Beginners***STOP PRESS***
Specific Blog on 'How to Set-up a Share Dealing Account' now live at: http://wheeliedealer.weebly.com/blog/how-to-set-up-a-share-dealing-account Please bear with me. I want to do a lot of great things for people New to Investing - but time is a major constraint. In the meantime, nip over to Wheelie's Bookshop and get yourself a copy of Naked Trader 4 by Robbie Burns. Read that, understand it, and you are well on the way to a Career of Safe and Successful investing.....alternatively, it should appear on this page somewhere and you just need to click and you can go straight through to Amazon and place your order. I will receive a small payment from Amazon - but don't let that put you off !! I was thinking back many years to my first years of Investing and how much I used to look forward to visiting Robbie's website and it occurred to me that since Robbie has eased down his updating, there is nothing out there for Beginners. I can and will never pretend to be Robbie but hopefully I can help people start out on the Right Path and avoid early screw ups that I had to suffer. My Blogs contain a huge amount of Educational Material (and it's all free) so well worth a butchers............I have just introduced a 'Beginners' Category. You can see it on the right of your screen on a PC and it is down the bottom on a Fone or Tablet. If you click on this, you should get Blogs that I think are highly Educational and great for New Investors. I hope you like it. I have also started to put text into the 'Funds' page - it is worth having a read of this material so that you understand the options that Funds can give you. Cheers, WD |
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First Steps for Beginners to get you going
I am keen to help new people to the world of investment to get off to a good start - I made so many dumb arsed moves in my early years and if I had made a better start then I would be far wealthier today.
If is important to not Rush headlong into buying your first share. You will lose money. I cannot stress this enough. Learn what you are doing first, then you can get stuck in.
Remember the 6Ps - “Perfect Preparation Prevents P*ss Poor Performance“.
So, once you have followed the course of action I have laid out in the above couple of paragraphs (don’t be lazy and skimp on the Robbie book - it really will save you a fortune for a small outlay - and I know you hate reading books, but it is very easy to read), here are the Next Steps I suggest you follow:
I am keen to help new people to the world of investment to get off to a good start - I made so many dumb arsed moves in my early years and if I had made a better start then I would be far wealthier today.
If is important to not Rush headlong into buying your first share. You will lose money. I cannot stress this enough. Learn what you are doing first, then you can get stuck in.
Remember the 6Ps - “Perfect Preparation Prevents P*ss Poor Performance“.
So, once you have followed the course of action I have laid out in the above couple of paragraphs (don’t be lazy and skimp on the Robbie book - it really will save you a fortune for a small outlay - and I know you hate reading books, but it is very easy to read), here are the Next Steps I suggest you follow:
- Read Robbie’s book again.
- Read the Pages of my Websites - it will help you get a grounding of what you will be facing in your Investing Career.
- Go to my Blog page and click the ‘Category’ called ‘Beginners’ - these are selected Blogs I have tagged as being helpful in your early stages of Investing.
- Once you have read these Beginners Blogs, feel free to move onto the other stuff in my Blogs - but this is not crucial at this stage.
- If you are already on Twitter, then you can hunt me down and Follow me @wheeliedealer. If you do not have a Twitter Account, then it might be a good idea to open one - only a few weeks ago I did not have a Twitter Account - I am utterly stunned by what it can do and the information you can access. Well worth the effort and it is FREE. As per my warnings elsewhere, I do tweet a lot. You can access Twitter via Tablet, iPad, iPhone, Fone, PC, Mac etc. I tend to do it via my Fone - you need to download the App from whatever ‘store’ is relevant to your device. It may be an idea to create a separate Twitter Account for your Investing stuff - I think it is possible. You can open an account at www.twitter.com.
- Once you have a Twitter Account, I suggest that you follow these Peeps - they will get you started and they Tweet a lot of excellent material: @Paulypilot, @SandyMidd, @CompoundIncome, @MrContrarian, @JohnRosier, @RichardBeddard, @conkers3, @marben100, @reb40, @Equity_research, @ExpectingValue, @KavanaghKillik, @Justinscarboro2, @markds28, @PFhunting, @clogheen1, @the7circles, @rupers14, @Metier9, @BenSharman, @ExPatDealer, @zygsuzin, @RandomAmbler, @stealthsurf, @TheDIYTrader, @MacroVal, @A1Mhigh, @SmallCappy, @nicktudor100, @MBroomSmith, @_Paul_Doran_, @PaulBai123, @sholdsworth1963, @TheIdleInvestor, @stegrego, @GrindertraderUK, @DavGreer, @jpsc01
- Sign up to a free ADVFN.com account - this enables you to access Free Bulletin Boards - although be careful of the silliness on some of them - do not get sucked in - they can be addictive and dangerous - as I explained in a recent Blog on “Information Overload”. You can create Portfolios of stocks in ADVFN and it has a wonderful FREE app which gives easy access via Tablet or Fone to News, Charts, Fundamentals, Bulletin Boards, etc. I use this all the time. Love it.
- Look at the ‘Useful Links’ lower down this page - it might be worth Bookmarking stuff you like.
- Nip into your local Newsagents (other retail outlets are available) and get yourself a copy of Investors Chronicle - it really is excellent. If you like it and think you will have time to read it (or at least skim the best bits) then it may be worth doing a Subscription - the Online access is worth it as well.
- It might be a good idea to ‘Paper Trade’ for a while - where you create a sort of theoretical Portfolio of stocks to get the hang of things. This can be useful but I think most Beginners will find it a bit frustrating and it is rather false because having Real Cash in the markets changes how you behave psychologically - people really underestimate how your Brain can play tricks on you - it was not designed for Complex Financial Markets. It is up to you but if you do put Real Cash in, start off small and build your Cash Commitment to the markets up over time. Do not Rush in.
- You will need a Stockbroking Account to enable you to buy and sell shares. One I recommend is www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk - they are an offshoot of Halifax and I think they are the cheapest around. They charge £200 upfront (this has risen recently from £25 but it might be worth paying as ongoing Costs are very low) as a one-off fee and then there are NO ANNUAL FEES and the dealing fee is £5 a trade - this is very cheap. It is a fairly limited interface but I don’t think all the ‘Bells and Whistles’ offered by many Broker Platforms are much use anyway - you just don’t need them. I suggest you open an ISA so that you shield any profits from tax - also simplifies completing Tax Returns - you don't need to mention it.
- Another one I use is www.idealing.com - again, it is a very simple interface but they are good value - £10 a trade with a £20 Annual Charge - this shows you what great value iweb is - note, the Halifax Sharedealing Service is £10 a trade - for the same thing !!
- You need to plan how you will build your Portfolio - in other words, how many stocks will you hold?; what amount of cash will you put in each?; and the mix of different sizes of stocks from different areas of the stock market (FTSE100, FTSE250, AIM etc.) This is extremely important - don’t rush it. Pop over to my Blog page and read both my Blogs on Position Sizing - Parts 1 & 2. You can find them under the ‘Beginners’ category.
- Thoroughly research any stocks you wish to buy - follow the guidance in Robbie’s book and on this website. You will make mistakes, this goes with the territory, but don’t be disheartened if that happens - this is a Long Game not a sprint.
- If you want to expand your knowledge more (good idea) then pop over to Wheelie’s Bookshop and pick from the selection.
- Remember, a key part of the Game is to keep costs down - think very carefully before subscribing for anything - will it really be useful and will you have time to read it or use it?