Starting out

bman

Hi,

I'm sick of having my savings sit in a bank account earning % interest per annum and am thinking of investing (likely in stocks and shares) in order to net a greater return. I'm going to start out with €8-10k and see how it goes from there.

My problem is I've a very limited knowledge of investment theory. I know I'm not interested in continuously buying and selling shares on a day to day basis as I don't have the time to track them like that. I'd be more interested in long term gains and investing in companies which pay good dividends. I'd be very happy with 15%+ gains on my investments in my first year. Is this unrealistic for a beginner?

So, my questions:

- What books should I be reading before I invest?

- What online forums should I keep an eye on?

- What site should I use for trading (mainly Irish, U.K. & U.S shares)?

- What pitfalls do I need to avoid?

- What gains can I realistically look to make in my first year (provided I do my homework first)?

- Any other advise?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

soddy1979

If you're a beginner you could look at investing in ETF's. They will give you the cheapest diversification. You could diversify accross asset classes, geographical regions and currencies.

Just remember that the amount of return you should expect will be linked to the amount of risk you take on. More risk = Higher probability of Higher Returns & Higher probability of Loss

bman

Cheers for the reply soddy.

Never heard of EFT's before. They look interesting, will have a look into them. With EFT's is some middle man scraping cream off the top of your profits and therefore is straight trading in stocks and shares likely to be more profitable?

Although I say I don't want to be tracking share prices tightly on a daily basis, I still would rather be more in the mix of it than with EFT's. I'm using this as a learning exercise of sorts as well. While I'd be very pissed off if I loose that much money it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Anyone with any more advise? I would have thought there would be loads of opinions regarding the books and forums questions?

rugbyman

b man,
spend a good few hours reading these threads over the last twelve months. Almost every shade of opinion has been expressed.

regards,Rugbyman