Want to buy shares. Need some VERY basic advice.

Aestivalis

I've searched and read through all the common FAQ's and beginners guides, and to be honest they all seem way too complicated. Telling to read this book, and that book, and to set up emergency funds and what not. To be honest, I havent a basic notion of that stuff and I hate reading

So please, tell me is there a really simple way to buy shares in a company and hopefully get a profit back on it if everything goes to plan?

Is buying say, €100 worth too little? too big?

Thanks.

Hillmanhunter1

Here's a useful overview, but to be honest with you, if you don't know what you are doing don't do anything. keep your money in a bank or credit union.
http://www.youandyourmoney.ie/content.asp?contentid=1266

E100 is too little to make an investment in shares, the transaction costs would make it uneconomic, but E1000 might get you started.

Invest for the long term (5+ years) and only in companies where you personally understand their business and why it should increase in value over time. Only invest money that you can afford to lose.

shanemort

you should look at etoro.com its geared at the beginner and you can start from as little as €50

bergkamp77

Hii Shane,
two Q's (1) I don't want to register through social media/Facebook , is there another straight forward system of registering?
(2) and how much is it to buy say €500 worth of shares in Irish companies on a daily basis and sell them again on a daily basis, for example buy €500 worth from five different companies between 7am and 10am and sell them all again each day in the evening before close of business or even the next day depending on their performance during that time frame? and what would typically be the cost of such a transaction? thanks Bergkamp77

Taylor365

bergkamp77 wrote: »

Hii Shane,
two Q's (1) I don't want to register through social media/Facebook , is there another straight forward system of registering?
(2) and how much is it to buy say €500 worth of shares in Irish companies on a daily basis and sell them again on a daily basis, for example buy €500 worth from five different companies between 7am and 10am and sell them all again each day in the evening before close of business or even the next day depending on their performance during that time frame? and what would typically be the cost of such a transaction? thanks Bergkamp77

About 50 euro a transaction....

Hillmanhunter1

bergkamp77 wrote: »

Hii Shane,
two Q's (1) I don't want to register through social media/Facebook , is there another straight forward system of registering?
(2) and how much is it to buy say €500 worth of shares in Irish companies on a daily basis and sell them again on a daily basis, for example buy €500 worth from five different companies between 7am and 10am and sell them all again each day in the evening before close of business or even the next day depending on their performance during that time frame? and what would typically be the cost of such a transaction? thanks Bergkamp77

Here's the hard truth about share investment by retail investors, the strategy that you have outlined above is only for mugs, and anyone who tells you otherwise is either a mug or makes a profit from mugs.

Day trading, or any kind of short-term investment, is for financial institutions or the likes of JP McManus only. For the rest of us, buy stocks that you know and hold them for the long term.

bergkamp77

Dear Hillmanhunter1,
Thank you for the advice, and as much of a mug as I feel now at least its only my pride that's been dented, ever so slightly. don't get me wrong I am a straight talker myself and its a good way to get from A to B without the social tour. So would you mind please telling me how much money would you think a person would need to invest on a weekly or even monthly basis to actually make a small income that is of course if they knew what they were doing in the first place or where should I go to find this info, ?

Hillmanhunter1

bergkamp77 wrote: »

Dear Hillmanhunter1,
Thank you for the advice, and as much of a mug as I feel now at least its only my pride that's been dented, ever so slightly. don't get me wrong I am a straight talker myself and its a good way to get from A to B without the social tour. So would you mind please telling me how much money would you think a person would need to invest on a weekly or even monthly basis to actually make a small income that is of course if they knew what they were doing in the first place or where should I go to find this info, ?

You are missing a step in the journey from savings to income. The purpose of savings is to generate a capital sum, or the ability to buy a physical asset (e.g. property) or a financial asset (e.g. bonds, pensions etc). Those assets will generate income in the form of rent, dividends etc. So the intermediate question is how much of a capital sum (or other assets) should you aim for.

As for the specifics, the answer I'm afraid is that it depends. It depends on your income (but in particular your disposable income), your target income in retirement (taking into account whether or not you are entitled to the State pension and/or any other pension), any other income you may enjoy, your age and gender, and whether or not you expect to receive money in the will of a relative or parent.

These are not complex calculations to make for those that are used to dong it, and I'm sure I or others on Boards.ie could give you some steers. Bear in mind that the single biggest factor that will impact on the rate at which you save, and on the performance of any investments you make, is the amount of the charges that financial advisers and other financial institutions take out of your savings. These charges are often both scandalously high, and very difficultly to quantify. Proceed with great caution when dealing with banks, insurance companies and stockbrokers!

bergkamp77

Hi Hillmanhunter,
to be honest with you, I am just attempting to make a small profit in the middle by buying in and selling in the same day or even within two days as often as possible on a number of recognised and reasonably risk free, stock to make a small income. I am not looking at savings at this stage until I learn more through experience. Do you work in this industry yourself?

lucky john

bergkamp77 wrote: »

Hii Shane,
two Q's (1) I don't want to register through social media/Facebook , is there another straight forward system of registering?
(2) and how much is it to buy say €500 worth of shares in Irish companies on a daily basis and sell them again on a daily basis, for example buy €500 worth from five different companies between 7am and 10am and sell them all again each day in the evening before close of business or even the next day depending on their performance during that time frame? and what would typically be the cost of such a transaction? thanks Bergkamp77

It might be possible to make each trade for €15. So € 30 to buy and sell each stock. At a €100 euro investment you start the day needing a 30% gain just to break even. So just taking the scenario you have above. You need to be good enough to pick 5 irish stocks that produce a 30% gain each day just to get your €500 back in the evening.

Please do a little exercise for yourself over the next few days. Tomorrow morning pick your 5 stocks and record the opening price and then the closing price in the evening. After a week count how many times you get a 30% gain. Actually make it easier, see how often you pick 5 stocks each day that gain 10% in the day. Bear in mind the 10% is just break even. Anything above that you get to keep as profit (less government tax and duty of course)

Hillmanhunter1

lucky john wrote: »

It might be possible to make each trade for €15. So € 30 to buy and sell each stock. At a €100 euro investment you start the day needing a 30% gain just to break even. So just taking the scenario you have above. You need to be good enough to pick 5 irish stocks that produce a 30% gain each day just to get your €500 back in the evening.

Please do a little exercise for yourself over the next few days. Tomorrow morning pick your 5 stocks and record the opening price and then the closing price in the evening. After a week count how many times you get a 30% gain. Actually make it easier, see how often you pick 5 stocks each day that gain 10% in the day. Bear in mind the 10% is just break even. Anything above that you get to keep as profit (less government tax and duty of course)

Alternatively, pick five horses or five greyhounds, or go to the casino and bet on your favorite numbers, and count how many times you win. This exercise will have the same chance of generate the income you desire as lucky john's strategy - i.e. zero.

Day trading, margin trading, in fact any king of trading, is for mugs.

RobertKK

Lucky John said it all there.

It would be a great strategy to make the broker richer and you poorer.

FudgeBrownie

shanemort wrote: »

you should look at etoro.com its geared at the beginner and you can start from as little as €50

Apologies if I am mistaken, but- with eToro you don't actually own the stock. You are essentially betting on it going up and down, so what you put into your purchase goes up and down with the real companies stock price. So if you don't set a sufficient stop loss you are able to lose more than you put in.

Have a look at TD Ameritrade. Their transaction fee for any stock is $10 (€7.33 conversion today), so $20 in total to buy and later sell. They, however, have some mutual funds with no trading fee. You also get great access to research tools for free (your TD Ameritrade account is free- you only pay fees for transactions).