stock market

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Read up on active/passive investing. If you like the sound of passive then you can put your money into tracker funds (funds are grouping of investments, not just single companies - trackers track a market, eg. FTSE100). These are generally low cost (which is one of the points of passive investing). The problems is you then need to understand about diversification (making sure you are balanced across asset classes/regions, eg. not all into property/UK etc.). If all that doesn't make much sense or you can't be arsed to read up on it then it may not be for you. There are tracker funds which attempt to take the complexity out of it and you simply select based on your risk attitude - eg. Vanguard Lifestrategy (where you just specify what proportion goes into equities, i.e. stock market). Minimum time to be keeping your money in the stock market is 5 years and probably more sensibly, 10 years. Any less than that I would avoid and put your money somewhere safer. If you don't want to face losing your money it is not for you either.
 
Shack said:
Read up on active/passive investing. If you like the sound of passive then you can put your money into tracker funds (funds are grouping of investments, not just single companies - trackers track a market, eg. FTSE100). These are generally low cost (which is one of the points of passive investing). The problems is you then need to understand about diversification (making sure you are balanced across asset classes/regions, eg. not all into property/UK etc.). If all that doesn't make much sense or you can't be arsed to read up on it then it may not be for you. There are tracker funds which attempt to take the complexity out of it and you simply select based on your risk attitude - eg. Vanguard Lifestrategy (where you just specify what proportion goes into equities, i.e. stock market). Minimum time to be keeping your money in the stock market is 5 years and probably more sensibly, 10 years. Any less than that I would avoid and put your money somewhere safer. If you don't want to face losing your money it is not for you either.
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I would suggest that if you have to read up in order to invest, its best to get a professional. Even if "interested" I would still get a professional, as sometimes we judge our knowledge to be little higher than it actually is. There appears to be so many pitfalls and unrelated events that can knock things sideways. Your last 2 lines are belters and people had better believe it. mines seriously dipped twice and its not a pleasant feeling but always had the mindset of not needing or wanting to touch for at least five years.
 
As advised above, if you're going it alone then make sure you do plenty of research before putting any money in. I find Motley Fool to be a good place for some initial research: http://www.fool.co.uk/

Also, if you're going to open your own Stocks and Shares ISA and trade that way, be aware that a lot have charges per transaction. This site is pretty cool for giving an insight in how much your trades are likely to cost you: http://www.compareanisa.co.uk
 
Shack said:
Read up on active/passive investing. If you like the sound of passive then you can put your money into tracker funds (funds are grouping of investments, not just single companies - trackers track a market, eg. FTSE100). These are generally low cost (which is one of the points of passive investing). The problems is you then need to understand about diversification (making sure you are balanced across asset classes/regions, eg. not all into property/UK etc.). If all that doesn't make much sense or you can't be arsed to read up on it then it may not be for you. There are tracker funds which attempt to take the complexity out of it and you simply select based on your risk attitude - eg. Vanguard Lifestrategy (where you just specify what proportion goes into equities, i.e. stock market). Minimum time to be keeping your money in the stock market is 5 years and probably more sensibly, 10 years. Any less than that I would avoid and put your money somewhere safer. If you don't want to face losing your money it is not for you either.
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I agree entirely. Choosing individual winners is difficult. Research suggests holding a low cost tracker over a long time is the best bet for most people. Average returns are OK.

monevator.com is a good website.

Smarter Investing by Tim Hale is a good book.

Epping said:
not checked my Zopa accounbt in 3 months as it happens. need to see whats happening
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Rates reduced to 4.1% on classic accounts.
 
anyone see how the ftse is going. seems to go up, losses the next day and then up a little bit more and round the circle it goes.
in the short term say next month or so hows it going to go. any big shocks coming up like Russia invading ukraine
 
soapster said:
anyone see how the ftse is going. seems to go up, losses the next day and then up a little bit more and round the circle it goes.
in the short term say next month or so hows it going to go. any big shocks coming up like Russia invading ukraine
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Erm if we knew that then we'd be millionaires this time next year, Rodders.
 
Open up a share trading account, x-o are reasonably cheap for transactions. Don't put all of your money into one company, with this advice in mind split it in two and buy XEL shares with half and GKP with the other half. They are really cheap so you get more shares for your money which must mean its better cos you get more. Sit back and watch the share price go up*

*or down, but usually down, very very down. But that is good because when they are cheaper you can buy more, and as we have already learned it must mean they are better if you can get more of them for the same price
 
soapster said:
but people who have this as their business are a lot more aware than us thickies, who basically have to guess.
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Experts get it wrong too mate.

Less stressful to setup automatic monthly payments into a low cost index tracker then ignore all financial media outlets for 20-30 years.
 
duff_man said:
Open up a share trading account, x-o are reasonably cheap for transactions. Don't put all of your money into one company, with this advice in mind split it in two and buy XEL shares with half and GKP with the other half. They are really cheap so you get more shares for your money which must mean its better cos you get more. Sit back and watch the share price go up*

*or down, but usually down, very very down. But that is good because when they are cheaper you can buy more, and as we have already learned it must mean they are better if you can get more of them for the same price
Click to expand...

Not sure if x-o are on there but the site I mentioned earlier - http://www.compareanisa.co.uk - is a cracking site for checking out which provider is cheapest for you and the transactions you're planning to make.
 
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