Stocks and Shares

I guess that as Warren Buffet says he is out of current investment ideas that this is as good as any place to seek advice. 

RBS and betfair you are not very shrewd.

No I don't suppose I am very shrewd or I would be investing in larger amounts!

Just a bit of fun to see if I can beat the Building Society.  You care to 'tip up' any alternatives

Stocks and shares equate to gambling. Invest in an ISA, I'm not certain but I think you can get somewhere around 3%. I need to change my ISA provider, I'm with Santander and the rate has gone down to peanuts.

Buy / borrow  a cat and follow its advice:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/13/investments-stock-picking

If you are looking for safety then you could consider putting your ISA allowance (shares) of £5760 into a Balanced Income fund with one of the big providers and receive a tax free income of say 4% with the prospect of some modest capital growth over a period. A much better way of investing than picking on 4 or 5 companies yourself imo, unless of course you wish to take a flyer with a more risky investment.

avoid Vodafone...

I actually think Betfair will hit 9.50 within next few months

My best shares have been:

1) ASOS
2) Thomas cook (up 400%)
3) Dominos
4) Cineworld
5) Hargreaves Lansdown

Also had good return out of BP over last 12 months

Have you looked into Peer to Peer lending. Don't know too much about it but could be an alternative.

Nice one Roger.  Whats the aversion to Vodaphone? The world is hooked on mobile communications and they seem to be the best on the high street

Stick it in a low cost tracker and be done

My personal rule of thumb is that I don't buy shares with a P/E ratio above 15 or a dividend yield lower than 3%. Historically at least this has been a wise strategy.

Hence I would avoid RBS and Betfair.

I'm not British, so correct me if I got this wrong, but I think the best way to invest in shares for British people is through a "stocks and shares ISA".

Also keep in mind that with such small purchases the minimum commission charge of your broker is important.

Buy the f***ing dip (BTFD) is a great approach if used with quality companies.  This has worked very well for me over the last few years i.e. recently: Tesco, Sainsburys, BP.  Though I am pulling out completely from shares because the global economic environment and all time highs in the major country indices doesn't smell right to me.  The dow is at a historical high (ftse 100 almost at its highest etc), yet unemployment is still extremely high, huge public and private debts, QE etc.  Only yesterday reports of "A new survey by a consumer group says one in five UK households are being forced to borrow money or use savings to pay for food shopping", this compares to estimates of 1 in 5 US citizens on food stamps.  I believe QE not finding its way to the desired targets, rather, hitting the stock markets and artificially pushing up stock prices.  That, and people deciding to take riskier positions as interest rates so low. I expect another 2008 crash.  Though timing such an event is almost impossible.  I worry also about the splitting of banks into retail and investments factions (2015-2019) this is when I believe the true scope of the derivative market problems will be revealed (and this I find very scary). 

It is hard to decide what to do, leaving money in the bank risks you to a Cyprus type situation (at 1-2% interest, I think the risk too high).  Gold/Silver seems the best bet to me so far but not many baskets to put ones eggs!  Perhaps land/property but costly to invest in and not easy to liquidate ones position.

I had always considered myself to be an optimist as well :S lol.

If you are just looking to beat savings returns, you could always try a multi-asset / absolute return fund. These are generally funds that are invested over a range of assets to dampen volatility and/or minimise capital losses.

Absolute return funds especially have had a bad name recently and rightly so given the performance of some of the so-called leading funds. However, if you get the right ones they can be worth it for your type of outlook.

Below are three funds in this area that I have picked out (and am invested in). If you look at the charts, they have a relatively small correlation with the FTSE:

.
http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/t/troy-trojan-class-i-accumulation

.
http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/s/standard-life-inv-global-abs-return-strategies-accumulation

.
http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/c/cf-eclectica-absolute-macro-accumulation



I have plotted them on a chart here (along with the FTSE) so that you can see the comparison:

.
https://www.google.co.uk/finance?chdnp=0&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1368019861588&chddm=851&cmpto=MUTF_GB:CF_ECLE_ABSO_IA6FP6;INDEXFTSE:UKX;MUTF_GB:STAN_LIFE_GLOB_1XO2DWT&cmptdms=0;1;0&q=MUTF_GB:TROY_TROJ_I_1XTFSD2&&ei=flGKUeiJKfPCwAPq-AE



As always with these things, you need to do your own research and ensure the investment is right for you (prices can go down as well as up etc. etc. blah blah blah)

"I'm not British, so correct me if I got this wrong, but I think the best way to invest in shares for British people is through a "stocks and shares ISA"."

Yes, if you're thinking you're going to have money in for a while then you can put money into a stocks and shares wrapper, trade, and reduce possible tax on any profit down the road. You could use hl for that as Gin links to above.

I know its taking the fun out of it but if your looking for 5% on your money just back moyes at 1.06 for next man u manager for your 5k and make your 5% in 24 hours,

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/prices-and-markets/retail-bonds/newrecent...

thanks SJ interesting list

Thomas Cook (recovery play)
Incadea  (enterprise solutions - post float growth)
Angle  (health diagnostic growth)
Telecom Plus ( plenty of growth left in that one)
ITV (no longer a media platform for brain dead northerners)