Can someone talk me through stocks/shares as if I'm dumb?

[idontneedhelpyoudo]

I'm trying to work out if this is something I could do to invest some money but I don't know the slightest thing about it,
Does anybody do that here?
Can anybody offer any advice?

Please 🙏

I linked to this course on another thread
www.open.edu/openlearn/money-business/mses-academy-money/content-section-overview?active-tab=description-tab

Shares are a share of the ownership of a company. If the value of the company goes up the value of your share goes up. The company will usually distribute a portion of its profits to shareholders in the form of dividends.

One risk with shares is putting all your eggs in one basket. Ideally you want a diversified portfolio. One way of getting diversification is to invest in funds that hold shares of lots of different companies.

You looking for long term gains or shiet term? If you're looking to invest for a couple of years plus pick something undervalued like lloyds. Read motly fool. Put first 20k into an isa as gains are tax free.

as a first time investor, don't put money into a stocks & shares with a single company. that is very high risk.

There are now trackers where your investment matches the value of the whole stock market. So 1000s of people buy in and all the money is invested in the top 100 (or top 500) companies in the UK stock market. Then if the market goes up, your money goes up and if it goes down, your money goes down. That is much safer than just picking one out of 100s of companies to invest in.

Various companies sell these 'tracker funds' (e.g. Hargraves Landsdown, Artemis, Vanguard etc), but it is worth watching carefully for the fees. They say the fee is just 1% per year, but if the fund goes up by 5% in a year, then the fund manager is taking 1/5 of your profit before you see any. And if the fund goes down, the manager will still take 1%. Over the years, the fund manager can end up with a big cut of your profits.

So the best value funds are often Exchange Traded Funds (aka ETFs) which have minimal charges. Companies like Nutmeg will let you invest your ISA in an ETF with pretty minimal charges. So that is a fairly safe and low-cost way to get started on investing in the stock market.

I started doing investing in US stocks during lockdown and made good money. Research is key. Currently, the market is extremely volatile (esp penny stocks). Do not trade in companies unless you have researched various strategies. Plenty of useful videos on YouTube. Start with a paper account first and see how you go. Research various platforms - HL is very expensive for US trades but has all the tickets. Trading 212 is good/free but has limited US tickers. Absolutely do not invest money you cannot afford to lose.