To ask you about the stock market?

[HeyGirlHeyBoy]

A poster recently mentioned the dependability of S&p for growth and I am considering buying some stock, if this is even the expression, but I'm a little fuzzy on it.
Do I need to pay tax on end profits and declare annually?
Will I get dividends or is that only for shares?
Can I take my money back at any stage or do I need to lock it in?
Should I consult with a broker or can I do a DIY?
Amy practical advice much appreciated.

Another vote for Vanguard here.

www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/

Click on the Investing Education tab to learn the basics. One of their index-tracking or life strategy funds is a great way to get started. Stocks historically have been a good investment, but not for money you might need in the next few years.

When I started investing small amounts in funds I knew nothing. I learned. I am not a trader and don't want to be but the principles of investment are simple, and yet very deep - you can learn and learn about it as a topic. Check out Warren Buffet, I learned alot by learning about him. And don't be put off by people saying it's investment is only for special financial people, it isn't - just don't go sticking the food money on shares!

Why does OP need to understand "( including stock exchange , settlement, clearing, depot management, corporate actions, dividends, interest payments, options etc. etc.)" to invest in equities.

Aren't you over-egging how complicated it is. Why is it necessary to
make OP feel stupid.

I agree with you that OP will be risking capital in stocks and shares but there are safer investments in line with her risk appetite which aren't speculative.

OP, see a financial adviser. MoneySavingExpert - Martin Lewis has a website, the Stocks and Shares ISA page has useful information to start with: www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas/

I hate all the elitism around stock trading

Last year, I worked 50 hour weeks to earn £60k

I made £20k profit in stocks which has probably added up to 50 hours max of work. And it’s probably more like 20 hours.

A lot of people have made a lot of money on the stock market because of Covid. But they don’t want to plebs to think they can do it too

Most people that DIY don’t do as well as a tracker.

@Rhayader. They do no worse than ‘professional’ traders 🤷‍♀️

@hamstersarse yeah but you may as well put it in a tracker and not worry too much about it rather than spending hours researching stuff because statistically that will preform better than it you pick stocks (in the medium to long term anyway)

I guess it’s personal choice. And what I’m getting at is the closeted narrative that “you need a professional” and no pleb can do it themselves.

They can, but like I said above, you need some bottle and you gotta set your rules

Another vote for trackers. We use vanguard, M&G and legal and general.
Have never used a financial adviser.

I've started listening to the Women Take Stock podcast. It's American so focused on the US market but it's run by four women who have all decided to start dabbling in investment - none of them have lots of money, a couple of them have debts to clear - and they're feeling their way through it. It wasn't a subject that particularly interested me before but now I'm thinking about investing (a very small amount) myself .

Thank you all and thank you blueshoes for saying that! Why do I need to understand every in and out if I understand that it is a risk, that I can minimise it and that if I need to I can get professional advice? Amazing gain hamster!

I would strongly suggest a stocks and shares ISA as your first port of call. You don’t need to declare earnings or pay tax because it’s an ISA. Someone else does the hard work for you and you just get the gains. On £10k ive ‘made’ £1,200 this past year.

Nutmeg and Vanguard are the big names. You can even get cashback on Quidco for starting.

Apps are really fun too if you want to have a play with specific stocks and shares. Freetrade and Trading212 are both popular choices and I use both. They both have referral schemes where you get a free share (I’m not saying this to share my links with you 😂).

The best thing about investing you can do is just make a start. Even if it’s £25 a month.

I’ll try that podcast.

The revelation for me is that I’ve always been scared off doing it with people saying “oooooo you need a professional, you’ll lose your house”. It’s such bollocks.

You literally just need to understand an annual report and a bit of psychology. The rest is pure luck.

Honestly, the biggest challenge is knowing when to sell. Both ways. Cut your losses and reinvest. Cash in before it crashes. And obviously both of those things are not predictable by any professional

Once you buy a financial asset (stock, bond, etc) your money is gone, the same as if you had bought any other physical good. The only way to get your cash back is to sell the asset at whatever the prevailing market price is. The price fluctuates but over time gives you a higher rate of return than saving in a bank.
That is why investing is a risk and you should ONLY ever invest cash you won’t need immediately.

This is a good guide that answers the rest of your questions:

www.fool.co.uk/investing-basics/

@StopGuacAndRoll

I don’t mean to piss on your fire but £1200 on £10k this year is really poor. Any shares I have that are at that % are seen as extremely poor performers in this market.
I’ve shared that I’ve cashed in at 180% this last 12 months.

Still a damn site better than sticking in a bond or 'savings account'.

Investing in individual shares is risky. Most people start off with funds at an appropriate risk level. You have to be prepared to invest only money you will not need access to as you would not want to withdraw when the market is in a slump and consolidate losses. If you invest within a stocks and shares isa you do not need to worry about tax. You can go for income funds where they pay dividends or accumulation funds where the dividends are reinvested. Alternatively you can pay extra into your pension and claim extra tax relief as well.

I would read up about investing first. Monevator does good articles for investing beginners. You can diy, in fact if you are starting out small you should as the charges will be lower. You will need to choose an investing platform and a fund. So read up on the difference between passive and active funds. Passive are cheaper and you should go for a diversified portfolio to minimise volatility. Multi asset funds are a good way to start.

I don’t mean to piss on your fire but £1200 on £10k this year is really poor.

blimey, bit harsh! it's actually not bad if you're looking at the calendar year and excluding the covid dip. Maybe that 10k was all invested in a passive manner January/February last year and that's the annual return. In which case they didn't sell the dip, so are automatically winning!

OP, learn the difference between trading and investing.

When it comes to investing, learn about how you can invest (things like funds, etfs, bonds and also the online platforms) and just jump in with money you don't need for 5-10 years, ideally adding money as you go.

it's not rocket science, and it can be done very passively. It's brilliant some have made outstanding returns, but that takes a little more sophistication (and a little luck!) to know exactly what markets/shares/sectors to buy. You might get the bug and get there yourself, but for now just look at how to buy funds and etfs.

As you said, you absolutely don't need to be some finance genius with years of experience and training.

@hamstersarse The 12% that @StopGuacAndRoll is a pretty good return. We got 17% this year on our investments in a lowish risk portfolio. If you have been getting 180% you must be investing in some very risky stuff. It may have paid off for you this year but the chance that it could go the other way is very high especially if you are investing in individual shares rather than funds. You may be happy with guesswork and luck but I would rather invest our money in a well structured diversified portfolio with minimum risk of losses. Totally irresponsible advice.

I recently started using coinster to look into crypto currency.
You can buy and trade as much or little as you like. I started with £50 and I meddle with it most days. I've invested £500 in the last month and my portfolio is currently worth £700

There's a referral here if you're interested:

coinbase.com/join/shaw_d15?src=ios-link

I’m in Ireland too, OP.

We don’t have access to a lot of things being mentioned here by UK posters- ISAs etc.

I have an account with Davy which I manage myself. I pay something like €50 per quarter for the account. I also pay a fee on each transaction (can’t remember exactly how much- it’s a percentage and it’s in their Ts&Cs when you sign up. It’s entirely self-service so I get no advice from brokers. You can obviously have a managed account but I don’t know what fees are like for that.

I have a fairly big portfolio and have had most of my shares for several years. I rarely buy anything these days. To be honest, my return over a five year period isn’t great. This time last year I was up a lot but then Covid hit and thus impacted my shares as I had a lot in aviation and FMCG. At one stage, I was down over €30k. They’ve recovered somewhat, but I’m a while away from seeing profit again.

I have to say, it’s not for the faint-hearted. You do have to accept that you could lose all of your money overnight. I would never ever put money I need in to shares. I use mine as a long-term investment and hope they’ll have gained a lot by the time I retire.

Dividends tend not to be very lucrative unless you’ve invested very significant sums.

You do pay taxes on profits. This can be done via Form 12 (I think it’s called) through Revenue- the one where you declare any additional income.

I have a diversified portfolio, don’t worry.

But that includes some punts. They don’t always pay off but sometimes they do, and when they do...well it makes all the difference. I made a shitload on Greatland gold last year - all cashed in and reinvested into ‘safer’ options, now I’ve an oil one which is at 100% as of today, and I’ll cash that in over the next few weeks. And I sell out on losses pretty early and reinvest, so overall it’s good. £10k in my ISA this year is now at £31k and I’ve withdrawn £5k cash.

IMO 12% this last financial year is really poor but maybe I just like being close to it all and giving it a go. Like I said, personal choice

@hamstersarse got any tips for me to buy tomorrow?
You sound like you need your own YouTube channel or at least a mumsnet thread giving us all advise!
Great profit margins, good for you

Crypto is a whole different ball game to the stock exchange! A brilliant one but a bit like the wild west - gains and losses all over the place. Bitcoin is at an all time high c50k, but it's very volatile. Read up and proceed with caution, the same principles apply here as with investment - put in what you can afford to lose and don't get swayed by greed or FOMO. Research is your friend.

Should have also added we have invested a small amount into a Vanguard S&P although now we have it will probably start to lose money 😫😂