Savings & Investment

[JoetheRam]

Anyone use any online Stock trading platforms - Plus500, FXpro type of thing?

Are they any good? 

[Rev]

1 hour ago, jono said:

Yes of course but I am just investing purely in the stock market and hold shares personally in individual companies. Not via a stocks and shares ISA which is in essence a managed fund with, as you say no tax liability, but of course you pay fund management fees. I’m not clever at all and do have a small ISA in stocks and shares with Fidelity. It’s done OK but equally, my safe bet FTSE investments have more than kept pace with a professional fund and somehow I like it because it’s mine to play with with just a click or two on my banks website. I suppose if I was really clued up i’d do my personal investing via an ISA platform. But it might give me a head ache and another set of log on details ! 

Who do you buy with?

It's something I've thought about doing, but the trading charges put me off a little, especially if you're not so active.

[dcfcfan1]

As someone who is earning money and living rent free haha at my parents, Im looking to get on the property ladder ASAP, 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/help-to-buy-ISA/

 

 

[jono]

3 hours ago, reveldevil said:

Who do you buy with?

It's something I've thought about doing, but the trading charges put me off a little, especially if you're not so active.

I use my bank .. Barclays. They used to have a separate stockbroker dept but they merged it with their on line banking, which makes it very easy. 

basically they charge you £6.00 per trade but if you don’t do any trades they round it up to a minimum monthly charge that’s less than 10 quid if you don’t trade. There is standard stamp duty that you pay whoever you use .... obviously 

as I’ve said I am a very small investor. I think I have something like 20 holdings the biggest is 5k the smallest 1k. I probably should put it in an ISA and let a fund manager do it but I am not losing money and  while that is the case then it’s a worthwhile challenge, interesting - and I’m free to use my own judgement for better or worse. .. I dabble and probably buy or sell something once or twice a month in very modest quantities.  I’d like to thinkmI make enough extra to pay for my ST. I wouldn’t dream of trying to make a living out of it, I am far too belt and braces in outlook for that 

[Coneheadjohn]

14 hours ago, dcfcfan1 said:

As someone who is earning money and living rent free haha at my parents, Im looking to get on the property ladder ASAP, 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/help-to-buy-ISA/

 

 

Make the most of it mate.

[dcfcfan1]

1 hour ago, coneheadjohn said:

Make the most of it mate.

Will do. Its save save save for me tbh

[Zag zig]

On 31/08/2018 at 17:20, jono said:

Yes of course but I am just investing purely in the stock market and hold shares personally in individual companies. Not via a stocks and shares ISA which is in essence a managed fund with, as you say no tax liability, but of course you pay fund management fees. I’m not clever at all and do have a small ISA in stocks and shares with Fidelity. It’s done OK but equally, my safe bet FTSE investments have more than kept pace with a professional fund and somehow I like it because it’s mine to play with with just a click or two on my banks website. I suppose if I was really clued up i’d do my personal investing via an ISA platform. But it might give me a head ache and another set of log on details ! 

If you have around 20 stocks and using someone like Barclays, why not a stocks and shares ISA? It’s the same thing with a very small fee but one that off the top of my head, should be near covered with FTSE 100 companies because of the dividends.

The only downside is losing certified form and having to have a nominee account, in simple terms, you don’t own the paper title but you trade the same companies under the umbrella of the nominee account; like thousands of other private investors. 

You can scrap your normal trading account, to one with stocks and shares using your annual ISA allowance over time. No tax on Capiatl gains or Dividends.

https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates

Not a recommendation but as an example. Two trades with ii per quarter and it’s virtually free each quarter.

https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/isa/?channel=ppc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1fCq5YOe3QIVq5XtCh1PiARQEAAYASACEgJojvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[jono]

2 hours ago, Zag zig said:

If you have around 20 stocks and using someone like Barclays, why not a stocks and shares ISA? It’s the same thing with a very small fee but one that off the top of my head, should be near covered with FTSE 100 companies because of the dividends.

The only downside is losing certified form and having to have a nominee account, in simple terms, you don’t own the paper title but you trade the same companies under the umbrella of the nominee account; like thousands of other private investors. 

You can scrap your normal trading account, to one with stocks and shares using your annual ISA allowance over time. No tax on Capiatl gains or Dividends.

https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates

Not a recommendation but as an example. Two trades with ii per quarter and it’s virtually free each quarter.

https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/isa/?channel=ppc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1fCq5YOe3QIVq5XtCh1PiARQEAAYASACEgJojvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thanks Zig Zag .. I know I should do this and in time will get round to it. I think I do what Indo because the portal is the same as my online Bank so I can do 2 things at once and don’t have to learn to navigate round someone else’s website with yet more passwords

but you are right there would be bound to be a tax saving on the dividends 

[King Kevin]

On 01/09/2018 at 11:36, dcfcfan1 said:

Will do. Its save save save for me tbh

You sensible thing you ,I went out every night clubbing and buying fast cars .When I eventually bought my first house I used to sit there and think I could have paid cash for this .

[dcfcfan1]

10 hours ago, King Kevin said:

You sensible thing you ,I went out every night clubbing and buying fast cars .When I eventually bought my first house I used to sit there and think I could have paid cash for this .

Fair play hahah 

[Inglorius]

You won't get more than 3% return on your money without some form of risk whether it be peer to peer lending or stocks and shares. 

Even 3% is a fictitious figure as you have to factor in inflation before you can calculate actually how much your money has grown.  

[GeneralRam]

I put 10% in my retirement each month and my employer puts in 4%. This mostly goes into an S&P500 fund. This has made me about 12% over the last year (I used to also put it into International and Emerging stocks).

I then put 15% into ETFs / Mutual Funds and save 5% into cash. Only really started doing this over the past year, my portfolio has gained me about $1500 over the past year. I had single stocks in $MSFT, $SPOT & $WFC

Seems to work quite well.

[Stive Pesley]

About 7 years ago I was given a load of shares in the company I worked for (in lieu of a cash bonus)

Since then the company has split, merged, spun-off a couple of business units and I now have a portfolio of 5 different US tech stocks without having to spend a penny

They are held in a US broker account in dollars, the value has gone up and down, but is currently doing OK - worth about $15k and getting dividends of around $200-300 a year. TBH the biggest growth was after the Brexit vote when the £ tanked against the dollar. I'm keeping it as it is as my hedge fund in case things go really down the pan for the pound after next March. I might be able to buy a decent joint of rat meat down the market with the proceeds. I'll be the envy of the wastelands!

[Anag Ram]

If you want to save on a monthly basis and don't mind leaving your money in for ten years then tax-exempt savings plans from friendly societies are an option. 

[SillyBilly]

2017 I finished the year -1.8% and YTD this year I am down 5.5%, dividends included. Follows from me being pessimistic from late 2015 onwards (have basically been bunkering down for a recession since that is yet to arrive) and slowly changing my asset allocation through 2016 and early 2017 to reflect that - I haven't done much from mid 2017 onwards but continue to reduce most of my exposure to the major indices and reduce exposure to property (so missed all the recent gains there). On the flipside I've fed all new money into buying miners that are struggling (potash, silver, gold, uranium, lithium) but that have big resources and manageable debt and generally any unloved stock utilities whose assets look cheap relative to the share price (SSE, Centrica etc.) and who will do well in inflationary conditions. Buying the bottom of the market for over 2 years and selling the big movers now means I basically have the ultimate poo or bust portfolio but I am strangely zen about things and have never been so relaxed about how I am set up - I am buying companies at fractions of the P/E of the indices and I do think it will come very good in the medium term. Zilch interest in the likes of the FANGS this far down the line. I have 15 years before I'd want to sell everything, all the stocks I hold now I expect to hold for 15 years through the next cycle. One thing is for sure, if you want to make money in the short term do the very opposite to me! ? 

[Inglorius]

Invest in Bitcoin currency. Always a winner. 

[Zag zig]

All being well off  to Proactive on Thursday. Always liked these events for what’s said after, most presenters stick around; occasionally one with a bad press gets some grief......and there is some right dross on AIM but at least these events give closer interpretation.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/register/event_details/158

[Stive Pesley]

12 hours ago, SillyBilly said:

 I have 15 years before I'd want to sell everything, all the stocks I hold now I expect to hold for 15 years through the next cycle. One thing is for sure, if you want to make money in the short term do the very opposite to me! ? 

Probably a very pessimistic (but genuine) question, but what happens if you dont make it 15 years? I have no idea what happens to this sort of stuff when a person deceases. I really should make some sort of provision ?

[SillyBilly]

11 hours ago, StivePesley said:

Probably a very pessimistic (but genuine) question, but what happens if you dont make it 15 years? I have no idea what happens to this sort of stuff when a person deceases. I really should make some sort of provision ?

Well naturally it helps if you have a will (I don't as yet but will get round to it) and leave reasonable instructions to the executor as to how to manage your affairs once gone. As it stands I am fairly organised with my financial affairs so if I popped my clogs tomorrow then there would be 3-4 folders on a shelf above my study desk with all my pension details, death in service policy and brokerage accounts info in. All kept together. Without a will would just be a case of your family appointing a solicitor to go through it who would I presume ultimately write to the companies' registrars (for stocks and shares) with a copy of a death certificate to transfer them over. Fairly easy for a solicitor to do that but obviously your family's take is reduced if the info is not readily available.