Would it be madness to buy shares in RBOS now ?

[bringmeashrubbery]

They are cheap. Mind you we got cheap shares in B&B before they were nationalised...

Any views ?

My dad just did.

depends if you have a bit of money you can play with

We're just hoping they can't go any lower

With huge disclaimer that I am not a financial expert, I would really caution against it. I think (and this is purely personal opinion based on reading BBC/listening to PM/reading Torygraph) that by the end of the year some of the big high street banks won't exist anymore.

I would be thinking twice about putting a large sum of money, if I had any, into a bank account let alone into bank shares.

Hmmm - wonder if my overdraft is safe

well, do you mean RBS or HBOS which got taken over by lloyds. i would say not.

I would say they are probably cheap for a reason...

You'd probably do as well just to put some money on a horse IMHO

But at 11p each? I wondered about this. You could buy a stack for a tenner!

Which a couple of year's ago would have been £400 worth.

It is a bit like gambling. But that's shares for you.

How do you go about buying them? Can you buy a tenner's worth?

DP reckons RBOS could be nationalised soon, in which case the shares would be worthless.

RBS, rather, although RBOS is not completely incorrect.

I read this article today about Barclays shares which was interesting to someone like me, an ex-employee who has never "bought" their shares (I took them instead of bonuses sometimes) but has had a nest egg containing them since I left work years ago.

FWIW, at their peak during my ownership, apparently each share was worth close to £8; now each share is worth about 60p! That's quite scary really.

I don't know anything about finance or investment, obviously. Otherwise I'd have cashed in my shares during 2007!

If you can blow 20 quid on it and treat it exactly as if you were putting it on a horse and didn't care if you lost it, you might as well - but they're cheap for a reason and it would be like putting money on one of the hopeless outsiders in the Grand National.

If good news comes and they suddenly do start rising - well if you've kept an eye you can buy in while they're still cheapish. If they're nationalised before then, you'll have saved the 20 quid.

it will cost you around £15 to place the trade so £20 is probably not worth it. if you dont know the difference between rbs and hbos also probably not a good idea.

So how does one "place the trade" so to speak. I've never bought shares before. Though I do know the difference between RBS and HBOS.

through a broker. most of thehighstreet banks offer this service now as well. worth a flutter perhaps but at 11 p you would have to buy a fair few and make a quite alot before you even got your costs back iyswim.