UK ISAs

I decided to look into more detail and found answer (if anyone was interested - probably not lol):

http://www.uswitch.com/investments/stocks-and-shares-isa/

Any gains you make on your investment are not counted as part of your stocks and shares ISA allowance, so for example, if you invested 50% of your ISA allowance and it went up in value, you would still be able to invest the other 50% before the end of the tax year if you wished - the gains you made would not reduce the overall amount you can invest.

If you sell any shares in your stocks and shares ISA, the proceeds can be reinvested within the ISA and will not count towards your annual allowance either.

You can switch your investments within the stocks and shares ISA or transfer it to another provider without it affecting your allowance too, as long as the proceeds of any sale are not withdrawn. If you withdraw any cash from the ISA wrapper, you can't reinvest it within the ISA again, unless it is as part of your annual ISA allowance.

Okay, another question, does anybody know how I go about setting up a stocks and shares isa (in order to buy a stock) - perhaps somebody has a link to a decent guide?  My initial searches are proving fruitless!  Any help much appreciated.

I see Halifax has some kind of ISA "self stock picker", but this looks to incur management fees etc, surely it must be possible to just buy the stock and declare as part of ISA with no other costs?  All a bit confusing to me, bit of a novice as you can see :).

Once you've got the money in the ISA wrapper you can invest away online, buy sell etc.
The real biggies in that business that do ISAs that I'm aware of are selftrade and hargreaves and lansdown.

Thanks "Just Checking", just had a quick look at selftrade and that looks a much better site with an annual fee (not a percentage of investment like was implied by what I saw on Halifax website).

I have noticed quite a few stocks are listed several times, i.e., Sony has:
USA
Name Symbol ISIN Exch/Mkt Type Price Updated
SONY CORP SNE US8356993076 NYSE Stock 34.22(c) 21:15 
 
Germany 
Name Symbol ISIN Exch/Mkt Type Price Updated
SONY CORP. SON1 JP3435000009 XETRA Stock 25.20(c) 14:33 
SONY CORP. ADR SONA US8356993076 XETRA Stock 27.10(c) 14:06 

How would I know/find which is the "common"/"preferred" stock?  Just so we are on the same wavelength, I picked up these definitions:

A corporation may be authorized to issue more than one class of stock. For example, one class of common stock might have enhanced voting rights. Holders of this class would likely pay a higher price for their shares. Usually any additional classes of stock being offered are designated as "preferred stock."

Preferred stock
Preferred stock gets its name from the preferences granted to its owners. These preferences may include the payment of dividends and distribution of assets in case of liquidation. Preferred stock generally does not carry a voting right. This type of stock is issued to raise additional capital without jeopardizing the controlling interests
of the common stockholders.

I use this but only invest in funds. Can buy and sell as many times as you like with very low charges. https://www.myinvestmentcentre.co.uk/

Thanks Cognac, had a look and they only have funds, I was hoping for stocks.

Further research shows that my previous qeustion about multiple listings was likely the result of American Depositary Receipts (ADR)s being shown but not identified as being such.  Slowly making more sense.  From first looks tdwaterhouse appear to have the cheapest "self select isa" service but seems you have to read all the small print etc with regards hidden costs with all these brokers.  These people try to make things much more complicated than they ought to be!  Just like fractional odds... designed to confuse people... scum bags lol!

I believe H and L also have deals on funds which is their selling point (like lots of charges waved), but they also do shares.