Stocks and Shares - COMPLETE NOVICE

Hi,

I am young female (30's) and have heard so much about stocks and shares over the years but have absolutely no idea on where to go about getting information.

The whole idea seems very alien to me and I was hoping for some info.:

1) Who do you speak to about buying them
2) How much realistically would you need to invest
3) How do you go about selling them again
4) How do the stockbrokers make their money i.e. do they take a commission on the profit made or do they get a commission direct from company.

As I said above I have absolutely no idea about stocks and shares but i would like to inform myself to have other options available.

WINE
On a footnote, I saw a documentary on BBC where it was saying that wine was a good investment - again, where do you go about getting information on this, who do you buy the wine from.

Thanks in advance of replies.

Without my being rude, it does appear that you wish to throw away some money.

You will need to buy some books to get yourself familiar with stocks and shares. There is simply no real reason as to how or why you could or should simply jump into the Investment market. It will take time, research and in the present circumstance a hell of a lot of luck.

There are some courses which one might do to teach them the basics but there are also some sharkes that will simply empty your pockets, both locally and internationally.

If you want to simply invest money do some research in ETFs (Exchange traded funds). As for investing in funds operated in Ireland well after severe bad experiences keep well away, in my opinion.

A fool and his money are easily parted.

Concerning Wine, this was a real scam a number of years ago. Unless you know your market and your product keep well away.

No matter where you choose to invest and what to invest in, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.

mercman said:

Without my being rude, it does appear that you wish to throw away some money.

Click to expand...

Harsh.

mercman said:

A fool and his money are easily parted.

Click to expand...

Harsh again.

OP, you're taking the first step. Coming on a board like askaboutmoney and asking the basics. Everyone has to begin somewhere. What mercman says is basically true. If you want to invest directly in individual company shares you need to do your research.

Start by reading websites like this. And Yahoo finance, Motley Fool, Morningstar, Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, etc.. You could also look at broker analysis as a starting point. For example, Davy, Goodbody, Dolmen, Bloxham, and NCB ideas can be seen on the rte website (http://www.rte.ie/business/brokerreports.html) every morning.

Decide what type of investor your are. Buy-and-hold, active trader, etc. Decide your budget. All that sort of stuff.

...then to answer your questions:

1. If you've got a big chunk of change, you could meet with a stock broker. If not, you could go on a quick course, or simply start reading (I'd recommend Guru Investor and Ken Fishers Ten Roads To Riches as 2 easily digestible books, and Investors Chronicle as a good magazine). Then open an share dealing account (no different really to opening a bank account) with a company like National Irish Bank or AIB.
2. You can invest any amount although my own rule of thumb is a minimum of around €2500 per trade so as to minimise commission costs (I'm not a frequent trader).
3. You sell them in the same way you buy them, through the broker (if you've an online account setup as indicated above this is very easy).
4. Commission per trade that you make.

Camel

Thanks for your sound advice Camel. I have no knowledge about the stock market but I want to inform myself as to have more options for my finances and as you said, this is the forum to ask about it.

Thanks again.

Murbar1360

Buy this Book Rule # 1 of Phil Town, this will help you alot I started from there. You should learn form this book.