I saw for example that the Santander has been worth no more than £1075 in 3 months I think.

I opened a trading account with freeview but before selling them, I wondered if maybe there is a trick I am missing, a way of optimising my gain?

Am I right in saying you have to have a thousand shares before you can do covered calls?
Any advice on who to trust with mentorship for the foundation of my trading etc. etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Paul.
 
Someone said something on here not so long ago: you shouldn't have to pay to learn to trade. You were clever to get on those free seminars and get an idea. See if you can get to one of those trading/investing shows with free trading seminars. Invest 07 in Sandown last month was pretty useful for the free seminars, I thought. More than paid for the petrol to get there.

As for learning to trade, well, the only way to learn is by losing money. Can you afford to do this? You can, of course, learn a little by getting a free Tradindex "play" account.

As for whether to sell those shares, don't take tips from anyone. You never know what motives they have, especially those dodgy types who hide behind names like assassin, killer or ninja. Er, hang on a sec...

Oh, and check my signature. Discipline and money management will save your ****.
 
shadowninja said:
Someone said something on here not so long ago: you shouldn't have to pay to learn to trade. You were clever to get on those free seminars and get an idea. See if you can get to one of those trading/investing shows with free trading seminars. Invest 07 in Sandown last month was pretty useful for the free seminars, I thought. More than paid for the petrol to get there.

As for learning to trade, well, the only way to learn is by losing money. Can you afford to do this? You can, of course, learn a little by getting a free Tradindex "play" account.

As for whether to sell those shares, don't take tips from anyone. You never know what motives they have, especially those dodgy types who hide behind names like assassin, killer or ninja. Er, hang on a sec...

Oh, and check my signature. Discipline and money management will save your ****.
Click to expand...

Thank you shadowninja,

I appreciate you spending the time to anwer, I am a newbie but having said that, i do have a really good spear gun for the sharks if they come looking to kill me.

I cannot afford to lose much money, but like anything if i can risk a little to gain a lot (experience & possible cash) then it could be worth it. Really I am thinking the only reason i would keep the shares is possibly for the very long term, because as i mentioned, in my unexperienced way i have looked at the value and it doesnt change enough to merit waiting for it to go up. Since i need the money now anyway i cant afford to keep them and need to reinvest it to make money now.

I would love to start now doing some deals and make some headway with small amounts but i dont think you can can you? is there a minimum?
It would be nice to have a mentor to accelerate the process but as we both agree it so hard to trust anyone. So if you think it is not viable or possible to start off really small & try to build profit up, (is that what you mean by the only way to learn is by losing money) then i will have to take your advice about the play account.

Paul.
 
If I read you correctly, you want/need a reliable way of earning consistent money right now? If so, then trading is not the answer. It takes about 6 months to 2 years (I understand) to start making money consistently. You will spend much of this time:
-losing money,
-learning about yourself,
-learning what strategies work for you,
-learning which markets suit you and
-learning what style of trader you are.
If you can't afford to lose, then I would look at Tradindex's play account and see if you can consistently turn £20k into £40k before losing real money. (I would not recommend them for trading with real money, though.) You should only risk money you can afford to lose.

Your slightly desperate (sorry if this offends) mindset will set you up to lose, according to some of the authors whose books I've read. You need an air of detachment and to be able to focus on potential losses not potential gains. (I think I confused the Saxo Bank salesman at a recent show when he tried to sell me the idea of trading CFDs and my first question wasn't "how much could I make?" but "what's the maximum amount I could lose in a trade?")

As for the shares you have right now, there is a school of thought that recommends that when the market gives you money, you take it. Or at least sell half. There is a lot of talk of 2008 being a bad year. You might be sitting on loss by January. You never know. If you have a need for money right now because of your personal circumstances, then it might be worth considering a second job or doing overtime to earn more and to save some money you can lose while learning to trade.

And yes, starting small is a wise idea. If you put it all on one trade and lose the lot then you're back to square one. IG Index do a beginner scheme whereby you can start with 10p bets.

I hope more experienced traders will reply to this thread.
 
Last edited:
I do agree with shadowninja in some aspects, but I must say real pawl that if given some basic methods to work with one can definitely learn the correct way instead of first losing everything they have and then finding something that actually works. I've been lucky enough to come across a place that was actually suggested to me by a close friend who works for them. They have a free trading demo room so I've been able to check it out without anything going from my pocket. I've only been in there for a very short time and so far they seem to be legit. You may want to check them out. Welcome to The Trading Zone. Again I just want to be upfront with you, it is a recommendation from a friend who works for them, but its worth a look. Good luck
 
Hi Realpawl,

I would echo the response of a previous poster on this thread.

You should be very careful about learning to trade right now with the intention of creating a much-needed income right now.

Trading is one of the most difficult businesses in which to earn a regular income, and learning to trade from scratch will be a long and frustrating journey. Please don't think I'm trying to be negative - I'm just trying to show you the reality. Believe me, if you can stick with it, the rewards you will gain from trading are superb.

Many people approach trading thinking that they can just learn a turn-key system and set it in motion to deliver a regular monthly salary. Trading is a business, and no business on this planet delivers regular profits month after month without fail - even some of the best-run businesses in the world have losing months.

My advice would be to not lose your enthusiasm for trading, but rely on another source of income while you take time to learn this business.


Thanks

Damian
 
tradermoe said:
I do agree with shadowninja in some aspects, but I must say real pawl that if given some basic methods to work with one can definitely learn the correct way instead of first losing everything they have and then finding something that actually works. I've been lucky enough to come across a place that was actually suggested to me by a close friend who works for them. They have a free trading demo room so I've been able to check it out without anything going from my pocket. I've only been in there for a very short time and so far they seem to be legit. You may want to check them out. Welcome to The Trading Zone. Again I just want to be upfront with you, it is a recommendation from a friend who works for them, but its worth a look. Good luck
Click to expand...

NOONONONONNONOONONONO

If you can't afford to lose the money, do not trade with any of it. In fact, get it out of the shares immediately and into the bank.

Things really are this simple: If you can't lose the money, don't have it in instruments that can lose money.
 
Never Be Afraid to Ask the Basic Questions!

Learn for free at online stock trading currency options shares investing financial markets women. Take a personality test at Market Psychology Money and Investing Personality Tests - also free - to establish if you are suited to trading or investing - understand the difference.

Options and covered call writing are good ways to hedge and earn more than just dividends from your shareholding. For UK you need a min of 1000 shares. In the US you only 100, plus there are many more to choose from and the market is much, much bigger. There is a mass of good free information on options from the CBOE.
Just remember "slow and low" is the way to go!

Good Luck
 
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