Buying a tiny amount of shares?

[Knitwit101]

This week the Times was advertising shares in a gaming company ds is really into. He spotted the ad himself and was asking all about shares and how they work. Would it be total madness to buy him £100 worth of shares for Christmas? Would it cost too much in fees and whatnot to make it worthwhile? I've never done anything like this before.

If you are only interested it this company you can invest with an online platform relatively cheaply. Most of the fees are for financial advisers time, so if you don't need advice you can cut them out.

Wether the actual investment is sound is another question, but if it's money you can afford to loose then could be a great way to foster Ds's interest. And if it flops then it's no worse then getting a pair of trainers that were out, he will still of had the experience.

Small amounts of shares can be fun and, as the pp says, might start an interest.

Some companies have perks for holding a small amount of shares (I have £100 or thereabouts of M&S shares for instance and get free vouchers for coffee and money off coupons every year. No big deal but fun). There are websites that tell you who gives out what and for what amount.

Can anyone suggest an online platform for investing cheaply? I don't k ow where to even start. Or are people not allowed to give financial recommendations? Do I just Google?

Hargreaves Lansdown is one platform, which I find very easy to use (for funds though, rather than shares) although there may be others that are cheaper.

Hargeaves Lansdown is pretty expensive - you'll probably pay around £11 to buy the shares, plus a platform charge to hold them, and the same again to sell. There are certainly cheaper brokers our there, including some who charge nothing - google search will give you some names.

How old is DS? Assuming under 18, you'll likely have to buy them in your name. One other potential issue - pretty much all shares are held electronically now, so you won't get a share certificate or anything tangible to wrap up, if that makes a difference

Have a look at www.shareview.co.uk. If there shares go well, you could set up a regular 8nvestment of those shares, too 😀

My advice is DO NOT get involved in buying single shares. The amount of money you are talking about is ridiculously small and you will lose money.

Instead, and only if your in it for the long term, have a look at a tracker such as Vanguard Lifestrategy fund,,maybe VLS80,, Find a cheaper on line platform than HL as their charges for funds are too high.

£5.95 a trade here

www.jarvisim.co.uk/secure/x-o/enquiryapp_xo.asp?src=&prd=XO&AccTyp=NOM

Don't see anything wrong with investing in specific stocks as long as your lives are diversified.

(If it's a few hundred pounds, what difference does it make if it'sa diversified tracker or a funny company?)

Go ahead and have fun.
Using degiro here for fun
IB for serious trading/portfolios

The Halifax share builder account is good
Easy to use and monitor online and reasonable charges even when buying small amounts

Halifax Share Dealing is good OP, they have regular offers for £3.95 trades or usual rate is approx £13. No idea how good £100 worth is - depends on the number of shares & potential increase of course.

Is trading and buying bitcoins a good way of making money

@arnoldthecat - I agree here, in this situation you will have to see double digit returns just to cover the admin fee to purchase the shares. You will have the bid offer spread, so the price you see as the 'share price' is not what you will get it for. plus stamp duty

If you are really into single company shares, then buy a collective that buys single company shares such as the JPMorgan Global Growth & Income IT.

If you are doing it as a nice gesture then crack on, if it is to make money, then I would think twice.

Well we are a few months downline from the OP but the advice is still valid. I agree with from down west.

I would strongly advise the vast majority of people not to buy individual shares even more so if your just putting a couple of hundred quid into it. Individual share dealing starts in the thousands ,probably at a base of 5k per deal and up,,not a few hundred quid.

If you really must dabble then i strongly recommend you invest in collective diversified investments . This might be a global low cost tracker fund or it could be an investment trust.

What you buy really depends on whether you are seeking income or growth and how long you can invest for.

There are rarely magic bullets for ordinary people to get rich. Buy individual shares and suffer a painful experience..!

Hey have a look at iWeb Share - it’s a good one :)

The Naked Trader has a good book on learning about shares & stocks too - depending on age of DS it could be worth buying it to learn at own pace.

If you’re investing money you won’t miss to get started it’s a good thing to get into. Of course will have risks etc but long term investment in the right companies can work out for you. Lots to learn but it’s interesting stuff!